Horse Shows on Fishers Island

: Mrs. R.S. Preston, as she cantered along on Morning Mist at the Fishers Island Horse Show, Fishers Island, New York. 9/1/1930. Acme Newspictures. Museum Collection.

: John Nicholas Brown and fiancee Anne S. Kinsolving at Horse Show, Fishers Island, NY, 1930. Baltimore Sun photo. Museum Collection.

: Miss Ruth Aninger gracefully taking the barrier on Tampa at the Fishers Island Horse Show, Fishers Island, New York. 9/1/1930. Acme Newspictures. Museum Collection.

: Mrs. Oliver Redfield of Greenwich and her father at Horse Show, Fishers Island, 9/1/1930. Acme Newspictures. Museum Collection.

: Miss Shirley Noyes with Miss Pep, winner of the Children’s Horseman Class, at the Fishers Island Horse Show, Fishers Island, New York. 9/1/30. Acme Newspictures. Museum Collection.

: Mrs. Alfred L. Ferguson, Jr. caught by the camera as she attended the Horse Show, Fishers Island, New York. 9/1/1930. Acme Newspictures. Museum Collection.

: Mr. Stephen E. Budd on Kerry as he participated in the Touch and Go Sweepstakes at the Fishers Island Horse Show, Fishers Island, New York. 9/1/1930. Acme Newspictures. Museum. Collection.

: Charlie Ferguson posing on his pinto at a Fishers Island Horse Show, circa 1927. Museum Collection.

: Frances Simmons in mid-flight during a jump at the Fishers Island Horse Show, circa 1932. Museum Collection.

: Kevin G. Rafferty looking less than steady at the Fishers Island Horse Show, circa 1931. Mrs. Pendleton is watching from her automobile. Museum Collection.

Many residents of Fishers Island today are surprised to learn that from 1927 to 1933 there were elaborate annual horse shows on Fishers Island staged just northeast of today’s Driving Range at Middle Farms.

They were complicated sporting events run by a professional, Mr. Frank B. Aninger, with up to 25 classes of competition. Stores on Fifth Avenue took out full page ads in the printed catalogues. Sponsors purchased slots for their automobiles that afforded them front row seats from within, atop or on the running boards of their automobiles. Both spectators and participants dressed for the occasion as this was a major event of the summer season, for the brief period it lasted. Records have not been found that reveal why the horse shows disappeared from Fishers Island after the 7th Annual show in 1933. Less formal activities, like gymkhanas, riding lessons, and riding on bridle trails continued throughout the 1930s, but these activities ended with the outbreak of World War II.