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64 FA L L 2 014 U N TAC K E D events at the Olympic Games. In 2010, Britain's Prince Harry played a charity polo match on Governors Island, the Financial District's sky- line towering in the background. And the dazzling white Lipizzaner stallions of the Spanish Riding School of Vienna have visited Manhattan many times, performing for delighted fans on bustling city streets and in Central Park. In addition to the famous equestrians who converged on Manhattan for a week every autumn, the city had an equally dynamic relationship with a contingency of plea- sure riders who cantered along Central Park's groomed bridle paths for generations. Stables were plentiful in the city prior to WWII, but as automobile traffic increased, saddle horses were slowly driven out of the city until one lone stable remained: Claremont Riding Academy. Located at 175 West 89th Street between Columbus and Amsterdam, and less than two blocks from Central Park, Claremont started as a riding school in 1927 and was housed in a funky, multi-story building constructed in 1892 as a public livery stable. Looking more like a tenement building than a rid- ing school, Claremont kept its horses both upstairs and down, navigating wooden ramps between floors. ere was a small indoor ring on the ground floor—its paneled walls painted green and white—punctuated by closely spaced columns supporting the upper floors. As treacherous as this ring could feel to the beginner, the real adventure started when a rider guided her horse out the stable doors and onto West 89th Street, heading toward the park. e horses that waited patiently at the light to cross Central Park West and shared the street with buses and taxis gave new definition to the term "bomb-proof " [see sidebar]. Claremont's tradition continued until 2007, when, due to financial constraints and the degradation of the six miles of bridle paths weaving through the park (once reserved strictly for horses, they'd transitioned to run- ning, biking and dog-walking trails), the stable finally closed its doors. COVER STORY AMONG THE LUCKY ONES: NEW YORK CITY ON HORSEBACK T he monster-sized garbage truck was headed straight for the horse I was riding down busy Columbus Avenue, at the height of evening rush hour on New York City's Upper West Side. Gears grinding loudly, the vehicle kept chugging toward us as I maneuvered my horse as close as possible to the parked cars along the curb in an attempt to avoid a truck-horse-human collision. With non-stop traffic whizzing by just inches away, I couldn't detour across the street, nor could I back up and turn around. e increasing chaos finally became too much for my mount, one of a normally bomb-proof string owned by the nearby Claremont Riding Academy. e frightened gelding started skittering sideways into the street. Certain death seemed imminent. Suddenly, the truck stopped and cut its engine. Two sanitation workers hopped off to empty a line of trashcans, and I seized the opportunity to hustle on past—calling to my 10-year-old daughter Amy, who was riding behind me, to stay close and move quickly. At the next corner, we turned into a blissfully quiet neighborhood whose streets would take us the remaining block or two to the stable. Breathing a sigh of relief, I glanced back at Amy. "Well, that was exciting," I said with a wry grin. "So, what's next?" Amy smiled back knowingly, because the garbage truck encounter hadn't been our first taste of drama on our afternoon riding adventure. During that six-day New York trip in May of 2000, Amy and I attended a niece's college graduation, saw several Broadway shows, and dined at restaurants throughout Manhattan. But more than anything, we'd wanted to explore Central Park aboard In April of 2007, the stunning news of Claremont's closing prompted dozens of Chronicle Forums read- ers to post a mixture of sentimental and humorous recollections of their experiences at the city's oldest continuously operated riding stable. You can read their memories at tinyurl.com/ChronicleClaremont. TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/GETTY IMAGES PHOTO Spanish Riding School performer Victor Pozzo shows off his Lipizzaner stallion during a press call in Central Park to promote the 37th anniversary "Dancing White Stallions" show at Madison Square Garden in 2007.

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