Illustrator Robert Livingston Dickey was born on May 27, 1861 in Marshall, Michigan. His taste for drawing was formed early. As a small child, he was impressed by the skill of his maternal grandfather, a gunsmith, as he engraved bird dogs and hunting scenes on the lock and breech-plates of his guns. He kept working bird dogs and Dickey frequently accompanied him, not to hunt but to observe the dogs in action! His interest in animals soon extended to horses and he began copying from illustrated papers and making drawings of the prominent racing and trotting horses of the day.

The first Dickey drawing published was of a horse -- a pony and a cart -- which he drew to illustrate a poem for The Youth's Companion. He was eight years old at...