Diving Horses - Still Around.

Horse diving was popular at amusement parks in the early part of the twentieth century. For example, horse diving could be watched in New York City's Hippodrome betweeen 1905 and 1939. White City Amusement Park, Massachusetts, featured high-diving horses in the early 1900's.

In the 1980's, horse diving continued at Atlantic City's Steel Pier. When the Pier was sold, the last two diving horses, Gamal, 26 years old and Shiloh, nine years old, were rescued by the The Fund for Animals.

In 1991, the movie "Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken" told the story of a teenager in the Depression who rides diving horses. It is based on a true story. Six horses were trained for the movie, and although horses orginally dived heights of up to 40 feet, the movie horses never jumped more than 10 feet.

Horse-diving can still be observed today. In Lake George, New York, there is a theme park called the Magic Forest. It was home to the original Rex the Diving Horse, a stunt film star, who had been diving since 1977. He has been replaced Lightning, a 13-year-old chestnut gelding. Lightning dives twice a day from the end of June until the beginning of September. The horse is led to a ramp by the caretaker - walks up it, looks around at the audience, and dives (about 9 feet). He swims to the other side of the pool and comes out, where he gets a bucket of grain. There is no rider, no prods, no electrical jolts, and no trap doors. [Magic Forest]