Celebrity Horses

Your own horse may be a superstar in your eyes, but could he match up against some of these equine celebrities?

Cass Ole – equine star of ¬The Black Stallion
Every horse crazy kid who ever saw this movie about a wild Arabian stallion stranded on a desert island with a young boy has probably dreamed about galloping down a pristine stretch of beach, arms outstretched like wings, not a care in the world. While there were several horses used in this classic film by Frances Ford Coppola, the star of the show was the Texas born Arabian stallion called Cass Ole. Cass was born in 1969 and spent his first few years as a show horse, earning more than 50 championship titles in his seven-year show career including National Champion in Arabian Western Pleasure,1975, National Reserve Champion Arabian Ladies Side Saddle, 1976, and U.S. Top Ten Arabian English Pleasure in 1975 and 1976.
For his role as The Black in The Black Stallion and The Black Stallion Returns, the naturally black horse had to have main extensions put in and his star and white pasterns had to be dyed for his time on screen. He became so famous after the movies were released that he was actually invited to attend the Inauguration of President Reagan in 1980 and traveled the world to perform for his fans. He finally retired from celebrity status to his home in Texas where he sired more than 130 foals. The beautiful stallion had to be humanely euthanized in 1993 at the age of 24.

Golden Cloud – AKA, Trigger
Perhaps one of the most famous horse celebrities of all time, Golden Cloud was born in 1932 and starred in his first movie The Adventures of Robinhood at the age of 6. Roy Rogers bought him after riding him in his first leading role and renamed him Trigger. Surprisingly, the beautiful buckskin horse was not a registered Tenessee Walking Horse as so many believe but was in fact just an exceptionally smart “grade” horse sired by a thoroughbred to a crossbreed mare.
Roy and Trigger had a special relationship and together they starred in 88 western movies and the Roy Rogers TV show that aired during the 1950’s. Trigger learned 150 trick cues and reportedly could walk 50 feet on his hind legs.
Trigger retired from his life of stardom after the 100th episode of The Roy Rogers show aired in 1957. He spent the remainder of his years near the Rogers’ home in California until he passed away in 1965 at the age of 33.

TJ the star of Hidalgo
Though the story of Hidalgo was of an American Mustang who goes on to win the most grueling race in history, TJ is actually an American Paint Horse registered as RH Tecontender. The role of Hidalgo was played by 5 different Paints, but TJ got all of the close up work and stole the heart of his co-star Viggo Mortenson.
After the filming of the movie wrapped, Viggo had to own the super smart horse he had spent so many months filming with both in the United States and the deserts of Morocco. He spent a rumored 1.5 million dollars on the horse who he keeps at a friend’s home near Los Angeles so Viggo can spend time with his buddy while working.

Bamboo Harvester
No list of celebrity horses would be complete if we didn’t include the horse that played Mister Ed in the early 1960’s. Not much is known about this palomino gelding except that he was foaled in 1949 and was chosen for the role because of his intelligence and willingness to join the fun. There is some mystery around Bamboo Harvester’s death. One rumor has it that he died in Oklahoma in 1970, another that he died there in 1979. Alan Young, the human star of Mister Ed, swears that the horse died from an overdose of tranquilizer in Burbank, California after struggling to get to his feet.

Blanco
Most famous for his role as Shadowfax, the king of the horses that Gandolf the wizard rides in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. A beautiful and loyal Andalusian stallion, Blanco is considered to be the most famous living equine star. He lives in California with his human partner, Cynthia Royal.