Dear Sterling, ramble on all you like, I LOVE hearing this stuff and I am sure I am not the only one!
Van Johnson made one Western -- well, it was a Civil War western. The title is Siege at Red River and I remember seeing it on TCM once and it was a rather interesting film directed by Rudolph Maté. It also stars Joanne Dru and Richard Boone. Watch for it and get back to us on what you think of Van Johnson's riding. 
Now about Wild Bill (not Bob) Elliott. I had always read Wild Bill Elliott had grown up around horses and was a skilled horseman. But I've also read a number of interviews with Ben Johnson, who doubled for Wild Bill in lots of his 1940s pictures (not just riding but in a lot of fight scenes) who said that he (Bill) didn't really know how to ride and he (Ben) had to teach him (Bill) what to do on a horse. If you can enlighten me as to Wild Bill's true riding ability, I would be grateful as this kind of discrepancy between the official history and what Ben said in his interviews is driving me a little nuts. To my eyes Wild Bill looks fine on a horse but I'm not a rider so what do I know.
Thanks! 
