Blackie (American horse)

Blackie was a swaybacked horse who, for twenty-eight years, was a well-known fixture in Tiburon, California. He not only stood in the same spot in a pasture at the corner of Tiburon Boulevard and Trestle Glen Road, rarely moving, day after day, but he faced in the same direction, becoming the local mascot of several generations. Born in Kansas, Blackie was brought to California to become a cutting horse at rodeos. After his rodeo career, he was sold to the Army and became a cavalry horse, accompanying the Army horses stabled at the Presidio of San Francisco as they rode to Yosemite National Park each spring to patrol the park. He was retired when he was 12 years old.

Tiburon Blackie was not the horse who made history swimming San Francisco Bay. Tiburon Blackie had three white socks not found on the film of the bay swimmer. Tiburon Blackie worked at Yosemite and was owned by local retired military man.

A short time later, Anthony Connell, his new owner, put him in the Tiburon pasture where he found his spot and stood, day after day in the same place, for 28 years. When Blackie collapsed and died while standing in “his” spot on February 27, 1966, the Marin County Health Department approved his burial in the pasture. His grave was marked by a simple cross and a memorial plaque made possible by contributions from citizens of the peninsula. In June 1995, the Tiburon Peninsula Foundation erected a life-sized sculpture of Blackie in what is now known as Blackie’s Pasture.

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Historic video of Not Tiburon Blackie swimming across the bay

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