Two veteran movie horses with long careers increased the popularity of silver screen cowboys, according to writer Steve Hulett.
Jimmy Stewart explained his love for his four-legged co-star named Pie.
“I rode Pie for 22 years,” Stewart said. “I never was able to buy him because he was owned by a little girl by the name of Stevie Myers, who is the daughter of an old wrangler who worked for Tom Mix and W.S. Hart.”
“When Hart retired, he gave this horse to Stevie. Pie was a sort of a maverick and hurt a couple of people,” Stewart said. “Pie nearly killed Glenn Ford, ran right into a tree.”
“But I liked this darned little horse. He was a bit small Quarter Horse and Arabian. I got to know him like a friend,” Stewart continued. “Pie understood about making pictures. I ran at a full gallop, straight towards the camera, pulled him up, did a lot of dialogue, and Pie stood still.
“Pie never moved. He knew when the camera would start rolling and his ears came up,” Stewart said.
Petrine Mitchum Day, Robert Mitchum’s daughter, horse enthusiast and author of “Hollywood Hoofbeats,” said Jimmy Stewart rode Pie in 17 Westerns.
“They just became so attuned to each other that in one film, ‘The Far Country,’ Stewart was able to get the horse to perform at liberty when the trainer was not around.
“Jimmy Stewart just went up to Pie, whispered in his ear, told him what he needed done, and the horse did it. Everyone on the set was absolutely amazed.”
Beyond the work Pie did with Stewart, on film, he was also ridden by Kirk Douglas, Audie Murphy, and more than likely a number of other actors. There is no exact count of the number of films in which the horse appeared.
Hudkins Stables in Hollywood supplied horses to Golden Age film studios. In 1937, they purchased a five-year-old Palomino born on a ranch near San Diego named Golden Cloud.
Hudkins rented the horse to Republic Pictures for a low-budget movie “Under Western Stars.” The lead star in the film was the up-and-coming singing cowboy Roy Rogers, (originally Leonard Slye) and he bonded with Golden Cloud.
Like Jimmy Stewart with Pie, Rogers wanted to buy the horse, and Hudkins Stables was happy to comply.
But the stables drove a hard bargain. They charged the actor a then-steep $2,500 which would be $53,818.84 today for ownership of the Palomino that Roy Rogers renamed Trigger.
All told, Trigger had an entertainment career that spanned 20-plus years, encompassing 88 feature films and 104 TV episodes. There were also numerous personal appearances.
When the horse died in 1965, his earthly remains were mounted and put on display at the Roy Rogers Museum in Apple Valley, California, remaining there 45 years.
After the death of Roy Rogers, the museum was moved to Branson, Missouri. The museum closed in 2010, and Trigger sold for $266,500 to RFD-TV. He is now displayed at the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame in the Fort Worth Stockyards National Historic District.
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“Detours are a common aggravation for highway drivers, seemingly more commonplace today than ever.”

As much as drivers dread seeing a detour sign and attempting to follow confusing directions, no detour sign is worse.

That became apparent when major highways were barricaded off to and from the ranch headquarters.

Signs indicated “No Through Traffic,” but there were no detour signs. Drivers were given no directions on how to get from the main highway to other locations.

Hundreds of vehicles including semi tractors pulling heavily loaded livestock and grain trailers drove right around the barricades.

They were sorry for doing so when realizing through traffic on paved highways was impossible.

Cars and pickups were able to make U-turns and head back to figure out some way to find their destination.

For the 18-wheelers, getting turned around became a major ordeal. Several truckers jackknifed their big rigs and spent considerable time and effort getting turned around.

There was damage to certain trucks which remained stranded for extended time with their hoods up.

When headed back in the direction they came, drivers still didn’t know how to get where they wanted to go. While there were gravel rural roads, no signs pointed out which ones to take to get to any certain locale.

In urban areas, there are always detour signs which are often perplexing, but better than no driver guidance whatsoever.

“Why aren’t there detour signs posted several times along the highway before the no through traffic barricades which people ignore?” That question was asked dozens if not hundreds of times before any answer was provided.

“There can be no detours onto country graveled roads, only on paved highways.” That sounded like a probable Department of Transportation ruling. But it was no help to drivers who couldn’t figure out how to get where they wanted to go.

There are still no advance signs advising drivers that the main paved highways ahead are completely impassible. However, enough lost vehicles must have spread warning to others as there haven’t been as many forced driver turnarounds.

How they figure out which graveled road to take for their destination is complex, seemingly.

While road construction continues, promises are it’ll be “better than before” when completed.

Reminded of Proverbs 4:15: “Avoid it, do not travel on it; Turn away from it and go back.”

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XVII–36–9-3-2023