(Courtesy of Les Adams) Above, another day at the office ... Cliff 'Tex' Lyons (left) and Jim Corey (right) take a fall in Buck Jones' OUTLAWED GUNS (1935). (Courtesy of Dixie Carson) Above, stuntman Fred Carson does a horse fall while doubling for Victor Mature in ESCORT WEST (1959). (Courtesy of Andy Southard) Above: at the Third Annual Golden Boot Awards program in 1985, Roy Rogers presented a Golden Boot to friend and stuntman Joe Yrigoyen. Yrigoyen began his Hollywood career doing stunts in early 1930s Mascot serials and worked for many years at Republic in westerns starring Roy, Gene Autry, Bill Elliott, others. He continued doubling and stunting in TV series such as ZORRO, BONANZA, DAVY CROCKETT, more.  Joe's brother Bill Yrigoyen was also a great stuntman and did a lot of work at Republic Pictures.

I thought doing 'Trusty Steeds' was a chore, but this section is gonna be much more difficult.  Here, we'll try to chronicle some of the men and women who did all those wonderful stunts and doubling in the ol' B western.

• Before anyone e-mails me asking 'how come so-and-so isn't listed', please be aware that biographical info on most of these gents and ladies is minimal or non-existent ... and photos showing them plying their trade are also difficult to find or just plain unavailable.
  
  
• Also, please don't e-mail me asking something like "who doubled for so-and-so in the film GOWER GULCH GALOOTS" ... cuz I probably can't answer that kind of question.

Gag or Gags: term used to refer to a particular stunt or stunts.  Apparently a holdover from early silent film days when comedians did slapstick routines which were very physical and called 'gags'.

Running W: wire and cuffs were attached to horse's forelegs and run through slip rings on the saddle cinch underneath the animal.  The wire was anchored to the ground, and when the wire went taut as the horse galloped along, the legs would be pulled up toward his belly, causing a tumble.  Click HERE for an example - Yak Canutt taking a tumble on a double for 'Silver Chief' in THE LONE RANGER (Republic, 1938) serial.

Ramrod: term used to reference the 'boss' of the stunt folks --- e.g., Dave Sharpe was Republic's 'ramrod' until he went into WW2 service, and his replacement was Tom Steele.

There are also several stunt-related websites which you may want to visit:

John Hagner's Hollywood Stuntmen's Hall Of Fame is at: http://www.stuntmen.org/, and the list of the stunt men and women inducted is at: http://www.stuntmen.org/members.html

Pat Mefferd does horse research and has a website on various horses. There's also a section on her stepfather, stuntman Fred Kennedy (Frederick O. Kennedy) who was inducted into the Stuntmen's Hall of Fame in 1982: http://members.tripod.com/~horsefame/fredkennedy.html

There's a profile and filmography on stuntman Robert James "Whitey" Hughes at the Wild Wild West website: http://www.wildwildwest.org/www/otherbio/wh/index.html

Robert Callaghan's website on Jock Mahoney (stuntman, onetime Tarzan and star of TV's RANGE RIDER and YANCY DERRINGER) is at: http://members.shaw.ca/mahoney13/

The Stuntmen's Association of Motion Pictures website is at: http://www.stuntmen.com/internal.html

The Stunt Players Directory website has a memorial page listing scores of stuntmen and women, birth and death dates, very brief filmographies, etc.: http://www.stuntplayers.com/memorial/index.html

Classic Images has an article by Mike Newton on stuntwoman Polly Burson: http://www.classicimages.com/2000/june00/burson.shtml

Steve Jensen has a Clayton Moore/Lone Ranger website. Included is a section on stuntman/actor Chuck Courtney, who portrayed the Lone Ranger's nephew Dan Reid in the TV series: http://claytonmoore.tripod.com/chuck.html