02/12/2021
There are several anecdotes that reflect the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln’s affection for horses. During the 1864 election, Lincoln alluded to horses as a case for his re-election when he said, “…it is not best to swap horses while crossing streams.”
As a young lawyer in Illinois, Lincoln and a local judge began joking about trading horses. They agreed on a trade with stipulation. The horses would not be seen beforehand and if either man backed out he would pay the other $25.
On the day of the trade, the judge showed up with a sorry-looking horse. The gathered crowd broke into laughter as Lincoln arrived carrying a wooden sawhorse. Upon reviewing the trade presented him, Lincoln proclaimed; “Well Judge, this is the first time I ever got the worst of it in a horse trade.”
One of Lincoln’s favorite horses was a bay carriage horse named Old Bob. Lincoln bought Old Bob while practicing law in Illinois. Following his 1860 election, Lincoln sold Old Bob to a neighbor. In 1865 Old Bob was retired to pasture but bought out April 4 to participate in a parade celebrating the capitulation of the Confederate States. When Lincoln was assassinated the following year, Old Bob was again brought out of retirement. Trimmed in a black mourning blanket, Old Bob served as caparison in the procession which escorted Lincoln’s body from his hometown train station to the cemetery.
Abraham Lincoln
(Feb 12, 1809 - April 15, 1865)
(photo of Old Bob from Lincoln’s funeral courtesy wikimedia commons)
