Mystry Riders

By J. Bryan Wasson

Sometimes an event is so far from the norm that it just sticks in our minds. This was the case with what I called the mystery riders.

My parents bought a house at 1502 Oak Street in Abilene, Texas back in about 1945. This house was on the far south edge of town at that time. The street only went for about five additional blocks and you were out of town. Everything south and east was farm land and Mesquite pasture. In fact there was a Mesquite pasture directly across the street (east) from our house. I had that pasture rented for my horse. A few blocks west of us, the city limits made a jog and went five or six additional blocks south. Again beyond that, everything was farm land and Mesquite pasture.

We had a large garden behind our house. There was a barn, cow lot and chicken pen. In addition to my horse, we had a milk cow and chickens. I dearly loved the long eared equine in those days, but my parents failed to see any reason I should own such a critter. Although we had the advantages of living in town, our location near the southern edge of Abilene was much like living out in the country. This was my kind of living. Little did we know that within the next couple of years we would see the city develop and grow all around us?

It was not uncommon in those days for city houses to have a barn behind them. Many people had milk cows, horses and chickens within the city limits. Oh, how things have changed.

About five miles north and west of us was a large area of Mesquite pasture that was unfenced on the north side. I estimate the area was a section (640 acres) or more. I was not mature enough in the ways of urban sprawl to realize at the time that when a fence was removed from pastures or farm land, it was the first sign of development to come.

To a teenage boy on horseback, this wide expanse of pasture land was unexplored territory. As far as I was concerned, no human being had ever set foot on this vast wilderness of Mesquite trees and Buffalo grass. I often explored this pasture alone. Sometimes my horseback riding friends would join me as we rode the rangelands of yesteryear.

One day I was sitting on our front porch. It was not unusual to see horseback riders and occasionally a wagon pulled by a team of horses or mules in town in those days, but what I saw was a bit unusual.

Headed south right in front of our house were four young horseback mounted men. I estimated them to be in their late teens or early twenties. Each man was leading a pack mule. One man in addition to the pack mule was leading two extra horses. Except in the Saturday afternoon movies, I had never seen such a sight.

I watched as they rode out of sight to the south. I pondered on the meaning of this event for a while, but soon it faded from my mind as more immediate things such as feeding my horse, the cow and the chickens consumed my thoughts.

A couple of weeks later, I went horseback riding with a couple of my friends. We decided to further explore the uncharted expanse of unfenced mesquite pasture. When we were rather deep into the thick Mesquite, we came upon a strange sight. We were looking at a camp. There was a large tent set up. It was about the size as what the U.S. Army calls a Squad tent. In fact that is most likely what it was. Rope had been strung between trees to form a rather large rope corral. Four mules and two horses were grazing in the corral. The grass was good and the Mesquite beans were plentiful.

We started yelling, “Hello the camp.” That is the way they did it in the western movies. It seemed that no one was home as we received no response to our calls. We got a little braver and rode closer to the tent. We dismounted and tied our horses to trees. It is hard to knock on the door of a tent. I was very reluctant to enter the tent, but with a little urging from my friends, we entered the tent.

There were four canvas Army type cots set up inside. Bed rolls were unrolled on the cots. A rope was strung between tent poles. A few shirts, four yellow slickers, and a couple of towels were hung on the rope. Over in one corner was a big pile of Mesquite beans that I am sure had been gathered as feed for the animals. I was rather uneasy. I did not want the folks who were living in this tent to come home and find us inside. I said, “Let’s get out of here.” I was the first one out of the tent.


From time to time, I would see a single rider, sometimes two riding in front of our house, headed north toward town. I sometimes saw this scene repeated headed south toward the camp site. I never saw all four of them together again.

Both alone and with my friends, I continued to explore this pasture. I did not, however, get so close to the camp of the mystery riders as before. I would creep up through the Mesquite brush and peek through just to see if the tent was still there.

These four mystery riders remained camped at that location for a year or more. They were gone by the time the bulldozers came to take further steps toward more urban sprawl.

The only thing that is sure about these mystery riders is that I don’t know where they came from or where they went. Were they on the run from the law? Were they criminals, jail escapees? Maybe they were folks just like me who did not like to see the city growing around them and were just trying to escape urban development.

My own personal suspicion is they were avoiding the military draft. World War II was over, but the military draft was still in effect. Most young men in those days who were not working or were not in school were serving in the Armed Forces. One thing is for sure. These mystery riders were on an adventure and I would bet they enjoyed every minute of it.

Note: This story has previously been published in The Brayer, official publication of The American Donkey and Mule Society.

