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Arizona’s Singing Cowboy and his horse

Arizona’s Singing Cowboy and his horse

Gary Sprague and DustyOn a trip back to our former home state of Arizona, we spent a little time being tourists, including a walk around Old Town Scottsdale. Scottsdale promises a place Where the Old West Meets the New West, and by golly that’s what you get, in addition to a lot of jewelry and art stores. I found some neat southwest souvenirs at Mexican Imports on Brown Avenue but my favorite find was a singing cowboy on a beautiful horse named Dusty. Or maybe I should say a beautiful horse named Dusty with some guy on his back because Dusty is apparently more popular. More on that later. Gary has resurrected the once popular character of the singing cowboy in the style of Gene Autry, Roy Rogers and others, performing the not-so-easy task of balancing guitar strumming, singing with a smile and maintaining control of his well-behaved horse, while keeping an eye on fans who don’t always think before running towards Dusty and don’t always ask permission before reaching up to poke his nose. And sometimes Gary does this all while Dusty is walking down the sidewalk or through a bar. Yes, literally through the doors of a bar. If you think riding a horse can be tricky sometimes, think how hard it must be to do it under those conditions. The key is having a well-trained horse with a good disposition and tolerance for people and their unpredictable behavior, and having a strong and trusting relationship between horse and rider. And the fans are amazed. This kind of attraction seems totally appropriate for a town trying to stay in touch with its Old West roots. Judging by all the people who took pictures with Gary and Dusty while I was there, chances are good you’ll find a picture like that in many a slideshow of friends or family returning from an Arizona vacation.

As I listened to Gary play his guitar and sing, someone driving down Scottsdale Road slowed, rolled down their window and yelled “Hi Dusty!” and drove off. Gary tells me that happens all the time and in fact, most people don’t seem to remember his name, just the name of his horse. He didn’t seem to mind, though. Gary seems to be the kind of guy who isn’t looking to get rich doing this,  instead enjoying the chance to bring a smile to people in this modern world who would otherwise never experience an avatar of the fantasized Old West cowboy good guy.

Gary singing “Give Me My Boots and Saddle” from Dusty’s back

Gary Sprague has had this gig during the cooler months in Scottsdale (November through April, Saturdays 1-4 PM) for a number of years  but also mounts up for appearances at schools, events and even parties. Gary sings, tells stories, recites cowboy poetry and does educational speaking about the real cowboy way of life. His trusty horse Dusty does more than just patiently stand there, too. Gary has taught him a variety of crowd-pleasing tricks like crossing his legs, bowing and giving high-fives. Okay maybe not high-fives but after seeing this duo, that wouldn’t surprise me.

I love that there are cowboy entertainers out there still. For many people, this is the only exposure they’ll have to horses and I think it’s a good one. For horses to continue to be admired and respected, kids and adults need to be able to see them, touch them, learn about them and appreciate what they are. It’s too easy for people to ignore equine issues if they’ve never met a real horse.

For more information about Dusty and his trusty cowboy, Gary Sprague, visit their website – http://thesingingcowboy.com/ (heads-up – music auto-plays when the site loads).

Have you seen Gary and Dusty in person or a duo like them?

6 Horse Myths Westerns Teach Us

6 Horse Myths Westerns Teach Us

I’m a big fan of westerns. My favorites are the old black and white western movies and tv shows from the 40s and 50s. Sometimes it’s hard to find space on our DVR for modern shows because I fill it up with John Wayne, Gene Autry, Randolph Scott, and The Virginian westerns. Since we acquired horses, my interest in westerns has increased but I find myself paying more attention to the horsemanship shown. If you have any experience with horses, it’s not difficult to point out the problems often seen in these movies and TV shows. I love them just the same but I couldn’t help but make a list of some of the top horse myths these old westerns (and new westerns, too) teach us.

Wild West Myth:

Horses can gallop nonstop for a long time

Rider on galloping horse
Speed by Niko Dimitrov – ecobo, on Flickr

Reality: I have no doubt that the bad guys in these scenarios don’t care much for the horses they were riding but if you know much about horses you’ll realize that riding a horse hard for long periods of time will quickly wear it out; most are designed more for sprinting than endurance.  But in the movies, the bad guys run out of the bank they’ve just robbed, quickly hop onto their horses and race out of town at full speed. They are soon followed by the good guys and sometimes a posse that seems to chase them for hours at full speed as they head towards Mexico.

