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.