03/25/2025
Found this interesting.
When I was a little kid, I used to watch this movie, Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken a lot and I was obsessed with this newly-blinded girl learning to jump on a horse’s back and dive off a platform.
It never once occurred to me to question whether or not horses diving into water was a real thing; I assumed it was just a movie premise. But as it turns out, starting around the 1880s and up until the 1970s, diving horses actually were a real attraction. I’m not sure what I thought “based on a true story” meant but it was not “this is based on a true story about actual horses diving.”
Apparently some did it without riders, and some did it with riders. Although there was not a single report of an injury to any of the horses, it was apparently quite dangerous for the rider. Lorena reportedly broke an average of one bone per year for the duration of her career, and Oscar Smith, an 18-year old, lost his life in a 1907 dive (the horse survived).
And then there is the fact that the movie was based on Sonora Webster, one of the first woman divers. In 1931, Sonora hit the water with her eyes open, and the impact caused both of Sonora’s retina’s to detach, blinding her permanently. She continued horse diving afterward.
The platforms used in the past used to be up to 60 feet tall, and the water below at least 12 feet deep, with some kind of ramp so the horse could find the bottom and walk out afterward. The Steel Pier horses dove anywhere from 2 to 6 times every day.
The most famous act was at the Steel Pier amusement park, and featured two horses, King and Queen, and was built by the son (Al Carver) of the guy (William Carver) who first had the idea. William’s daughter, Lorena, became the first rider. The show became known as The Great Carver Show.
