Alan Mays' photos with the keyword: toy horses

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of rocking horse . On the other side of this real photo postcard is an Azo stamp box (with four corner triangles pointing up) that indicates that the photo may date to sometime between 1904 and 1918. The back of the card also gives its origin: "Strunk's Studio, 750 Penn St., Reading, Pa." At first glance the boy in the photo appears to be posing with a rocking horse, but a closer examination reveals that the horse's legs are attached to a wooden platform. It may be the same toy horse mounted on wheels that appears in other Strunk photos. See, for instance, a cabinet card with Roy Peiffer on Strunk's Studio Horse, Reading, Pennsylvania .

Intended as a rocking horses photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. Handwritten on the back of this cabinet card photo: "Roy Peiffer, cousin. Born about 1905." (If the name and date are correct, then this may be Roy Peiffer , 1905-1990.) Photographer: "Strunk, cabinet portraits, 730 Penn St., Reading, Pa." I've been planning all week to use this photo as my rocking horse. On Flickr, I found a similar photo that's titled "The Rocking Horse Winner" - circa 1890 Cabinet Card . It's from the same studio and shows a little boy standing beside the same horse. I was surprised and disappointed, however, when I did some more searching yesterday and discovered another cabinet photo with the horse that's for sale on a military antiques Web site. Unlike my photo and the one on Flickr, the third photo on the antiques site clearly reveals that the horse is standing on a wooden base with four wheels--there are no rockers. Since I won't have a chance to get another photo ready to post before the end of the week, I'll have to throw myself on the mercy of the court and ask the indulgence of my fellow Theme Parkers. If anyone objects to my submission of a wheeled--rather than a rocking--horse for this week's theme, I'll gladly withdraw it.

A Kodachrome slide dated July 1959. After a hard day at the Big Rocks shootout, this diminutive Dale Evans has holstered her gun and is shielding her eyes as she heads toward the sun with Buttermilk (if she had waited until evening, she could have avoided the bright light and followed the conventional Western gunslinger practice of riding off into the sunset ). See also Gunfight at Big Rocks and Holding Down the Fort .

A Kodachrome slide dated July 1959. Still grasping her toy gun, this Dale Evans wannabe--with Buttermilk and Lassie by her side--stands ready to defend Big Rocks against the bad guys. See also Gunfight at Big Rocks and Riding Toward the Sun .

A Kodachrome slide dated July 1959. This little gunfighter is wearing a Dale Evans cowgirl hat as she holds her toy gun and prepares to take aim at the bad guys. Perhaps she's pretending that her toy horse is Buttermilk , Dale's trusty steed on TV's The Roy Rogers Show (1951-57), and her pet collie is Lassie , the canine star of the popular and long-lasting television show (1954-73). See also Holding Down the Fort and Riding Toward the Sun .