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Join this channel to get access to perks: Want to learn more about Periscope Film and get access to exclusive swag? Join us on Patreon. Visit Visit our website 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 We encourage viewers to add comments and, especially, to provide additional information about our videos by adding a comment! See something interesting? Tell people what it is and what they can see by writing something for example: “01:00:12:00 -- President Roosevelt is seen meeting with Winston Churchill at the Quebec Conference.“ This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit
