--- description: The story of Jimmy, a horse from Ohio who could shake hands, lie down or sit up on command -- and, of course, roller skate like a pro. title: Jimmy the Roller-Skating Horse, 1952: Merrily He Rolled Along image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4cc4983038de0487/69884b18e20a870c3da8ad55/140114-rollerskating-horse-1952-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [animals](/tag/animals/) ## animals Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Here's Jimmy, the Roller-Skating Horse by [Ben Cosgrove](/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 26, 2013 6:09 PM CUT  Jimmy, the roller-skating horse, Ohio, 1952. Jimmy, the roller-skating horse, Ohio, 1952.Joe Scherschel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images by [Ben Cosgrove](/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 26, 2013 6:09 PM CUT For many years, LIFE published a popular feature called Miscellany on the last page of the magazine—”a back-of-the-magazine institution,” as long-time Managing Editor George Hunt once characterized it. Merriam-Webster defines miscellany as “a mixture of various things,” and LIFE’s version certainly lived up to the name, presenting readers with photos of people in bizarre or humorous situations, inexplicable natural phenomena, animals with unusual talents, optical illusions and the like. Here, LIFE.com celebrates the star of the first-ever entry in the Miscellany annals, from the May 19, 1952, issue of LIFE: Jimmy, the roller-skating horse. Under the title, “Merrily He Rolls Along,” LIFE informed its (we suspect) delighted readers that Jimmy was an especially unusual horse, “and not merely because of his light blue eyes or breast markings which resemble a baseball chest protector.” --- > “” --- Eleven years later, in August 1963, editor Hunt would pen an Editor’s Note recounting the success of Miscellany through the years, while letting LIFE’s millions of readers know that, “as for the animal who started it all, Jimmy is now 13 years old and doing fine. His owner assured us by phone that ‘he can skate as well as when he was a colt.'” If only that could be said of all of us. _Ben Cosgrove is the Editor of LIFE.com_  A soccer square in bad condition is seen at the Cantagalo slum in Rio de Janeiro December 27, 2013\. After a half-century of neglect, it seemed the government finally cared about Rio's notorious slums, or favelas, with the implementation of an effort to reclaim huge swaths of the city from criminals. This was done through police occupations of historically violent neighborhoods. Five years into the program, police now occupy 37 major favelas, home to 1.5 million people. Picture taken December 27, 2013\. To match Insight BRAZIL-SLUMS/ REUTERS/Pilar Olivares (BRAZIL - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) Joe Scherschel—TIme & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Jimmy, the roller-skating horse, Ohio, 1952. Joe Scherschel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Joe Scherschel—TIme & Life Pictures/Getty Images ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3878587/jimmy-roller-skating-horse-photos-1952/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3878587/jimmy-roller-skating-horse-photos-1952/"},"headline":"Here's Jimmy, the Roller-Skating Horse","datePublished":"2013-12-26T18:09:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:03:48.171Z","description":"Remembering Jimmy, a remarkable horse from Ohio who could shake hands, lie down or sit up on command -- and, of course, roller skate with the best of them.","url":"https://time.com/3878587/jimmy-roller-skating-horse-photos-1952/","keywords":["animals","Ben Cosgrove","Horse","1952"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4cc4983038de0487/69884b18e20a870c3da8ad55/140114-rollerskating-horse-1952-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ben Cosgrove","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4cc4983038de0487/69884b18e20a870c3da8ad55/140114-rollerskating-horse-1952-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Jimmy the Roller-Skating Horse, 1952","caption":"Jimmy, the roller-skating horse, Ohio, 1952.","creditText":"Joe Scherschel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/animals/","name":"animals"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3878587/jimmy-roller-skating-horse-photos-1952/","name":"Here's Jimmy, the Roller-Skating Horse"}}]}] ```