Famous horses in westerns of the 30's, 40's and fifties were Trigger, Buttermlk, Champion, Silver, Topper, and Mr. Ed.Trigger was originally called Golden Cloud. He was quarter horse and thoroughbred and used by Roy Rogers in his movies. Rogers bought Trigger for $2500 and kept him until his death. Then the horse was stuffed and kept on display in the Roy Rogers Museum.
Buttermilk, a buckskin quarter horse, ridden by Dale Evans had been an abused horse. A trainer discovered the mare, trained her for cutting competitions, and it was at a competition that the horse was "discovered" and became Dale's horse in all but six of the Roy Rogers episodes.
Champion or "Wonder Horse of the West" was a sorrel gelding with a blaze and four white socks. He was ridden by Gene Autry and had stunt doubles for most of his tricks.
Silver in the Lone Ranger was actually two different horses. Silver #1 was a white stallion personally picked by Clayton Moore. He was gentle and could rear on command. Silver #2 was high strung and skittish and required a trainer to work with him.
Topper was a white Arabian stallion ridden by Hoppalong Cassidy (William Boyd).
Mr. Ed was a palomino named Bamboo Harvester.
Did you have a favorite horse from a TV show or western movie?
13 comments:
Trigger was always my favorite, but I also liked Silver. I didn't know that Silver was actually two different horses.
Hi Becky, Yes, it was interesting to learn about the two Silvers and their very different personality.
I am horse mad and any horse in a film captures my heart - but particularly Cisco in Dances with Wolves. Apparently the bit when he is prancing about was totally natural and not part of the filming plan, but he looked so good they slotted it in.
Lily x
Hi Becky, Dollar was John Wayne's horse for many years. He jumped though fake glass into bars and swam rivers with the Duke on his back. Great horse!
Lily, That's fun information on Cisco.
Jerrie, That's interesting info on John Wayne's horse. I'll have to investigate if he was trained by the duke or someone else.
This was a nice trip down memory lane for me. But actually, my favourite horse is Flicka in the Tim McGraw film!
Andrea, a good choice!
Love 'em all!
I always loved Silver best, though.
Hi Paty thanks for all the interesting info on famous horses. My favorite one isn't a "real". He's the horse rode by Charles Main in the North and South Trilogy. Charles named him Sport. I remember on the television series Little House, Laura Ingalls had a horse named Bunny and I vaguely remember Mr. Ed. Thanks for the wonderful memories, hope your writing is going fantastic.
Sincerely, Debby Lee
LOVE this post, Paty! I grew up pretending I was a horse. I loved the horse in "Black Beauty" and the horse in "Man from Snowy River." Such amazing horses that gave me goose bumps every time I watched those movies.
-Lani
Hi D'Ann! I agree all horses are great!
Hey Debby! I remember Laura Ingall's horse Bunny. Writing is slow. Still researching.
Hi Lani! Great choices!
Paty,
I remember the TV show, Fury, and I wanted a horse like that.
Ilona, I can't remember that show, but we were restricted in what we watched. It had to be what the adults were watching.
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