Let’s dispel the myth that Blackie, the horse that Tiburon’s Blackie’s Pasture memorializes, somehow swam across San Francisco Bay and wound up in the pasture, now park, that bears his name. Not true. Yes, there is an old black and white film showing a horse, pardon the pun, dog paddling in the bay. And yes, that horse might possibly have been named Blackie.
But on close examination, the horse in that scratchy film emerges from water in San Francisco, not Tiburon, not anywhere in Marin. And yes, that horse was black, all black. Yet, if you give the above color photo, circa 1962, a good look you can see Tiburon’s Blackie had white markings above his hoofs (and you’ll see the wooden trestle in the background, famous for carrying trains in and out of Tiburon from 1884 to 1968). So that’s the real Blackie and an open-water swimmer he was not.
A different Blackie, not the Tiburon horse, swims across the San Francisco Bay.
Blackie was born in Kansas in 1926, came to California at first to be a rodeo cutting horse then was mustered into the U.S. Cavalry where reportedly he saw duty in Yosemite. Evidently, whatever Blackie did was tough on his back and in 1938 he was, literally, put out to pasture. His benefactor was Anthony Connell, a retired clam and fish seller who parked Blackie on a field off Tiburon Boulevard where he could endlessly watch trains and cars pass by. As the years — like the cars and trains — passed by, children began feeding Blackie apples, carrots and sugar cubes until, on Feb. 27, 1966, at age 40, Blackie’s spirit went to horse heaven. And his body, with the approval of Marin’s Health Department, was buried near where Blackie had stood, some say motionless, for nearly three decades.
Today there’s an oak tree, garden and a white picket fence around Blackie’s grave; nearby is a life-size bronze statue of the heroic sway-back by sculptor Albert Guilbara that children play on; and the surrounding acreage is known as Blackie’s Pasture. It’s a popular weekend family destination — which is the ultimate truth about Blackie’s Pasture.
