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Is being an avid horseman a requirement to being a great President?

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Is being an avid horseman a requirement to being a great President?


All of Americas greatest presidents whether Republican or Democrat have loved horses. Maybe we should look at the Presidential Candidates and find out who the horse lover is.


George Washington was a fine equestrian and spent many hours in the saddle. Thomas Jefferson called him the "greatest horseman of his day." He was very fond of fox hunting and took his favorite fox hunting horse "Nelson" with when he went off to fight in the American Revolution.

His love of horses was apparent on the day of his inauguration. The night before the groomsmen were hard at work preparing the six white horses that would be used for the inaugural carriage. They took ground chalk and water to make a paste that they spread all over the horses, then rapped them in gauze. They must have seemed like mummy horses. The next morning they brushed the horses out and they were bright white. They polished the hooves with black shoe polish and braided the horses mane with ribbons. A silver harness was put in place and finally the horses were hitched to a bright yellow carriage.
Cinderella herself could not be more proud!

During John Adams political carrier he could not stand to be indoors for days at a time without going for a ride. He would become physically ill.

Thomas Jefferson was very particular about his horses and always rode a bay or brown horses. He was also very strict with his groomsmen. When a horse was brought up to ride, before a saddle could be put on he insisted on wiping a handkerchief down the horses back to insure it was clean enough.

Andrew Jackson passion was horse racing and he once killed a man in a duel over his racehorse, "Truxton." While President, he and his Vice-President, Van Buren would walk from the White House to the nearby racecourse where Jackson raced his horses under an assumed name in order to avoid a scandal.

Van Buren was an avid rider and in retirement he was often seen to be riding with a book and umbrella in one hand and the reins in the other. It is said he would put a cabbage leaf under his hat. No one is quite sure why.

Zachary Taylor?s war horse "Old Whitey" lived on the White House grounds during his master presidency and had the misfortune to loose most of his tail to souvenir hunters!

Franklin Pierce received a speeding ticket and was arrested for running over an old lady on Pennsylvania Avenue! He was not the only President to get in trouble. Years later President Grant also received a speeding ticket.

Abraham Lincoln enjoyed riding but it was difficult to find a horse that was big enough for him. While president the US Army lent him a horse that they nicknamed "Old Abe" because it looked so much like the President. The President was said to be ridding on his, "high horse."

Tragedy struck during the Lincoln presidency in more than one way and his sons pony perished in a terrible stable fire.

Grant was obsessed with horses and even after receiving the speeding ticket would ride around town in his carriage challenging others to a race. Once he challenged the butcher to a race and even with two stops the butcherss horse outran the President?s. He finally purchased the horse and called him "Butcher Boy."

When Hayes became President he was ridiculed for his poor horses and carriages. Despite this criticism he truly loved horses and set aside a special area of his home in Ohio as a burial spot for his war horses.

Garfield was also a horse lover and once said in a letter home, while he was fighting in the Civil War, "I never felt so much need for love and tenderness, I am lavishing my caresses on my horses. They have both been hugged and patted a score of times this past week, a sort of secret understanding between them and me, a mute sympathy when they lay their velvety noses against my cheek and pretend to bite my beard, I remember it when they are galloping with me on parade and wonder if they do too."

Theodore Roosevelt also was an avid horseman and became a cowboy for a time in e North Dakota. During his presidency he would take every chance to go for a carriage ride and writes of one occasion where the family went for a sleigh ride in Lafayette Park in front of the White House. "I have been so busy that I have been unable to get away until after dark, but I went in the fur jacket Uncle Will presented to me as the fruit of his prize money in the Spanish War; and the moonlight on the glittering snow made the rides lovelier than they would have been in the daytime."

Roosevelt?s two younger children, Quentin and Archie owned a miniature horse named "Algonquin." At one point Archie was sick in bed for an extended period of time and Quentin took the little horse up in the White House elevator to visit his brother in bed.

Calvin Coolidge had farmed as a young man and enjoyed riding. Sadly he became allergic to horse dander and could no longer ride. He purchased an electric horse that he would ride daily while wearing a pair of long johns that were too big for him. It must have been a comical site.

Franklin Roosevelt won prizes for horsemanship as a young man and continued to love horses even after he contracted polio. He received a gift of a horse?s tail that had once belonged to a famous race horse owned by his father that died sadly in a train crash. He kept the tail in the Oval Office when he was President.

Eisenhower loved horses and spent many days riding in retirement at his Gettysburg farm.

John F. Kennedy had a bad back and was unable to ride. However he encouraged his children to ride and while President two ponies lived on the White House grounds, "Macaroni" and "Little John." One day "Macaroni" tried to go into the Oval Office.

Reagan of course was fanatical about horses and learned to ride by joining the cavalry during the depression. Because of his love or riding he became a famous western star in Hollywood. Even at the end of his life it is said that the one thing that would bring light back to his eyes was the mention of horses.

Clinton loves to ride and would spend many happy hours with Chelsea at the Rockefeller Ranch in Wyoming. He also borrowed horses from the park service that he rode in Rock Creek Park in Washington.

There are few presidents who have not loved horses, and strangely enough they are also our least popular. The list includes Buchanan, Hoover, Nixon and the current President Bush.


Excerpts of the above article were taken from the book, "Horses of the Presidents," by Leah C. Taylor, Booksurge Publications (2006) ISBN 1-4196-2996-4.



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