Wild West Myth: Horses are either always saddled or can be saddled on a moment’s notice

This makes sense in movies because watching someone saddle a horse wouldn’t be very interesting and would take up valuable story time. but it always seems whenever someone needs to ride a horse, that horse is always pre-saddled.

Reality: In the days before cars, horses wore saddles more often than pleasure horses today, it’s true. But today’s riders unsaddle their horses when they aren’t riding them for a while and preparation needs to be done before putting a saddle on. Its back needs to be brushed and the saddle pad and saddle need to be checked for debris, thorns and spurs that could irritate the horse. The cinch needs to be tightened. These things aren’t done in seconds but minutes.

Cowboy Mounted Shooting
Cowboy Mounted Shooting – note the balloon distance and the powder spray.

Myth: It’s easy to shoot guns while riding a horse. Accurately, too. And your horse doesn’t mind at all.

Every single western shows this. The bad guys usually aren’t good shots but the good guys sure are.

Reality: Moving targets are difficult to hit with a stationary gun. Sitting on a horse bouncing up and down, trying to shoot a tiny bullet into a relatively small moving target far away from you is considerably harder. Cowboy Mounted Shooting has gained in popularity recently but the riders are shooting un-burned black powder at balloons roughly twenty feet away (see photo). I’m sure there was plenty of shooting from the backs of horses in the old west but not nearly as much hitting. Shooting in general also wasn’t as common as westerns would have us believe, so it’s likely there were some startled horses when it actually did happen. Today’s Cowboy Mounted Shooters train their horses to be desensitized to the sound of shooting.

Side-note: Cowboy Mounted Shooting looks like a lot of fun and I would totally love to give it a try!

Myth: It’s easy to play a guitar and sing while riding a horse. And your horse doesn’t mind at all.

Silly as they may seem to some, I’m a big fan of the Gene Autry westerns. I’d like to believe there were good guys who sang a happy tune, always did what was right and protected people from the bad guys. Gene’s westerns usually began and/or ended with him riding down the trail strumming a guitar, singing a cowboy song with a smile.

Reality: Champion was one well-trained horse but most horses shouldn’t be ridden without a reins in hand and you can’t hold reins and strum a guitar at the same time. It would be difficult to carry the guitar when you weren’t strumming it and I think many a horse would rather dump a cowboy crooner who couldn’t carry a tune. Gene could sing but I bet most cowboys who try, can’t (me included).

Myth: Riding horses is easy.

Everyone in westerns seems to ride well and it’s probably true that back in the frontier days, most people knew how to ride. It was a necessity. But not now.

Reality: Those who can ride well now either grew up around horses and have been riding all of their lives or took lessons. Many (probably most) of those amazing horse scenes in the movies or on television were done by stunt riders who are expert trick riders, not the actors themselves. Even if you’re new to horses, it’s pretty easy to spot someone who is faking. James Drury, most famous for his role as The Virginian on the television western series by the same name, clearly knew how to ride a horse. In contrast, some actors appearing in westerns just seem to have a rough ride. They don’t look comfortable in the saddle. Anyone can learn to ride a horse well but it takes practice and it’s easy to pick up bad habits if you’re not careful. You don’t just jump on a horse and ride.

Randolph Scott
Randolph Scott and Maureen O’Sullivan in The Tall T

Myth: The hero is always tall, dark and handsome and usually gets the girl in the end.

Hollywood westerns almost always have a famous and attractive protagonist who saves the beautiful maiden and marries her, followed by happily ever after.

Reality: In real life the good guys come in all shapes, sizes, ages and genders. Sometimes the hero is a young girl who has no plans for marriage anytime soon. Mikki is reading an historical fiction book by Nancy Turner called “These Is My Words” that’s based on the very real life of her frontier great-grandmother, Sarah Prine. She was feminine but tough as nails and occasionally had to be the hero herself. Sometimes the hero is old, overweight, a little person or just plain normal, whatever that is.

I’m still adding westerns to my DVR, even though they’re full of myths, but I’m careful to remember that real life requires more patience, preparation and realistic expectations.

