--- title: National Day of the Horse: 25 Vintage Horse Photographs description: Nowhere is the vital role of the horse in American culture clearer than in the archive of LIFE Magazine's great 20th century photography. canonical: https://time.com/5004313/horse-photographs/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-12-13T14:00:29.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:46:24.239Z og:title: National Day of the Horse: 25 Vintage Horse Photographs og:description: Don't say neigh og:url: https://time.com/5004313/horse-photographs/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt34c184a36cae7e55/6988e40d0a4a2265349d0874/best-life-horses-24.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2171 og:image:height: 1221 og:image:alt: LIFE's Best Horses og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: National Day of the Horse: 25 Vintage Horse Photographs twitter:description: Don't say neigh twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt34c184a36cae7e55/6988e40d0a4a2265349d0874/best-life-horses-24.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Mane Event: LIFE's 25 Most Memorable Horses > Sponsored content. 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Worth Your Time is TIME's culture newsletter, published Tuesdays and Saturdays to 40,000 subscribers as of August 2026. #### Who writes TIME's culture recommendations? Culture editor Eliza Berman writes Worth Your Time, drawing on TIME's critics and culture desk. #### Is Worth Your Time free? Yes. It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters. by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Dec 13, 2017 2:00 PM UTC  Troika race at Hippodrome, 1963. Troika race at Hippodrome, 1963. Stan Wayman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Dec 13, 2017 2:00 PM UTC In 2004, when the Senate agreed to [designate](https://www.congress.gov/bill/108th-congress/senate-resolution/452) December 13 as the National Day of the Horse, the resolution acknowledged that “horses continue to permeate the society of the United States, as witnessed on [movie screens](http://time.com/4600173/national-film-registry-announcement-2016-films/), on open land, and in our own backyards” and are “a vital part of the [collective experience](http://time.com/4725419/southern-riderz/) of the United States.” Nowhere is that vital role clearer than in the archive of LIFE Magazine’s great 20th century [photography](http://100photos.time.com/photos/eadweard-muybridge-horse-in-motion), which features these majestic creatures in all of their many roles. They’re athletes (Seabiscuit), movie stars (_National Velvet_), military troops, farm workers, even gamblers — not to mention beloved companions. In one 1952 gimmick, a horse that supposedly possessed clairvoyant powers even [composed a headline](https://books.google.com/books?id=Z1IEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA20&dq=%22lady+wonder%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwik86u%5FmuDXAhWIRt8KHaYmA%5FAQ6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q=%22lady%20wonder%22&f=false) for a LIFE story about herself. (She was clairvoyant, not creative: the headline was “Talking Horse.”) To mark the celebration of horses now and then, here’s a look back at 25 of the most memorable horses in LIFE’s pages.  Polo ponies standing in corral at the Peachtree Ranch in Texas, 1939. Carl Mydans—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Championship horse Seabiscuit standing in stall after winning Santa Anita Handicap, 1940. Peter Stackpole—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Doctor listening to horse's heart beats with stethoscope and recording them on Stetho-Cardiette at University of Pennsylvania's School of Veterinary Medicine, 1940. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Moroccan soldier of the French expeditionary force, holding the General's Arabian horse, at garrison in the great citadel, 1940. Margaret Bourke-White—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Stallion trying to make friends with a barn cat, 1943. Hansel Mieth—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Man watching his work horse drink from a water trough, 1944. Fritz Goro—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Elizabeth Taylor posing with saddle horse after her smash movie debut in "National Velvet," 1945. Peter Stackpole—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Boys riding a horse to schools, 1946. Bernard Hoffman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Lucky horse playing roulette in Las Vegas, 1947. Jon Brenneis—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  Gene Autry astride his horse Champion surveying his Ranch, 1948. Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Foreman of the JA Ranch Clarence Hailey Long sitting in shade of his horse on prairie, 1949. Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  Mrs. Mary Breckenridge who runs Frontier Nursing Service, petting her horse. Leslie Country, Kentucky, 1949. Eliot Elisofon—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  "Lady Wonder," a clairvoyant 27 year old talking horse, can count and spell its name by tipping over lettered panels, 1952. Hank Walker—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Child standing beside a miniature horse, showing size comparison, 1952. Ed Clark—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Baby horses scampering down the stretch at Los Alamitos track, 1952. George Silk—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  In mid air the horse sails gracefully toward the tank, 1953. Peter Stackpole—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Midget thoroughbred filly, Big Bertha, and her mother on Woodland farm, 1954. Lisa Larsen—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  6 year old cowboy learning how to shoe a horse, 1954. Allan Grant—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Young girl riding her pony as colt follows, 1956. Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  "Misty of Chincoteague" wild horse at farewell party before returning home to Chincoteague Island, 1957. Grey Villet—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Harness racing at All-Russia horse show at the Hippodrome, 1958. Howard Sochurek—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Trader Horn nuzzling young friend in stall at Roosevelt Raceway, 1959. Donald Uhrbrock—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  Israeli children of Habad sect, frolic with horse and cart at farm village, 1960. Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Troika race at Hippodrome, 1963. Stan Wayman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Jimmy the horse rollerskating down road in front of its farm, 1963. 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