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The
Longview Horse Park
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History
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Loula Long Combs' first sentence was, "Please buy me a pony," according to her father, R. A. Long. Breeding and training horses was Loula's life-long passion. She entered her first horse show in 1896 at a fair in Kansas City's Fairmount Park. For almost 65 years, her horses won blue ribbons in shows throughout this country, Canada and England. She won the most ribbons at Kansas City's American Royal where she made a yearly appearance well into her 80s. To audiences' delight, Loula always wore a spectacular hat as she drove her carriage around the show ring. |
| Loula Long was born in the small town of Columbus, Kansas where her father had a lumber business. By the age of four she had figured out how to climb up into the horse stall in her backyard stable and was soon riding the horse as it cantered around the backyard. The Long family moved to Kansas City when Loula was 10. Mr. Long's successful lumber business was making him a millionaire and their big house on Independence Avenue had a large stable for a growing number of horses. In 1911 the family went to England so Loula could enter her horse in London's Olympia horse show. | |
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| While the family was away, construction was finished on a 72-room French Renaissance mansion named Corinthian Hall, located on Gladstone Boulevard. (It is now the home of the Kansas City Museum.) The mansion had a large stable, but was soon overcrowded with Loula's equine purchases. R. A. Long purchased land in eastern Jackson County to build Longview Farm where he had 42 buildings constructed, giving Loula plenty of room to keep and train her horses. On July 30, 1917 Loula married Robert Pryor Combs, also a horse lover. The couple took up residence at Longview Farm. Before she died in 1971, Loula Long Combs and her older sister, Sally America Long Ellis, gave146 acres of Longview Farm for the building of Longview Community College. | |
| From the Kansas City Public Library website | |
| Biography of Loula Long Combs, 1881 - 1971. Equestrian. Author: Dory DeAngelo , Collection Info: Biographies, Date: 1999 Photo source: The Kansas City Museum | |
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Loula Long Combs brilliant career followed her philosophy of life. Hold God in reverence; respect your fellow man; be kind to animals. Be a good sport: a humble and generous winner, a brave and cheerful loser; follow the rules; play a clean game. Her life started January 30, 1881 and ended in 1971. Loula was known for her love of adventure. When she was 12 and visiting her aunt in Kentucky, she went out early one morning and saddled up a three year old filly no one was permitted to ride. The filly bucked but Loula stayed with her and the the filly settled down. Loula rode her for about an hour. The filly had never been ridden before! In 1912 on a trip to Colorado she bought a gray cow pony and named her Speculation. She rode her in a quarter mile dash against cowboys held at the ranch out there and won! She rode her father's jumper and was clearing 5' jumps. In 1913, she was the first woman to drive a winner at Madison Square Garden in the Sporting Novice Roadster class. She won with a splint on two fingers and was the only woman in the arena. Barnum and Bailey asked her to join their circus, but she demurred. In 1914, she broke the world's record for heavy harness half-mile race for tandems at the Springfield, Ohio show with Aviation and Affection. The family owned 109 saddle horses in 1921. Loula once said she had always made pets of her horses..proving that show animals could be pets and still win, contrary to popular belief at that time. |
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