"Welcome"
[The top photo of John F. Ivory is from The Oakland Press]
[The photo below that of John F. Ivory is Saphire, a polo pony.]
I am Dorothy Clarke, one of the senior Roman Riders of
the John F. Ivory
Roman Riders of the early 1950s to mid 1960s
Back when you could get a gallon of gas, a coke, a comic
book or a candy bar for 10 to 25 cents.
A hamburger, an ice cream soda or sundae, a paper back
book or a movie ticket for 25 to 50 cents.
My first car, brand new from the factory, cost under
$2,000.00 and was purchased from a car dealer.
This site is dedicated to the John F. Ivory Polo Club
and Farm.
Jenny Castle and Shirley Wizmael came to Ivory's in the early 1950s bringing with them the ancient art of Roman Post Riding they learned at Thompson's White Horse Ranch in Nebraska. While at Ivory's they taught this art to willing young riders such as Doris (Butch) Ramsey, Sharon Lotz, Kathy Zeuschel, Barbara Kutz and Dorothy Clarke.
Roman Post Riding, now known as Roman Riding, was used as entertainment in the ancient Circus Maximus.
John F. Ivory promoted this ancient form of riding as entertainment for his internationally famous
(or infamous if you were the opposing team) polo games.
Roman Riding developed into Trick Roman Riding as the Ivory Riders formulated "Trading Teams", where 2 riders would actually trade Roman teams while riding them; "High Low", where a rider would ride both a pony and a horse Roman style; "Low Bridge", where a rider would ride a pony team between a horse team; "Backward Ride", where a rider would turn backward while riding and then forward again; "Death Cross", where 2 riders would jump their teams coming from opposite sides of the jump, coordinating their timeing so that they would both jump their teams at the same time. Always ambitious, the riders began riding and jumping 3, 4, and 5 abreast as well as driving and jumping 4, 6 and 9 horses in tandem while Roman riding the back pair.
Moving his precious horses, ponies and people to Union Lake where other young riders joined up along with Elaine Kramer and her 6 horse team, Mr.Ivory began hosting scout troupes and other groups. John F.Ivory also took his Roman Riders to parades, State Fair, circus and company picnics. The riders not only learned to Roman Ride, Bareback jump and drive the many pony hitches; they also learned hard work, long hours, much fun and that precious thing of balance and timing. Taking their expertise gained at Ivory's, the Ivory Riders branched out into Circus, Rodeo, and Horse Shows as well as working at the Thoroughbred race tracks.
"... Ivory loved sports in general and sponsored bowling, baseball and bantam hockey teams several of which won national championships, as well as polo.
Despite the failure of his 20-year effort to make Detroit a major polo center, he stayed in the Detroit area. and opened his 150-acre farm in White Lake Township and allowed his 90 ponies to be ridden by school children.
Weekend outings at
his farm attracted groups of up to 10,000 youngsters. Many young girls
learned to ride at the farm. Ivory claimed that girls were more adept at
riding than boys because they had more sensitive hands, a better sense
of balance and a better understanding of horses. ..."
excerpt from the Detroit News article on Polo
http://info.detnews.com/history/story/index.cfm?id=222cfm?id=222&category=sports
I am in all 3 of these photos. In the first photo, taken
at a parade in Pontiac, Michigan to honor the new Ford Edsel, I am riding
(from your left) Challenger & Don Pedro; in the second photo, taken
at John F. Ivory farms, I am riding Helldiver & Challenger; in the
third photo (color ) taken at John F. Ivory farms on the main polo field
as a possible advertisement for Ford motor cars,
Sharon 'Cookie' Lotz is riding Duchess & Little Sox,
I am riding Challenger & Betsy Brown, Doris 'Butch' Ramsey is riding
Dutch & Trixie.
I just uploaded an Article printed in the Oak Press a few years ago,
I will be updating this site as I receive stories & photos from other Ivory riders. I lost quite a few of my photos when I moved. If anyone has any they would like to send me, I will post them with the appropriate names and stories. If I have made any errors in identification, please e-mail me with the corrections. If you have any stories, and/or photos, you want to add, you may send them to me at: jfromanrider@yahoo.com or mousedance@hotmail.com
If you would like to link to this site there is a button
at the bottom of this page you can use.