Please comment and let me know if you’ve noticed other prominent Hollywood western myths that relate to horses.

Goodbye Pinto

Goodbye Pinto

Gene Autry Publicity Photo

Gene Autry, perhaps the most famous of the singing cowboys, sang a song in the 1938 movie The Man From Music Mountain called Goodbye Pinto. It’s about a cowboy saying goodbye to his beloved fallen paint horse. The fallen horse Mikki mentioned in the previous post was a paint named Nipper. It seems appropriate to dedicate Gene’s song to the Millers, who lost their much loved horse. I wish I could play the song here but below are the lyrics. If you’re interested in the song, it’s available on a rare import cd of Gene Autry’s music appropriately titled “Goodbye Pinto” (the cd contains 21 tracks total). Unless you’re lucky enough to pick it up in a used cd shop, here’s a link to the only other place I’ve seen it for sale in the U.S. – Venerable Music (no affiliation).

Goodbye Pinto lyrics

Tis the end of our journey
Goodbye pinto
We’ll meet in the sweet by and by

I’ll be lonesome without you
Goodbye pinto
While you’re grazing new pastures in the sky

You’ll have a new range boss there
You’ll be loping on a golden prairie

And oh how I’ll miss you
Goodbye pinto
Till we meet again to ride the range on high

You’ll have a diamond studded bridle
And a silver mounted saddle with a ruby horn

There’ll be acres full of clover
With water holes all over
Are sure as you’re born

And oh how I’ll miss you
Goodbye pinto
Till we meet again to ride the range on high

Just like Gene and Roy

Just like Gene and Roy

The Old West movie poster“I should have been a cowboy…just like Gene and Roy,” as the country song goes (Toby Keith). A few weeks ago we found ourselves in a little country diner in east Tennessee, seated at a table surrounded by memorabilia from the 1950’s and earlier. For 10 minutes while I waited for my lunch, I marvelled at all the old stuff, especially a poster about a Gene Autry western called “The Old West.” I knew who Gene Autry was and had seen his name all over the place out west but I don’t remember ever seeing any of his movies. Stick with me because this really is horse-related. I rented the movie on DVD and last night we sat back and took in scenes from a simpler time…1952, and sometime in the late 1800’s, as portrayed in the film. Now in westerns, horses play a major role and The Old West was no exception. The movie has horses in most of its scenes including Gene riding, a stagecoach race, bad guy chase scenes and even Champion, World’s Wonder Horse, helping Gene pick some wild horses for the big stagecoach race.

Seeing Gene Autry in this old western made me even more thrilled to have the privilege of owning a horse of my own and deepened my desire to strap on a saddle and go riding.

Here are some interesting notes about Gene Autry and horses:

  • There were 3 official “Champions,” Gene’s trademark horse. 3 other “Champions” were used for television appearances, touring and personal appearances while a few undocumented horses served as stunt doubles and stand-ins.
  • “Lindy Champion” made aviation history in 1940 by being the first horse to fly on an airplane from California to New York (for an appearance at the World’s Championship Rodeo at Madison Square Garden).
  • Lindy Champion was a registered Tennessee Walking Horse (just like Valentine!).
  • If you visit Graumann’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood, you’ll see “Touring Champion’s” hoof prints next to Gene Autry’s hand prints. Could this be the only horse hoof prints on the walk of fame?
  • According to geneautry.com, “Original Champion” could “untie knots, roll over and play dead, bow, shake his head ‘yes’ and ‘no,’ and come to Gene’s whistle.”
  • Although the original Champion lived to be only 17 years old, “Champion Jr.” lived to be 35 and “Champion 3” lived to be an amazing 41 years old, dying in 1990! Wow!
  • As an officer in the Army, Gene Autry was allowed to wear cowboy boots as part of his uniform. He was the only officer in World War II to be allowed this privilege, though I’m not sure if he wore them only for ceremonies or for day-to-day duties as well.

For more info on Champion, World’s Wonder Horse, check out:
http://www.geneautry.com/geneautry/champion/index.html

For more info on Gene Autry, America’s favorite singing cowboy, visit:
http://www.geneautry.com

And for more infomation on The Old West movie, visit:
http://www.geneautry.com/musicmovies/dvds/oldwest.html