Silver and The Lone Ranger

silverloneranger

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.