Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey
World Famous Equestriennes (c.1928)
Strobridge Litho Co. One Sheet
When this lithograph was used by Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey in the late 1920s the circus audience had much more of a personal understanding of the challenges associated with training horses than they do today.
Although today’s audiences definitely appreciate the tricks performed by the few remaining bareback riders and the trainers of Liberty horses, when the audience had more of a personal relationship with horses as they did then, I suspect there was more of an appreciation for what it took to leap onto the back of a horse or somersault from one galloping steed to another.
In 1915 the horse population in the United States peaked at 20,000,000. – the most ever in the US. To put that into perspective there were about 105,000,00 people in the country at that time – or one horse for about every four people.
After the US horse population dropped to under 5,000,000 horses in 1959, the numbers rebounded and today there are about 9,000,000 horses in the United States . The human population however is now about 330,000,000 which means there is now one horse for every 36 people in the country – quite a difference than a century ago!
In any event there are still some great horse acts in the United States – and if you have the privilege of seeing one, I hope you will appreciate the time, dedication and even danger that goes into putting on an equestrian act, much as your great great grandparents did when they went to the circus so long ago. – Chris Berry