If any of the John F. Roman Riders have a site and would
like a link here, just send me the URL and I will put it up on this site.
Other Horse sites by D. Clarke
http:/horsesofwar.tripod.com/ Tribute to War Horses
A new page for the white Horse Troupes
http://whitehorsetroupe.tripod.com/
I've created a yahoo group for anyone who wants to keep
in touch, just click on the link below.
If you're worried about e-mail from the group flooding
your mailbox..don't, there is a no-mail option and you can go to yahoogroups
and read the messages there as well as post.
Notice of new Guest Book, please dismount and attend.
Sign my Guestbook
View my Guestbook
Natural horsemanship training with Franklin Levinson
www.wayofthehorse.org/
MauiHorses.com
www.TheSilvaProject.org.com
http://www.efl.net.au
(970) 300-1868 World Phone Number
for Natural horsemanship training with Franklin Levinson
Here are the photos of Franklin Levinson and dad on their horses
Here is a slide show well worth watching
ELAINE
KRAMER,
in the cowboy
hall of fame
story here
Memorial to Jack Ivory (John F. Ivory Jr.)
Links to Detroit News Polo story plus Memorial guest
book.
Ask the experts at:Allexperts.com
Links
~~~~~
John Winslow's Trick & Romanriding Act
If you're looking for truck parts try Tim Becktold's Truckparts
page by left clicking HERE
There is even an 800 phone number for ordering.
Horse Tack Supply
http://www.horsetacksupply.com/
Near the stateline of KY. Shop our online western
store for equipment.
Major credit cards accepted with THAWTE SSL Secure
Shopping
Certificate
Women Against Domestic Violence
http://www.wadv.org/indexsodvs.htm
4 pages of Horse treat recipes at http://www.qtm.net/~mitchj/recipes.html
WebRing
page Index
Judy (Zupan)Hickson has favored us with a lot of old photos and 2 news paper articles. THANK YOU JUDY =) Below are the links to these old photos. Due to space constrictions I've put them on another Tripod site with a link back to this page. What am I doing now? Click HERE
to find out.
Newspaper article 1st page
Newspaper article 2nd page
Thank you Ivory Rider Arlene for the new newspaper article.
PAGE 1
PAGE 2
PAGE 3 here are the photos of Franklin Levinson and dad on their horses
PAGE 4
PAGE 5
Ivory Rider in White Horse Troupes
Hope you enjoy the show.
Photo December, 1994
Me Now Jan. 5, 2015
Web Site Design by Dorothy Clarke
The welcoming
horse photo is of Saphire, my first ever favorite horse. She belonged to
Jack Stafani and she used to nudge the ball through the goal posts, therefore
she had to be kept well back when the ball approached the Ivory goal.
She
was also the only horse I know of who the players voted to have a polo
handicap.
Most photographs on this site were provided by
Nelson
Photography
Lakeview
6-2527
11701
Lakepointe Ave.
Detroit
24, Michigan
This
is the way his business card read, from the 1950s
Thank
You, Nelson Photography
This
was forwarded to me via e-mail from an Ivory rider.
I think
this sentiment is echoed by horse women everywhere.
AN OLD HORSEWOMAN
When I am an old horsewoman, I shall wear turquoise and diamonds and a straw hat that doesn't suit me. And I shall spend my Social Security on sugar cubes and carrots, and sit in the alleyway of my barn and listen to my horses breathe.
I will sneak out in the middle of a summer night and ride the old sorrel gelding across the moonstruck meadow if my old bones will allow it.
And when people come to call, I will smile and as I walk past the garden to the barn and show--instead of flowers growing-- stalls freshened with straw. I will shovel and sweat and wear hay in my hair as if it were jewels.
And I will be an embarrassment to all who will not yet have found the peace in being free to have a horse (or pony) as a friend... a friend who waits at the midnight hour with soft muzzle and a nicker and patient eyes for the kind of woman I will be (when I am old)!
--submitted
by Trudy Hatfield, reprinted from the
Remember this motto to live by: Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, wine in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming 'WOO HOO what a ride!'
So.
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If you would like to link to this site you may use this button.
I'm in there somewhere....can
you find me?
3rd row from your right, 3rd photo down