Jim Wofford grew up on a farm in Milford, Kan., the youngest son of a storied equestrian family: His father, Col. John W. Wofford, was a member of the 1932 Los Angeles Olympic show jumping team and later the founding president of the U.S. Equestrian Team, and his brothers, J.E.B. and Warren, were both USET riders. After graduating from the Culver Military Academy (Ind.) and the University of Colorado, Jim set out to affirm his family heritage, bringing home a team silver medal from the Mexico City Olympics aboard Kilkenny in 1968.

“Do I remember? You kidding? You don't forget stuff like that,” Jim Wofford told me when I contacted him about a remarkable photo I found in a Chronicle issue from 50 years ago.

The story about the 1967 Myopia Horse Trials in Hamilton and Ipswich, Mass., in the June 23, 1967 issue looked like any other, with a short report, results, and a page of photos. But one of those photos made me do a doubletake. It was a photo of a pretty substantial river, with a horse’s head and the torso of a rider above water.