Them Ain't My Calves

By J. Bryan Wasson

Bill Donald was our next door neighbor in the Potosi community. Potosi is located south of Abilene, Texas. His farming operation had been mostly grain crops. He also previously had a small cow/calf operation on his farm.

Back in the late 50s and early 60s the U.S. Department of Agriculture had a program called the Soil Bank. The purpose of this program was to reduce a surplus of farm products. Farmers were paid for not planting any crops or not running livestock on acreage placed in the program. Crops or livestock on land in this program was a violation of Federal law. Bill had placed his entire farm in this program.

The “Blue Bug Inn” was a domino hall located at the cross roads at the intersection of Potosi Road and what is now known as FM 1750. The “Blue Bug Inn” derived its name from the fact that it started life as a chicken house. Each day area farmers dropped by from time to time to play a game or two of dominos. Some retirees spent most of each day there playing dominos and swapping stories. My grandfather, Jess Sterling was among the retired men who spent most of each day at the domino hall. Due to the fact that Bill had placed his entire farm in the soil bank, he spent a large part of each day in the activities of the domino hall.

These elderly men enjoyed a good joke. They started messing with Bill’s mind by telling untrue tales of extremely expensive penalties required of non existent violators of prohibited use of land bank acreage. They convinced Bill that there was a Federal Agent lurking behind ever bush. They also convinced him that ever airplane that flew over was a Government aircraft, looking for illegal livestock or crops on land in this program.

My dad and I had previously been partners in some cattle, but at the time there was nothing in our pasture but horses. I was a member of the Abilene Police Department. At this time I was working the midnight shift and therefore sleeping in the day time. At about 2:00PM one day, I was rudely awakened by the ringing of the telephone. It was Bill Donald. He was spooked because he had observed some calves in his pasture. He excitedly told me “your calves are in my pasture” and that he wanted me to get them out immediately. I was angry and immediately hung up the telephone without saying anything.

By the time I went to work that night, I was still angry about having my sleep interrupted. I went about my duties, but remained out of sorts. At 2:00AM, I had a flash of genius. I telephoned Bill Donald. After about 10 rings of the phone, Bill sleepily answered the phone with, “hello.” I immediately harshly responded, “Bill. Them ain’t my calves!” I immediately hung up. I don’t think Bill ever spoke to me again.
01-04-10,JBW

Note: This story has previously appeared on the pages of The Brayer Magazine.

Wild Horse Joe

By J. Bryan Wasson

His name was Joe Bagwell and he was a sure enough real cowboy. Everyone just called him, “Wild Horse Joe.”

I first met Wild Horse Joe in Abilene, Texas back in the early 50s. When I joined the Midland County sheriffs’ Office in the early 70s, Joe turned up in Midland, Texas. He was still breaking and training horses.

Joe could sure enough take the buck out of a horse and gentle a horse. Most of all Joe could put a rein on a horse. When Joe got through riding a horse it was much like a direct connection between the rider’s brain and the horse’s brain. Such slight pressure of the rein upon a horses neck was required that about all the rider had to do was think right or left and that is the direction the horse would turn. The horse would spin right or left with slight rein and leg pressure. The horse would change leads while doing circles or figure eights and stop on a dime from any speed. If Joe ever rode any mules, I was unaware of it, but if he had, I would have been extremely proud to have owned any mule trained by Wild Horse Joe.

Joe’s name never graced the pages of Western Horseman or any of the top equine publications. I guess you could say that Joe was the poor man’s horse trainer. He stayed busy and made his living by riding horses. Most of the top breeders, however, used better known horse trainers.

Joe was long on horse savvy, but he was a little short on “book learning”, sophistication and following rules. Joe did everything “Joe’s way.” I feel sure he never saw an A.Q.H.A. rule book. I also doubt that he ever heard the word, “dressage.” He did not know that he used many of the principles of dressage without having the slightest idea of the meaning of the word.

Along about 1957 or 58, I was serving as arena steward in a horse show. It was an open show, but we were using A.Q.H.A rules. Both registered horses and grade horses were entered in the show. Included in the events was a reining class. Joe showed up with a colt he had been riding and entered the reining class.

Everyone knew we were using A.Q.H.A rules. I guess everyone, but Joe. He had no knowledge of or interest in any kind of rules.

For the reining class, we used the pattern in the A.Q.H.A. rule book. Before judging of the reining horse class, one of the show officials put a horse through the official pattern as an example to help ensure that contestants followed the pattern.

Joe was about the third or fourth contestant in this class. He had ample opportunity to observe the pattern used with each of the contestants before him. Joe came out sitting tall and straight in the saddle with heels down and toes out. Joe had on bat wing chaps, and had his hat pulled down as if he were riding a bronc. He looked every bit the cowboy that he was.

