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~ Raleigh NC – Ed Wyatt Chapter

The Western Film Preservation Society

Tag Archives: B-Western horses

THE SILVER SCREEN COWBOYS: WHO WERE THE REAL COWBOYS AND WHO WERE THE ACTORS?

09 Friday Jan 2015

Posted by jerrysprague in Uncategorized

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B-Western horses

Wild Bill Elliott

Wild Bill Elliott

Part 2: Those Silver Screen Cowboys who were good riders or became good riders

A couple months ago, I started a series on the riding abilities or lack thereof of our silver screen heroes. Part 1 discussed the heroes who really were great horsemen from the start. Unfortunately, my computer crashed and was out of service for 6 weeks and my articles were on the hard drive. Everything seems back normal now and I can continue on with the series. Sorry for the delay buckaroos and buckarettes! On to part 2!

I rate Gene Autry as a good rider and horse person. Some people questioned his riding ability to which he responded: It doesn’t bother me—you are always going to have somebody write stuff like that. What the hell? I don’t know where they get that stuff, though. I was raised on a cattle ranch, and my father was a horse trader and livestock dealer. I rode all my life. In fact, I used to ride a horse to school.

Gene took riding lessons when he started acting to get better and I think he looks quite comfortable on Champion, even in the galloping scenes. Gene was a decent athlete also. He had an offer to play pro baseball out of high school but the Western Union telegrapher job paid better. On some behind the scenes footage once shown on television, I saw Gene do an impressive croup mount, the one where a person runs up on a horse from behind and catapults into the saddle. That’s no easy task!

Rex Allen commenting on Bill Elliott: Bill Elliott was a man you had to admire. When he first got into westerns, he was a dress model. This man became a top horseman. He worked with Glenn Randall. A lot of people don’t know it, but Bill owned the world champion cutting horse. His name was Red Man. Bill was a cowboy, and I mean a good one.

Pierce Lyden: Bill had a unique riding style, which he taught me—a dignified style, easily recognized by Western fans. Once during a chase scene, my horse stumbled, and we hit the ground. Bill stopped the chase, and was the first one back to check on me. I was hurt, but on a low-budget picture an injury to a supporting actor didn’t always mean much. Elliot stuck his neck out for me. ‘We’ll do the scene later, ‘he said. When I was well, we did a retake, but I don’t think he got paid. People were more important than money to Wild Bill.

Peggy Stewart: Bill Elliot was my favorite cowboy. He could ride with a glass of water on his head and never spill a drop.

Roy Rogers grew up on a farm in Ohio and like Gene Autry, rode the horse farm animal for transportation. Like Gene, he probably rode their horse to school. Though never a real rancher or cowboy, Roy had the athletic talent to excel as a horseman. Director Bill Witney was very impressed with Roy’s abilities: Roy could have been a stuntman. He was a great athlete who could ride, fight, dive, and jump with the best. Of all the Western stars, I’d give him a perfect 10 in horsemanship. Gabby Hayes was a good horseman, too. I wasn’t directing the picture, but during a running insert at full speed, the horse Gabby was riding dropped dead under him from a heart attack. Gabby took one helluva spill onto the hard packed road. They took him to the hospital, but the next day he was back on the lot, and did the same scene again with another horse.

Bob Steele starred in a few movies but played bit parts in many other westerns. His peers rated him as an excellent horseman who exhibited a lot of tenderness and respect for his horses. He could do croup mounts, pony express mounts, transfers of people from run away horses and was generally a very good athlete. However, Bob was rather short and wore a huge hat so he wasn’t the most impressive looking cowboy….but could he ride! (perhaps Bob should be in the first category. I’m not quite sure if he was a good horseman from the start or if he became one.)

Next month we will consider the Real Actors and Pretend Horsemen.

