This vintage real photo postcard features an image of a young boy riding a donkey. The boy is well dressed and is wearing a shirt and tie. He is seated on a saddle, holding the reins, and his feet are in the stirrups. Neither the boy nor the donkey appear happy. The reverse of the postcard identifies the boy as being Ralph W. Ruck and indicates that the boy was eight years old at the time of the photograph. Research reveals that Ralph was born in either 1906 or 1907 in Pennsylvania (this dates the image to about 1914). The 1930 US census finds Ralph living in Middlesex, New Jersey with his parents and sister. A 1936 business directory lists Ralph as living in Somerville, Jew Jersey with his wife, Bertha S. Ruch. Social security information reports that Ralph died in 1994.. This postcard is addressed to a boy in Jamison City, Pennsylvania. The postcard paper was produced by AZO sometime between 1904 and 1918. (SOLD)
THE CABINET CARD GALLERY 
A really interesting shot
There were photographers who would go around city neighborhoods with a horse or donkey and take photos of your children seated on its back. I have three taken at the same time – one with my grandma and her youngest brother and two more with my other great uncle and the last with the older of my great aunts. In the last photo, you can see that the horse had had an “accident”.