When Joe came out, he put that colt through ever possible thing that the mechanical structure of a horse would allow. He put the 2 year old colt through spins in both directions, roll backs, sliding stops, figure eights and circles. He made that colt do everything that a horse could possibly do plus some things no one has ever thought of. It was a beautiful sight.

However, when the class was over, Joe had been disqualified and never knew why. I am sure that no one could have ever explained it to him. He did not in any way come close to the official pattern set for the reining class as specified in the A.Q.H.A. Rule book. The truth was that as far as the things that the colt Joe rode could do, the colt was the best reined horse there. The horse did every maneuver that was asked of him. Joe just did not understand and follow the rules

I would have loved to own any horse or mule that Wild Horse Joe had trained. In my mind, the good part of Joe’s methods was that he never considered the rein in each hand plow lining that is becoming so popular and considered by some to be “reining” today. Joe put a true neck rein on the horses he trained.

Note: This article has been previously published in the Brayer Magazine published by the American Donkey and Mule Society (ADMS)

May 16, 2005, JBW

The Hay Ride

By J. Bryan Wasson

It was in the fall of 1949. I was a senior at Abilene (Texas) High School. I lived with my parents on a farm in the Potosi community, south of Abilene. The youth group of Potosi Baptist Church wanted to have a hay ride. Someone in the group said, "My father has a wagon, but nothing to pull it with, but a tractor or a pickup.
They wanted the wagon to be pulled by a real live team of equines, not a piece of machinery like a tractor or a pickup truck.

I volunteered to locate a team to pull the wagon. That proved to be much easier said than done. Getting the team together over the next three or four weeks, however, proved to be more fun than the actual hay ride.

There were four or five sets of harness hanging in our barn. There were collars, hames, traces, back bands, belly bands, breeching, everything that was needed. The problem was that the harness was old, unused for many years, dry, brittle and could have soaked up gallons of neets foot oil. The major problem, however, was that there was no team that this harness could be used on.

I had a good saddle horse, a sorrel mare that I called Lady. I knew that Lady would not pull a wagon, because I had already hitched her up to a Georgia stock plow, and that proved to be a disaster. She had run away with the plow, tearing down fences, chicken houses, and mesquite brush. I thought that I would never catch the mare. It was a miracle that she was not injured.

After a week or so, I located a man in the area who had a big brown gelding that he used as a saddle horse. He told me that the horse would also work, single or double. I now had half of a team to pull the wagon.

The man told me I could keep the horse as long as I wanted to so I took the horse home. I was feeding the horse so I decided to ride him often during the time I had him in my possession.

The second half of the team was more difficult to locate. One friend, a few miles up the road had a mule grazing in his pasture. The mule had been retired for many years. This mule was the only draft animal he had left after he switched from horse power (mule power in this case) to tractor power on his farm. He did not want to take his old mule out of retirement to pull a hay ride wagon loaded with a bunch of loud high school kids. His feelings about his old mule were understandable.

Harry Holt was an area farmer and rancher who was well known for his farm and ranch radio and TV shows. Harry Holt continues to do a farm and ranch radio and TV shows in Abilene. Harry Holt had a farm between Potosi and Abilene. I had often seen a small brown Jack grazing in the pasture at this farm; I drove over there and talked to the man who ran the farm for Harry Holt. The little Jack did not weigh over 600 pounds, but the farm manager said that he could be ridden and worked well in harness, single or double. I had the other half of my team. A strange looking team it would be, however, made up of a big brown horse and a little brown donkey. Hey, it was a matched team that is, if color is the only matter to consider in creating a matched team.

I hauled the jack home in a trailer and put him in the pasture with his team mate and my mare, Lady. In the back of my mind I thought it would be nice if this visit from the jack resulted in a mule foal. She was not, however, in this cool part of the year, in season. There would be no mule foal.

It was difficult to alter a set of harness to fit the little brown jack. A lot of padding was required in the collar. I spent a few days working on the harness and a few more days of "dry runs" with this strange looking team pulling the wagon.

One day I decided to ride the jack. I rode sitting on his hips, in the manner in which donkeys are ridden in many foreign countries today. I rode a few miles and stopped to visit with a friend, Joe Bynum for a while, then continued my ride home. The jack exploded. From my rear seat position, I don’t think I ever went higher in the air or hit the ground harder. Present day bull riders refer to this type of buck off as being bucked off from the "back door" or "a back door dismount."

The night of the long planned hayride arrived at last. The weather changed from cool to cold and then to very cold. It was what we call a "Texas blue norther.’’ Someone in the Panhandle of Texas had "left the north gate open."

