After World War II, horse shows seemed to proliferate in Southern California. At the estate sale of horsewoman Maggi McHugh, I found several horse show programs that she and her late husband, Mac McHugh, had treasured, from the Annual Bar-O National Horse Shows at the Polo Grounds in San Diego.
The program from the Sixth Annual show, in 1947, featured a photo of something I had not seen before: a specialized horse show ambulance.
Ambulance service is furnished to the Bar-O National Horse Show through the courtesy of Gray's Hospital and Sanitarium, 110 West 59th Place, Los Angeles.
The ambulance is equipped to do minor surgery. A registered nurse is on duty to assist the doctor and to administer first aid. It is equipped with fire extinguishing tanks which spray snow upon the fire. The temperature in the tanks is 135 degrees below zero. It is equipped to pull your horse and trailer to any emergency call. It has eight ply, rayon, airplane tires for speed and safety. This service is offered free of charge to all horse shows and rodeos within a radius of two hundred miles. Just telephone Pleasant 2-7200.
Emergency Medical Services with trained professional staff were not generally available before the 1970s, so this hospital on wheels with a horse trailer hitch seems to have been a case of a horseman with a hospital finding a need and meeting it.
Gene Gray, the man who operated the hospital in the San Fernando Valley, was well known in the Southern California equestrian community as the "Silver King of the Cowboys." His wife, Dixie Gray, was known as the "Queen of the Silver Saddle." Here's more information on them:
https://californiahorsehistory.blogspot.com/2024/04/gene-gray-king-of-silver-cowboys-and.html
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