Those Wonderful, Lovable Steeds of the Silver Screen

17 Monday Feb 2014

Posted by jerrysprague in B-Western trivia, Cowboy Talk

≈ 1 Comment

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B-Western horses

Can you imagine a B-Western without horses? Or can you imagine any western, past or more recent, without horses? But you know, there was something special about those horses who played in the B-westerns. For instance, we all know who Roy Rogers, Gene Autry and the Lone Ranger’s faithful steeds were (Trigger, Champion and Silver). But how many of you can tell me who Ben Cartwright’s horse was? Or Little Joe’s? Or Clint Eastwood’s in Rawhide? Or Matt Dillion’s? What was the difference in those early B-westerns and the later TV shows from the 60’s on? Well, in the later westerns, the horse was transportation. In the B-westerns, the horse was often the star of the show or at least played a significant role in the plot. And more often than not, the cowboy’s horse got second billing on the credits. Poor Dale Evans always came in third on the billings, right behind Trigger! In those movies, the horse was more than transportation but was a faithful companion to the cowboy hero. The horse could think, could see danger before the hero could and warn him, could untie knots when their master was tied up, could run and get help from the other cowboys when the hero was in danger, could run down the Roy Barcroft bad guy and do him in, and many other amazing feats. Why Champion had his own TV show in the 1950’s. One was planned for Trigger but never was completed. Several of Roy’s movies had Trigger as the central character in the movie. So, those old movies showed the relationship between cowboy and horse as a very important part of the western lifestyle.

But we know that movies often present unrealistic scenarios just to make the movie more exciting so I ask, “Can a cowboy have a relationship with his horse?”  I say that depends on the “cowboy” and his values. My younger daughter attended a Horse Training and Management school in Lamar, Colorado and received a 2 year degree in horse training. The curriculum consisted of taking at least 2-3 unbroken 2 year old colts and “starting” them  for the owners who paid a fee to the school for this service. So she was submersed in the western lifestyle and got to see first-hand how people viewed their horses. She actually lived on a ranch for a while where two of the family members were involved in rodeo. They viewed their horses as tools to be used for work and rodeo and nothing more. My daughter had her horse there from NC and it often came up that she treated her horse more as a pet rather than a tool; i.e., she had a relationship with her horse. So I often wondered if in the modern west that a horse

timthumb (1)

More than Just a Horse (A.T. Cox)

is treated as a tool. But then my favorite western artist, Tim Cox, who is also a rancher, painted a picture of a cowboy after a long day of work turning his horse out to pasture as he removes the bridle. His faithful border collie also lies nearby the saddle the cowboy has just taken off his horse. The scene portrays affection between cowboy and horse and is entitled “ More than Just  a Horse”. Of course, a print of this painting is hanging in my living room. The first time I saw the picture it grabbed my heart. In Tim’s description of the picture he revealed that he viewed the steed as more than just a horse, but as a partner. Which brings me to my old faithful steed, One Fifty. I guess I’ve been riding him for 15 years now. I started riding him when he was 6 and not long off the standardbred racetrack. I often wonder what he would do if I were to get hurt and fall to the ground unconscious. Would he run to the nearest neighbor, Bert, and alert him? Or would he just eat grass nearby me and then meander back home where someone would discover that I was MIA?  Probably the latter. But that’s not to say we don’t have a relationship and a trust bond.

Back when One Fifty lived at the stables, whenever I would walk into the barn and he would hear from voice, he let out a loud nicker. Or when I would tack him up and tie him to the front porch and then have to go run an errand a few hundred yards away, he would stand there watching me and nickering and neighing for me to come back. The owner of the stables once said at first it was cute but then it got annoying. When I go outside of my house today and One Fifty sees me from the pasture, he immediately heads for the fence line, hoping I will visit him.  He’ll come up to me and position the part of his body he wants scratched near me. When I go out into the pasture on these very cold mornings to feed the horses, he always greets me with a warm nicker. There’s nothing quite like grooming him, tacking him up and going out for a ride through the woods and around the fields near where I live.

No, my horse doesn’t rear up (at least not on que), untie knots (unless it’s his lead rope), or run and get help if I’m in danger; but he is “my boy” and yes, we do have a special bond! He knows that I love him and I know he loves me!

Jerry Sprague, The Wannabe Cowboy,  February 17, 2014

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