by Ellen Harvey, Harness Racing Communications

Freehold, NJ — There are a few things more dangerous than breaking young horses and driving in thousands of races under every kind of condition, with every kind of horse. There’s bull riding, walking on hot coals, swallowing swords and hang gliding. Hall of Fame trainer Howard Beissinger safely escaped his first 90 years training and driving horses, so hang gliding seemed like the next logical thing on the list.

Dean A. Hoffman photo

Howard Beissinger celebrated his 90th birthday by hang gliding.

For his 90th birthday on May 16, Beissinger went hang gliding in Lookout Mountain, Ga.

“I sure did,” he said. “It was an exciting time, turned out real good. My son, Orrin, came up with the idea. He asked me what I wanted to do on my birthday. I said I’m wide open for ideas. Whatever you kids come up with, I’ll go along with it. He arranged it all and all the family was down there and it turned out real good. It was quite exciting and I enjoyed it.”

Beissinger admitted the experience got his heart racing a bit.

“It was a little scary, but not bad,” he said. “I didn’t think my kids would let me do something that was too dangerous so I didn’t worry about it. For anything to be exciting, it has to be a little bit dangerous. When you’re 90 years old, it doesn’t make much difference any more.

“They have a one seater plane built to pull the gliders up in the air. They took us up to 3,000 feet and cut us loose and we’re on our own. Just floating around up there like a bird. It was a beautiful sight, I liked it. I recommend it for anyone.

“The scenery up there and you can see so far and it’s quiet, it was a beautiful day. It’s just a different feeling than you can get doing anything else.

“I don’t know what I’ll do on my 100th birthday, I guess I’ll have to sky dive then.”