In selecting this month’s Parting Ways photo from our 74 years worth of archives, I noticed this image from the 1959 Upperville Colt and Horse Show, the oldest horse show in the country. Just a few weeks ago, the 158th edition of the show kicked off in Upperville, Va., 7 miles down the road from the Chronicle’s base in Middleburg.
This image, taken by Marshall Hawkins, shows Robert Gibbon on his top mount Bowie Gibbon clearing the high jump—albeit in a precarious position—52 years ago.
“Gibbon… Huh. That’s funny,” I thought, connecting the name to our newest Chronicle staffer, Abby Gibbon. And then I Googled.
That’s when I learned that “Bob” Gibbon was Abby’s grandfather, and another old photo of him had actually been her inspiration in starting Historical Horse, the fantastic history blog she created in her spare time a year ago.
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“My grandfather passed away when I was quite young (un-show-jump-related), leaving nary an opportunity for my rampant questioning, but when I look at this picture, I can imagine we would’ve been fast friends,” Abby wrote in her first blog post. “When, as a youngster, I pestered my family for the story behind this photo, I received several different explanations: a jump-off in Quentin, Pa. or just showing off in Berryville, Va.
“One thing was for certain, though—the horse was Bowie, an ex-racer-turned-jumper who drank Coke out of the can and whose retirement was commemorated on the cover of The Chronicle of the Horse. As a child, I remember holding a cold soda to the nose of my unimpressed pony, wishing upon wish that he would grab it from my hands and ceremoniously slurp it down as I imagined the mystical Bowie would (in typical pony aloofness, he merely sneezed on the can). It’s funny how the quirks of great horses stick with us.”
We’re excited to have Abby on our team and to have her taking over our own equine history blog at chronofhorse.com. As we continue to uncover the past, there’s no telling what new connections we’ll make.