This 1969 episode of “Discovery ‘69” looks at the history, breeding, and racing of American Harness Horses. It begins with some footage of a young horse and how they are taken care of on a farm in Florida. This is followed by a historical overview of how the sport developed, from chariot racing in Ancient Egypt to the “plain man sport” of Harness Horse racing in 19th Century America. After this, a trainer shows how with incremental steps a harness horse is trained to start racing. The documentary ends with a harness horse race. (Note: Harness racing ended in Florida in early 2022.)
0:09 ABC opening sequence, 0:20 a foal and its mother in a field, 0:50 title “The Great American Harness Horse”, 0:56 opening sequence for “Discovery ’69”, 1:21 “Commercial”, 1:28 Hosts Bill Owen and Virginia Gibson in front of two American Standard Bred Harness Racers, 1:54 mother and foal on a field running around occasionally, 2:51 a herd of horses in a field, 3:31 a female groom preparing a special food mix for the horses, 4:17 horses galloping on a field and following the feed truck around, 4:40 feed truck drops off hay and pellets, 5:17 a little girl leading a horse next to a barn, 5:38 a woman begins grooming the horse, 6:51 men on a podium introducing and selling a racing horse at an auction, 8:23 a horse pulling a carriage, 8:43 a horse pulling a single person buggy in a circle, 9:12 slow motion comparison of a trotter and a pacer horse, 10:11 historical diagrams of ancient Egyptian chariot racing and 19th Century American “plain man sport” harness racing, 11:30 diagrams of the first American standard horses, 12:00 footage of famous horse “Dan Patch” standing and racing, 13:08 Gibson talking to the camera in front of a racetrack, 13:54 a trainer preparing a horse for training, 14:13 first phase of line driving with the horse learning about harnesses and how to follow instructions, 15:20 the horse hitched to a cart for the first time on a racetrack, 16:44 horse on the racetrack behind a car with a starting gate attached to it, 17:34 different horses on the race track, 18:22 horses being prepared for an actual race, 19:29 horses lining up behind the starting gate for the actual race, 19:46 race begins with some horses passing each other, 21:23 Owen and Gibson speaking in front of a racetrack and introducing the books “Meet the Horse” by Patricia H. Johnson, “All about Horses” by Marguerite Henry, and “Horse Farm” by Pat Johnson, 22:08 sponsorship message from United Airlines, 22:14 Executive Producer Jules Power, 22:19 Produced by Daniel Wilson, 22:40 a Jules Power Production in association with ABC News
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