Hi-Yo Silver, Away!

After last week's review about films and horses, I started to wonder about what sort of horses are used in films, writes Helen Black.

Who remembers The Lone Ranger and his wonder horse Silver, portrayed by Hero, the first to fill the shoes of Silver. However, few people realise there were two horses that took this role.

The first Silver was a 12-year-old Morab Tennessee Walking Horse-cross stallion that stood over 17 hands high, chosen by Clayton Moore, The Lone Ranger, in 1949 for use on the TV series just prior to its launch.

The horse's original name was White Cloud, although some of the show's fans believe he was called Traveller.

Also, in 1949, the owner of The Lone Ranger show purchased a four-year-old Morab Saddlebred-cross by the name of Tarzen's White Banner and renamed and registered it Hi-Yo Silver.

In 1952, it was shipped over to become Silver No 2, taking the place of the original horse, while John Hart briefly stepped into the lead role in The Lone Ranger.

The horse was trained by Glenn Randall who also trained Roy Roger's Trigger. Silver No 2 had the opposite temperament from Silver No 1, being a highly-strung stallion who was skittish of camera sounds.

The following year Moore returned to his Lone Ranger role, and continued to use the skittish Silver No 2. However, it was the calm and obedient Silver No 1 who would often return to fill the part when the scenes necessitated it.

One such scene in which Silver No 1 received the Animal Award of Excellence required it to drag the Lone Ranger to water. Silver No 1 was used as it was thought Silver No 2 might shy from the camera and step on Clayton! But, it was the highly-strung number two that Clayton toured with and used for publicity events.

Then to Trigger; there have been several horses ridden by Roy Rogers throughout his film and television career and all of them were called Trigger. The original was foaled in 1934, named then Golden Cloud.

Its first leading role was in the 1938 adaptation of Robin Hood, ridden by Maid Marion.

Rogers first met Golden Cloud when he was auditioning horses for his first feature Under Western Stars, once stating that after he'd ridden him 100 yards he never looked at another horse.

helen2blacke@hotmail.com