I don't usually do much more to an old rescued photograph than remove some of the yellow and bump the contrast to enhance the fading details.
This one, however, begged more. So a bit of restoration was done; a few repairs here and there. It was enlarged also, (relative to the mounting board) and a few distracting spots were removed.
An itinerant photographer would lead a horse into a neighborhood. He would swing a kid up onto the saddle and offer to take a "studio quality" photograph. What parent could resist? The practice was called "kidnapping" and was done a lot in the forties and fifties.
With the litigious society we have developed since then, it is almost impossible to do this anymore.
This is the original.
It's hard to resist something that is this cupcake cute.
As you can see, the photographer often carried along a few extra props. Here we see a sombrero and a lariat. Some brought entire cowboy/cowgirl outfits including vests, toy pistol and holster and chaps.
The really puzzling part of the above photograph is that there is no parent hiding behind the horse, with a securing hand, keeping the child from slipping to the ground.
See if you can spot the parent in the following examples.
Can't get enough?
Here is a page of rescued photographs taken by itinerant photographers of children and adults
POSING ON A PONY.
Go back to THE MAIN INDEX PAGE
There are now more than 4,000 photographs in the Lost Gallery.Or try out the NEW BACK PAGE INDEX
The most popular photographs 
An album of the most requested photographs in the Lost Gallery.
Area 51 and a Half 
You are probably not authorized to see these.
Don't take my picture!
Oh! You DID didn't you! 
This is a collection of photographs that disappear on the way home from the photo processing shop.
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Cabinet Card Gallery
One Man's Treasure
Penny Tales
Square America
Tattered and Lost Vernacular Photography
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FOUND PHOTOGRAPH
sites on the web.
And for postcards try
THE DAILY POSTCARD.
All images are the property of Lost Gallery and the author. Permission must be granted for their use. All rights reserved.
THE KIDS 
It is always a mystery
how a photograph of any
of these precious children
could end up lost
or abandoned.
Here are a few.
You will probably say
"Ooh..." at least once.
Dee and the Business School 
The beautiful Dee. A curious story; What do you see?
WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?
"What are they doing?"
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