This is a photograph of the fall 1934 Riding Class. These women
are nine of the ten Dickinson College students
who enrolled in an elective taught by Lieutenant Timins of the Cavalry
Barracks. The class was taught in spring
and fall, with lessons on Wednesday afternoons. Lessons took
place first in the ring, then extended to trail rides in
surrounding mountains and woods, long rides over mountains, and day-long
rides with a campfire as the finale. The
horses were on loan from Troop G of the Pennsylvania National Guard.
Tentative identifications of the women suggest that this picture includes
Lieutenant Timins himself, Kathryn
Dunkin, Geneva Jumper, either Catherine or Helen McBride, Mary Prince,
Elizabeth Dunbar Flower, and Eleanor
Fell Peters. It is uncertain who took this photograph, but given
the informal nature of the grouping, the tenth
member of the class may have been the photographer. The picture
appeared in the 1934 Microcosm, the college
yearbook. Interestingly, the sport was falling out of favor with the
College as a result of its supposed
"competitiveness." Stress at the time in women's sports was put
on "correcting physical defects or deficiencies
among the women."
Current Associate Dean Nichols of Dickinson College was involved with
a more recent equestrian group on
campus, the Equestrian Club. As the sport fell out of favor officially,
it was demoted to a club sport for which no
credit was given. The club was founded in order to allow Dickinson
equestrians to continue riding outside the
framework of classes. The club was funded by the Student Senate,
and was a member of the Inter-Collegiate
Riding Association, a geographically grouped association that promoted
competition between colleges. Members
of the Inter-Collegiate Riding Association must make a commitment to
attend a certain number of meets every
year, and to sponsor a meet themselves every other year.
It was with their own meets that the Dickinson Equestrian Club met problems.
Stabling around Carlisle was scarce,
and since many of the members were novice riders, most of the students
had no horses of their own. To rent a
stable and horses to provide to competitors required a large initial
outlay which was then covered by entry fees.
Unfortunately, the Student Senate was often not willing to make that
large outlay, or the money was delayed by
bureaucratic wrangling, so the club often found itself in dire financial
straits. On another interesting note, the
Cavalry Barracks barn, from which these horses were borrowed, is still
in existence today, although it is in the
process of closing. Dean Nichols calls the barn one of the best
in the area.
Maureen McIlhaney
Sources:
1934 Microcosm, Dickinson College Archives
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Dickinson 1934 is a project of Prof. Osborne's History 204 Class, Fall Semester 2000. |