I am fascinated with the history of horses in films and have been researching the horses used in The Lone Ranger. Recently I came across the following from a beautiful book Hollywood Hoofbeats by Petrine Mitchem.
The Lone Ranger began as a radio serial in 1933. The famous fictional partnership between the masked hero and his “fiery horse with the speed of light” began when the Lone Ranger saved Silver, a wild white stallion from a buffalo attack. Clayton Moore portrayed the Lone Ranger in the television series that debuted in 1949. His trademark cry “Hi Yo Silver!” preceded wild gallops in defense of good. The original Silver, formerly White Cloud, was a Tennessee Walker standing 17 hands tall. The twelve year old even-tempered Silver was a natural picture horse.
A second Silver was purchased as a four-year-old in 1949. He was half Arabian and half Saddlebred. He was extremely high strung and required the magic touch of Glenn Randall, Sr. who trained the horse until 1952. Silver number two was used to double the original in the action scenes, often performing the signature Randall famous near vertical rear.
I could not believe the power and beauty of this mare running in the Breeders Cup. I found this video of her on youtube that will give you the feel of what it is like to ride her with her mane flying in the wind. Notice how relaxed she is with her ears flopping. Enjoy a unique experience from the back of this outstanding athlete.
Jonathan Groff meeting RJ with Ang Lee on the set of “Taking Woodstock” in Millerton , NY. Jonathan learned to ride with me with only 2 weeks to prep for the scene. I started teaching him on my schoolmasters before having him ride RJ who is a seasoned Hollywood star. RJ was one of the horses who played Hidalgo in the Disney classic film of the same name. RJ spent months on the set in Morocco, Montana and California honing his craft. Trained by Rex Peterson, RJ learned to work like a pro on set with tthe cast and crew. Jonathan quickly learned to ride with the help of his background in dance and music, after all riding is all about rhythm and balance. Jonathan’s riding experience helped secure a role in Robert Redford’s new film “The Conspirator”, currently filming in Savannah, Georgia.
This photo was taken on this mud field for the last scene of the film. The groundskeeper watered the fields with fire hoses for two days to create the feeling of Woodstock after 4 days of rain. The ground was so sloppy that RJ refused to walk in it. The crew had to lay rubber stall mats to create a path for him to have secure footing.
Rex Peterson trained the horses for this western “Appaloosa” which is fun to watch, filled with humor and raw emotion. Rex used many of his horses for this film including Tuff, Harbor Mist, Cache, Copper and Tye. To learn more about these incredible actors visit the Equine Stars in Film
Horse genome unlocked by science
The genome of a domestic horse has been successfully sequenced by an international team of researchers.
The work, published in the journal Science, may shed light on how horses were domesticated.
It also reveals similarities between the horse and other placental mammals, such as bovids – the hoofed group including goats, bison and cattle.
The authors also found horses share much of their DNA with humans, which could have implications for medicine.
Horses suffer from more than 90 hereditary diseases that show similarities to those in humans.
“Horses and humans suffer from similar illnesses, so identifying the genetic culprits in horses promises to deepen our knowledge of disease in both organisms,” said co-author Kerstin Lindblad-Toh, from the Broad Institute at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, US.
“The horse genome sequence is a key enabling resource toward this goal.”
To generate a high-quality genome sequence, the researchers analysed DNA from an adult female thoroughbred named Twilight.
The horse’s DNA was sequenced using capillary DNA sequencing technology (known as Sanger sequencing) to reveal a genome that is roughly 2.7 billion “letters”, or nucleotides, in size.
In addition to sequencing the genome of a thoroughbred horse, the researchers also examined DNA from a variety of other horse breeds.
These included the American quarter horse, Andalusian, Arabian, Belgian draft horse, Hanoverian, Hakkaido, Icelandic horse, Norwegian fjord horse, and Standardbred breeds.
The team surveyed the extent of genetic variation both within and across breeds to create a catalogue of more than one million single-letter genetic differences in these breeds.
This is slightly larger than the genome of the domestic dog, and smaller than both the human and cow genomes.
So far, scientists have also sequenced the genomes of the platypus, mouse, rat, chimpanzee, rhesus macaque and, of course, human.
Horses were first domesticated 4,000 to 6,000 years ago. Over time, as machines have become the chief sources of agricultural and industrial muscle, those roles have shifted to sport and recreational activities.
I had the pleasure to show Belladora at Dressage at Devon where she earned 71.5% in Three Year Old Filly Materiale Class. Bella is an outstanding young horse for sale, owned by Diana Murphy. Contact Windrock Farm to schedule an appointment to try her.
Posted October 25th, 2009 — Filed under
Cari Swanson,
Horse Wrangler,
horses in film,
Rex Peterson
Tagged
Ann Hathaway,
Dakota Fanning,
Ed Harris,
Heath Ledger,
Jeremy Irons,
Julia Roberts,
Kurt Russell,
Matt Damon,
Miley Cyrus,
Nicole Kidman,
Penelope Cruz,
Richard Gere,
Robert Redford,
Tim McGraw,
Tom Cruise,
Viggo Mortensen — No Comments
What do Matt Damon, Miley Cyrus, Tim McGraw, Robert Redford, Julia Roberts, Heath Ledger, Nicole Kidman, Ed Harris, Viggo Mortensen, Tom Cruise, Jeremy Irons, Dakota Fanning, Richard Gere, Ann Hathaway, Kurt Russell and Penelope Cruz have in common?? Hint Send your answer by 11/15 to cari@cariswanson.com and if you are correct we will send you a tote bag with RJ’s signature hoof print logo
As a kid, Rex Peterson rode Trick horses and ponies–this one is Motor Scooter, performing at Rodeos and events across the country with his family. Click here for more Photos from the archives.
Tuff, Tutt, Tazz and Monkey in California. The field of “Blacks” are ready to be cast in their next film.
As a result of working in film for nearly 4 decades, Rex Peterson has designed several products to make horse training more efficient and safe. The Neck Rope designed and made by Rex Peterson can be used for many purposes, including ponying kids on their first few trail rides across country. It is important to get out of the arena as soon as possible for the rider as well as the horse. You can see in this video how easy it is to control the pony when he speeds up or wants to turn the wrong direction. This method allows the kid to feel the independence of riding while having a safety line for any errors.
