So, You Think You Love Horses? Some Reflections on the Nature of Horses and Man

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Presidents and Horses: Theodore Roosevelt and Bleistein

Theodore Roosevelt and Bleistein Jumping at Chevy Chase 1902

Theodore Roosevelt and Bleistein on Washington Streets

Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919) was the 26th President of the United States. He had a very interesting personality. There was something about Roosevelt. In a room packed with people he would have drawn your immediate attention. He was exuberant, irrepressible and energetic. There was a certain quality of that boy who never quite grew up about him and yet at the same time he was an able, effective politician, who was no one’s fool. He also was an avid horseman and one of the more accomplished riders to occupy the White House. He was born into an old and wealthy family in New York City but was a sickly child who suffered from asthma and was forced to stay at home. However, when he became older he decided that to overcome his physical weakness, he would force himself to embrace a strenuous life. Among the physical activities Roosevelt loved was riding and he spent hours in the saddle. He would often decide to ride cross county in a straight line and to clear any obstacle that crossed his path. When he was president he was accompanied by a cavalryman who was often hard pressed to keep up with his president, the former rough rider.

Roosevelt at Kettle Hill 1898
Painting by Mort Künstler

Roosevelt had a great deal of physical courage. His Rough Riders were dismounted but he was mounted during the attacks on Kettle and San Juan Hill.

When President Roosevelt brought his favorite mount, Bleistein to Washington. Bleistein was a New York bred, light bay, qualified hunter that stood over 16 hands tall. He was a fine jumper and was known to have cleared a six foot jump and even managed to clear 5-8 with Roosevelt on his back and Roosevelt was no small man. In 1902 images of Bleistein and Roosevelt clearing fences at the Chevy Chase Club appeared in the Washington Times. It was said that strollers at Rock Creek Park in Washington were forced to take cover when the near-sighted Roosevelt and Bleistein would suddenly appear at a full canter along the path, blazing away with a pistol at tree stumps. Roosevelt said of Bleistein, "Among the various horses I have owned in recent years Bleistein was the one I liked best, because of his good nature and courage. He was a fair, although in no way a remarkable jumper. One day, May 3, 1902, I took him out to Chevy Chase and had him photographed (see above) while jumping various fences and brush hurdles." Roosevelt found riding Bleistein a good escape from the pressures and cares of the presidency.

Roosevelt was an endurance rider as well. While out west he would ride cross county for as long as eight hours and once covered 38 miles of Long Island countyside in four hours, part of which was during a violent thunderstorm. Roosevelt was a horseman who never shrank from a challenge. So was the horseman. So was the horse. So was the president.