Posts from kkaterinabella_007 in thread „Duke's Movie Horses“

Okay, folks, I'm back and I have a question!!! I want to know what horse the Duke is riding in She Wore A Yellow Ribbon. This horse doesn't seem nearly as impressive as the horse that he usually rides!!!

I just read somewhere that Ben Johnson is supposed to be riding Steel in parts of the movie, and "in the galloping scenes, a horse named Bingo!" Whichever horse Ben is riding is surely an impressive piece of horse flesh!!!

I just noticed that in the scene where they are leaving Flint Colehill behind with 2 Companies of soldiers at the river, JW appears to be riding a different horse. The blaze on its face is different, and there's a white sock on the right rear leg. I'll have to watch the movie again to make sure, but was hoping that someone else would have some info!!!

Jessie, Honeybee, and others,

John Wayne – Hollywood’s Greatest Cowboy – WARHorses

Here's a link to a site where I found some other info tonight while trying to find an article I read many years ago, about Cochise, the horse that JW rode in El Dorado.

I noticed that someone had already posted some info on Zip Cochise (I had never heard him called anything, but Cochise.) and the man who actually owned him.

I read many years ago that the producer and director, Howard Hawks owned, Cochise and wanted JW to ride his horse in the movie.

I don't remember the full story, but I do remember something about how it took great strength for JW to back the horse up in the scene where he meets Bart Jason and returns his money.

I see that Quirt has also posted something about this same scene. "The horse Cochise from El Dorado was owned by Howard Hawks. Duke said that it took a lot of arm muscle to back him out of Ed Asner's ranch."

I agree with those who say that Cochise was way too small of a horse for JW.

I had often wondered how Cochise's owner convinced JW to ride his horse. I didn't know that the owner was also the director and producer of the movie. - You learn something new every day, or at least you should.

One last note. In El Dorado, Josephine (Joey) also rides an appy.

Here's the part of the article (Telling of JW's horses) that I found to be interesting!!!

"In the 1930s Wayne was paired with a majestic white parade horse with a long, flowing mane and tail. The horse was called Duke, after the actor’s nickname. “It was kind of an inside joke,” Mitchum says.
During the 40’s and 50’s The Duke’s favorite mount was a large bay named Banner, supplied by the Fat Jones stables. “He was intelligent and had an instinct for this business,” Wayne once said of Banner.

In such films as Tall in the Saddle and The Conqueror, Wayne rode a stallion named Steel, one of the most famous horses of his era.
Occasionally Wayne would take the reins of Cocaine, the stunt horse used by Chuck Roberson, who was Wayne’s double in more than 30 movies.

In El Dorado The Duke rode Zip Cochise, an Appaloosa that was so small, Wayne appeared to be riding a pony.

Then there are the horses Dollor and Dollar which have confused movie buffs at infinitum. Dollor, with an “o”, had a much wider blaze on his face and different stockings on his legs than Dollar, with an “a”. Wayne rode Dollor (o) in the charging scene in True Grit. Wayne rode Dollar (a) in the sequel, Rooster Cogburn, as well as in his final film, The Shootist."

Honeybee,

Yes, I do understand exactly what you are speaking of.

I had never really thought about it, but was looking up some info on who did John Wayne's stunts tonight (JW did many of his own stunts) and found some information on the subject!!!

I had seen your remarks last week, I think, so when I saw this, it seems to verify what you saw in True Grit.

True_Grit_(1969_film)

"Veteran John Wayne stunt-double Tom Gosnell does the stunt in the meadow, where "Bo" goes down, on his longtime horse Twinkle Toes.^[13] In the last scene, Mattie gives Rooster her father's gun. She comments that he has gotten a tall horse, as she expected he would. He notes that his new horse can jump a four-rail fence. Then she admonishes him, "You're too old and fat to be jumping horses." Rooster responds with a smile, saying, "Well, come see a fat old man sometime", and jumps his new horse over a four-rail fence.

Although many of Wayne's stunts over the years were done by Hayward and Chuck Roberson, Wayne is on Twinkle Toes going over the fence.^[13] This stunt had been left to the last shot as Wayne wanted to do it himself, and following his lung surgery in 1965, neither Hathaway nor Wayne was sure he could make the jump over the fence. Darby's stunts were done by Polly Burson.^[14]

The horse shown during the final scene of True Grit (before he jumps the fence on Twinkle Toes) was Dollor, a two-year-old (in 1969) chestnut Quarter Horse gelding. Dollor ('Ol Dollor) was Wayne's favorite horse for 10 years. Wayne fell in love with the horse, which would carry him through several more Westerns, including his final movie, The Shootist. Wayne had Dollor written into the script of The Shootist because of his love for the horse; it was a condition for him working on the project. Wayne would not let anyone else ride the horse, the lone exception being Robert Wagner, who rode the horse in a segment of the Hart to Hart television show, after Wayne's death.^[15]"

^{The quote above is from the site noted, and as you suggested Dollor is one of the horses, and a stunt horse called Twinkle Toes, is said to be another. I had never heard this before and so thought to be of interest.}