What I originally thought would be a relatively easy project - a webpage on B western movie horses - was a bit more complicated and brain numbing than I expected. This is a start on identifying those great steeds, and as always, I welcome your corrections. I'll add more pictures and info as time permits.
One bit of caution on B western horses - while some heroes owned their own hoss or horses (like Ken Maynard, Roy and Gene), many simply rode whatever rental or studio mount was provided to them. A good example is John Wayne in his 1930s westerns at Warners, Lone Star/Monogram and Republic. Wayne rode all kinds and colors of horses during those films.
And No! ... I don't have a listing of cowboy heroes and their names of their horses. There's some weblinks at the bottom of this page which provide that. Trusty Steeds consists of pictures and movie artwork, with tie-ins back to the cowboy heroes and their horses.
IF your favorite cowboy rode a white horse during all or part of his career, check the following "White Hoss" pages first. These three horses were ridden by many western movie heroes over many years.
- White Hoss #1 - the "horse with a mottled face and many names" which we'll call "Sheik" (ridden by Wally Wales, Tim McCoy, Rex Bell, Dave Sharpe, Buster Crabbe, Ray Corrigan, Smith Ballew, Jack Hoxie, Reed Hadley, and William 'Hoppy' Boyd)
- White Hoss #2 - Jack Perrin's "Starlight" (ridden by Jack Perrin, Tom Tyler, Jack Hoxie, Big Boy Williams, Smith Ballew, John Wayne, Bob Livingston, Tex Ritter, Fred Scott, Jack Randall, Hoot Gibson)
- White Hoss #3 - "Silver/Silver Chief" (ridden by Lee Powell, Bob Livingston, Sunset Carson, Tom Tyler, Charles Starrett, Ray Corrigan)
And IF your favorite cowboy rode a paint often or occasionally, check the following webpage:
And more heroes and their horses:
- William Boyd / Hopalong Cassidy and Topper
- Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, the several Triggers, and Buttermilk
- 'Fat' Jones' "Steel" - ridden by Tim Holt, James Warren, Robert Mitchum, Randolph Scott, many others
- John Wayne in his 1930s westerns
- Eddie Dean and Lash LaRue
- Buster Crabbe
- Rex, "King of the Wild Horses" and trainers Jack 'Swede' Lindell and 'Chick' Morrison
- Bob Steele and his many horses
- RKO cowboys - Tom Keene, George O'Brien, Tim Holt, Robert Mitchum and James Warren
- Tex Ritter and child star Sugar Dawn
- Tom Mix and the original Tony, Tony Jr., Tony II ... and the several Tony Jr. lookalikes / doubles in THE MIRACLE RIDER serial
- The paint named Dice (Pair O'Dice) ("El Rey" in the serial ZORRO RIDES AGAIN) ... and the Cisco Kid's horse Diablo
- Sunset Carson, Allan Lane and Don Barry
- Tom Tyler and his many horses
- Chief Thunder Cloud (and his Sunny/Scout and Smoke/Smokey)
- Gene Autry and his many Champions
- Charles 'Durango Kid' Starrett
- Johnny Mack Brown and Bob Baker
- Rex Allen and Monte Hale
- Bill Elliott at Columbia and early Republic films ... and Betty Miles' "Sonny" ... Gabby Hayes with Elliott at Republic
- Bill Elliott, Allan Lane, Bobby Blake (Elliott and Lane as 'Red Ryder' and Blake as 'Little Beaver')
- Buck Jones and Tim McCoy
- The Lone Ranger and Tonto (with Silver, White Feller (White Fellah) and Scout)
- Ken Maynard, Betty Miles
- Hoot Gibson and his many horses
- Jimmy Wakely and Whip Wilson
- Jack Perrin, Wally Wales, Bill Cody, Reb Russell, Jay Wilsey/Buffalo Bill Jr., Jack Hoxie
- Ken Curtis, Dick Foran, Fred Scott, Raymond Hatton
- Max Terhune, Russ Hayden, Bob Wills, Ray Corrigan, Dennis Moore, John King, Bob Livingston
- George Houston, Al 'Fuzzy' St. John, Dave O'Brien, Jim Newill, Guy Wilkerson, Harry Carey, Smiley Burnette, Jim Bannon (as Red Ryder), Arkansas Slim Andrews
- Rex Bell, Dave Sharpe, Jack Randall, Bill 'Cowboy Rambler' Boyd, Gail Davis
- Kermit Maynard, Bob Allen, Duncan Renaldo, Leo Carrillo
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