Evening star., 1938-12-17
Triumph of Carrie Knight
At Fort Myer Is Stirring
Climax of Horse Sodd

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fancy to her and decided to buy.
Now, the first thing one has to do
with bad-legged horse is to spend
hours applying healing measures to
the injured limb. That's just what
Sam did, ably assisted by Fred.
After several months treatment all
traces of soreness had disappeared
and it was time to saddle her up.
Being a former racer, it was not
easy to quiet her down to slow gaits,
or get her to jump with anything
resembling correct form. She re-
fused, ran out and knocked down
about every fence they sent her at.
However, horsemen are both pa
tient and persevering, and after
much schooling Carrie Knight
finally began to settle down. The
Silver Spring Hunt Club show was
close at hand and Sam entered the
mare in the ladies hunters class.
He asked Margaret Cotter to take
the mount and she promised she
would. She hasn't made a prom
Use since.
The day of the show Sam rode
his entry over to the grounds early
and thought few practice jumps
would not be harmful. But the ex-
citement and noise did not agree
with Carrie and she started a series
of refusals that left Sam bouncing
around on Mother Earth. Despite
tho ropk Cicnloy NHoroorat c,,Lcti
tuting nerve for judgment, kept her
word. mounted, and rode into the
ring. After two refusals and two
clumsy jumps the horse headed for
the next fence, suddenly ran out,
hit the wing and started to fall
Margaret did, and ended up with a
wrenched back.
And so back to the farm, with the
future clouded in gloom. Sam con-
tinued to ride the mare, schooled her
bit and much to his surprise began
to get pleasing results. Maybe Carrie
would do better in her next show.
That was the Fort Myer meet a
few nights ago. Sam sent her over
two days before, rode into the ring
and twice went around the 1O-jump
course minus even tip. Now things
were looking up. The diamond in
the rough was beginning to sparkle
The eve of the show found Sam
and Freddie giving their mounts a
final checkup, and once again gloom
hovered about. Carrie had a bad
shoulder, stiff from a sudden cold.
The boys went to work again, and
until the early hours of the cold
morning worked like Trojans loosen
ing up the mares muscles.
The Fort Myer riding hall was
cleared for the big event on the
nights program, the handicap jump
ing class. Some 45 horses were
ready to compete. Such stars as
Sandy, Clipped Wings, Billy Do,
Rocksie and Broomofield were primed
for top performances, and all would
be hard to beat. Sam watched each
one go around the course, some do
ing as expected, others not quite so
well, and then rode his one-horse
stable into the ring. Only a clean
score would win the cup-a lot to
expect of a green horse.
Freddie Hughes, Margaret Cotter
and other knowing friends held their
breath as Sam and his mount took
jump after jump without a touch
until only one remained. Nearing
that obstacle Carrie began to falter,
got too close, then with a great
effort went over clean.
Only a few in the packed stands
knew what the performance really
meant, but the broad smile on Sam s
face was probably the most spon-
taneous he ever flashed. Do you
wonder?