Skidmore student Betty Strassburger, horse unidentified, May 1934 at the Skidmore horse show.

The Birth of the Skidmore Classic Horse Show

On October 22, 1926, the Skidmore News reports that the Athletic Association is planning a “new experiment in the form of a horse show to be given in the spring.” This was the start of a major event at Skidmore that lives on to this day in the Skidmore Classic Horse Show. On March 2, 1927, the newspaper reports that the Athletic Association “is anxious for it [the horse show] to be one of the biggest successes of the year.” An April news report sets the date and time of Skidmore’s first horse show for May 14, 1927 at 2:30 p.m. at “the old race track.”

The Skidmore Horse Show was an immediate success, making front page headlines in the Skidmore News and Saratogian and drawing elegantly attired and enthusiastic crowds.

Skidmore's Equestrian Tradition - 2

The Skidmore News starting in October of 1925 appears to report riding as an official school sport. Under the front page headline, “Big Boom in Sports Started at Skidmore” of the October 23, 1925 Skidmore News, Riding is listed as one of eight sports students have “signed up for”. In March of the following year, a report in the newspaper mirrors the pattern seen in the student handbooks of riding allowing students a unique door to freedom from college restrictions.

Reserve Champion rosette from the May 15, 1937 Skidmore Horse Show. Won and donated by Florence B. Hutchings '38.

1925 Student Rules

In 1925, a requirement appears stating that students must report evening horseback riding parties to the Dean's Office. Although students now have to register their rides, at a time when all other off-campus activities were much more highly regulated, riding continued to allow students their greatest freedom. Below: section from Student's Handbook, Skidmore College, 1925-26.

An alumni scrapbook from 1924 shows the alum and three of her Skidmore classmates posing for a picture on their horses on a street in Saratoga Springs. 1924 scrapbook of Geraldine Ferris. Gerry is on the grey horse.

Although Sunday activities are generally frowned upon, Skidmore women manage to convince the administration that riding on Sunday is acceptable, as reported on March 6, 1926 :

The petition that students be allowed to go horseback riding on Sunday, has been granted by the Conference Committee. They are, however, not to ride on the public streets of the city.

The 1930-31 Student Handbook for the first time clearly includes riding as an official Skidmore sport, detailing a point system for different riding events which would count towards earning class numerals and varsity letters. Articles in Skidmore News at the time feature discussions of a “new physical education,” one in which riding features prominently.

1930 Student Rules

In 1930, reflecting broader cultural mores, stricter rules were put in place governing student riding. Students can go out after 6 p.m. only with an approved chaperone and permission from the Dean's Office. They also must register in their own residential halls. Below: section from Student's Handbook, Skidmore College, 1930-31.

 

Where Skidmore Rode

Skidmore students of the 1920's and likely earlier took lessons and rented horses from the Saratoga Riding Academy, initially on White Street in what is today a high density residential city neighborhood near the Saratoga thoroughbred racetrack.

At some point in the 1930's, this operation, run by Gustav Stelle, moved but continued to serve Skidmore constituents at its new location.

When Carl Bauer arrived in the area in 1935, he bought the White Road property, which now had an indoor arena. It is unclear if the White Road stable continued to operate between the time Stelle moved and Bauer purchased the facilities. However, for a time after the move, Stelle competed with Bauer for Skidmore riders. There were undoubtedly some tensions because by the 1940's, the college posted notices that it was not liable for any accidents incurred under any instructor but Bauer.

An ad from the 1930 Skidmore College Student's Handbook states that riding is"by far the most popular sport at Skidmore" with 186 student riders.

Skidmore School of the Arts map by Skidmore professor Alfrida Storm showing the Saratoga Riding Academy.

Riding's Prominence at Skidmore

Miss Harriet Brown, chairwoman of the Physical Education Department, announced in 1934: "The old-fashioned idea of Physical Education has long since gone and today it is considered a distinct social advantage to be able to play a good tennis game, dive correctly, or keep a good seat on a horse [emphasis added]."

She also stated that the offerings for riding while at Skidmore were “ideal for either the beginner or advanced rider.”A large story in the February 7, 1932 New York Herald titled, "Skidmore College Aims to Give Students Poise and Knowledge in Sport" features an extra large photograph of three Skidmore students on horseback and the article leads with the question, "Can you be trusted to ride your best friend's horse and can you enjoy doing it?"
 

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