Roy Rogers appeared in quite a number of B-Westerns before landing his first starring role in 1938. (You can read about Roy's career on the "Cowboys" page.) When he was signed on to play the lead in the movie Under Western Stars, he knew he was going to need a signature horse like all the other big B-Western stars. The horse that won the part was a gorgeous palomino stallion named Golden Cloud. Legend says it was Smiley Burnette who suggested the name Trigger for this horse, but regardless of where the name came from, Trigger quickly won the hearts of audiences everywhere.

Besides being absolutely beautiful with his dark golden coat, long fairytale mane, and strong build, he was also an incredibly intelligent animal. His trainer said Trigger could learn just about any trick by simply being shown what was needed of him. He would respond to the yells of "Action!" and "Cut!" when on the set, understanding when it was time to focus and when it was okay to relax.

While Trigger often had to be swapped out with his stunt double during more intense scenes as he got older, he did continue to appear in Roy's movies and shows throughout the singing cowboy's career. Even now, almost a century after Trigger first appeared on a movie screen, he remains an iconic figure that will forever be linked with the American West.

Fun Facts!

➤ Before becoming famous as "The Smartest Horse In The Movies", Trigger was a rental horse for several Hollywood productions, including playing Maid Marian's horse in The Adventures of Robin Hood in 1938.

➤ Trigger wasn't the only famous animal to star alongside Roy Rogers. A Tenessee Walker named Trigger Jr and a dog named Bullet made frequent appearances in his later movies. Bullet even landed a prominent role in Roy's television series.

One of the biggest names in B-Westerns was Gene Autry, and one of the biggest names in the Wonder Horse gallery was his trusted steed Champion. A stocky sorrel with a recognizable face blaze and stockings, Champion was definitely a good-looking horse, but nowhere near as fancy as his competition. What made this horse stand out to audiences was his big heart and bigger personality.

Champion was billed as the "Wonder Horse of the West" during his time at Republic Pictures and "World's Wonder Horse" at Columbia. Both titles were well-earned. He was skilled at performing a wide variety of tricks on screen and at live performances. Among his many talents was untying ropes, dancing, and playing dead. He was so popular during his career that he was given his own TV show in the 50's as well as a comic book series.

Champion was not only a highly trained trick horse, he was also not above hamming it up outside of what the script required. He would often nuzzle against Gene for attention during the middle of a scene, would get visibly jealous if he saw his human best friend petting any other horses on set, and loved to insert himself into the center of a scene even when he wasn't supposed to. This almost puppy-like personality combined with his fancy tricks and action scenes made Champion lovable to audiences everywhere.

Fun facts!

➤ Champion performed at Madison Square Garden in 1946 and 1947

➤ Champion's hoofprints are beside Gene Autry's handprints at the famous Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood

Foaled on May 6th, 1940, this goregous black Morgan stallion was originally born under the registered name Anndy Pershing 8390. His rise to fame arrived in the mid 1940s. Republic studios had decided to produce a series of movies based on the Red Ryder comics, starring Bill Elliott as the titular character and this horse was cast as the character's famous mount "Thunder". In 1946, Bill Elliott was replaced in this role by Allan 'Rocky' Lane, who kept the same horse as Thunder during his turn as Red Ryder.

The following year, Rocky Lane's popularity as a cowboy hero landed him his own series of B-Western movies from 1947 up to the very end of the B-Western era in 1953. Rocky had by this point grown attached to his equine co-star from the Red Ryder movies and purchased the horse. Naming him Black Jack, he would go on to ride this horse in all of his remaining western movies. Black Jack was always given top billing right under Rocky's name in the opening credits and usually had an integral role to play in the movie's plot.

Fun Fact: Black Jack made two guest appearances in Roy Rogers movies. The first was as "Thunder" in Bells of Rosarita (1945) and the second was in Trail of Robin Hood (1950) - this second appearance is a rare chance to see Black Jack in color!

Rex Allen arrived on the scene late in the B-Western era, and was the last of the singing cowboy stars to ride off into the sunset. He starred in some great B-Westerns from 1950 to 1954, all of them riding his trusty horse Koko. A stunning Morgan stallion with a liver chestnut coat and flaxen mane and tail, he is widely considered the most beautiful of the Wonder Horses. Legend says he was originally going to be Dale Evans' horse, but was considered "too much" for her to handle by the stable owners, so was purchased by Rex Allen instead. He was trained by the famous Glen Randall -- one of the best known horse trainers in Hollywood at the time. Unlike many of the famous Wonder Horses, Koko rarely used a stunt double. Rex Allen and Koko starred in over thirty westerns together, during which this horse certainly earned his nickname as "The Miracle Horse of the Movies".

A clever palomino trick-horse that was half Arabian and half American Saddle Horse. Tarzan was the loyal pal of one of the early B-Westerns stars, Ken Maynard. They started their western careers with silent movies in the mid to late 1920's. Tarzan was a highly trained trick-horse who got plenty of screentime in each film to show off his talents. One of his more common tricks was untying ropes, frequently rescuing his human best friend from trouble. Tarzan's pale coat made him appear white in most of his movies, making it easy to reuse a lot of his scenes as stock footage in later western movies.

Fun Fact: Like a lot of the Wonder Horses, Tarzan had several stunt doubles. However, there is one easy way to tell him apart from his doubles - the real Tarzan had a large dark spot on his left hindquarters.

Probably the most famous equine duo ever, Silver and Scout are the legendary mounts of the Lone Ranger and Tonto. Appearing in radio, TV, movies, cartoons, comics, and novels. Over the decades, the characters of Silver and Scout have been portrayed by a lot of different horses, but the first to portray Silver on screen was a large white horse named Silver Chief in the 1938 serial. Silver Chief later went on to become Sunset Carsen's horse, renamed as Cactus. Most people who think of Silver and Scout probably think of the 1950's TV show, in which Silver was played by a horse named White Cloud (pictured on the right). I haven't yet been able to track down info on who played Scout in the TV series; please reach out to me if you have any info on this!