I hitched up the team, but then had some last minute problems with the old, worn out and over sized harness for the little jack. The cold north wind was not helping the situation any.

The best that I can remember is that I rode in the pickup truck that pulled the hay ride wagon that night.

01-25-02, JBW

The Silver Screen Cowboys

Looking Back – The Silver Screen Cowboys
By J. Bryan Wasson

If there was ever a group of people that influenced my life, it was the silver screen cowboys. I suspect that it was much the same with nearly everyone who is over 50 years of age today.

Every Saturday afternoon was spent at a local movie theater watching B westerns, frequently known as, “horse operas.” On some occasion it was a double feature, but that made it twice as good. I once sat through the same movie five times. I no longer remember the outcome, but I am sure I was very late getting home and I am also sure my parents were not very happy.

A typical Saturday for me went much like this. I would walk or ride a city bus to the downtown central business district of Abilene, Texas. At that point there were five movie theaters in downtown, Abilene. Soon there would be a 6th. Now there is only one, The Paramount. I nearly always went to either the Queen Theater or to the Paramount Theater.

At the Queen Theater, at 12 noon each Saturday there was a live stage show to start the afternoon. There was live entertainment which sometimes included a cowboy movie star or more often, some local talent. Banner Creamery of Abilene, Texas sponsored this program. There were always prizes that could be obtained by means of a specific number of aluminum foil milk bottle tops. The sponsors had worked out a method that did not require the counting of these milk bottle tops. A hole was punched in the center of the tops. Two or three big knots were tied in the end of a piece of string. Then the string was threaded through the holes in the bottle tops. The sponsors had predetermined based upon the length of a string of bottle tops, how many were in each string. Some kids saved the milk bottle tops for weeks or months. A few weeks were the most I could save before I decided to take in my bottle tops.

That is why I never claimed the big prize even though it was what I wanted. The grand prize, always saved for last, was a pair of chrome plated, engraved Hopalong Cassidy cap pistols with a steer head embossed on the genuine, simulated ivory, (plastic) grips. There was a pair of holsters attached to a matching white leather, studded, red reflector mounted belt. Looking back, I suspect the belt and holsters were made of what is known as split leather which is nothing more that an extremely thin layer of leather, bonded to a man made substance which at the time, was most likely cardboard.

The pre movie show at the Paramount was much the same, but it always had a patriotic theme. This was during World War II. In fact it was claimed that this was the meeting of a club known as Defend US All Guards. Each club member was given a military style red, white, and blue overseas cap with the words, “Defend US All Guards” on the side. Somehow we were made to believe that we were contributing to the war effort by attending these so called meetings.

Immediately after the live stage show, there were previews, a cartoon, and a chapter of a serial. These serials often starred some of the same “cowboys” that were in the B Western “horse operas.” They always ended with the hero in such a position that there was no possible way for survival. This always brought folks back the next Saturday to find out what had happened to the hero. The next thing on the agenda was the feature, the B Western starring one of my favorite Cowboy stars.

These movies always had the same plot. A bad man was always up to some illegal scam that would cause harm to the local ranchers. The bad man was always assisted by a group of his equally bad henchmen. Then the hero, the good guy came upon the scene. He always had a side kick. In the case of the singing cowboys, there was often a group such as The Sons of the Pioneers or Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys that assisted the hero.

These movies were clean, wholesome entertainment. Good always prevailed over evil. Right always superceded wrong. The good guys always won. These movies were always bloodless. Frequently, shooting from the hip, a gun was shot out of the hand of the bad guy by the good guy. People got shot, they fell, and sometimes died, but the blood and gore of modern movies was not present. In fact, it was often entertaining to watch all the gyrations a person would go through before falling. I never ceased to enjoy the six shot revolvers that fired 15 or 20 times before it was necessary to reload.

There were always chase scenes. I enjoyed watching to see how many times the same location appeared in a single chase. There were usually some night time scenes. These scenes were actually shot in the day time with the camera light reduced. I was just a child, but I knew horses. Many doubles were used for the horses. I enjoyed watching to see when a different horse was used to portray a specific horse. Most often this was the horse ridden by the hero. Many of the horse “stars” were extremely valuable. Doubles were used in all dangerous scenes. In fact the true equine stars were often only used in close ups.

Silent movies were the only thing available during the 1900s. These first films usually lasted no more than 15 minutes. About 1913, a “Star” system was adopted which publicized named individual actors and actresses. The term, “Movie Star” was thus born. By 1920 silent movies had become extremely popular. Sound was not added to motion pictures until 1927. Color films were available from the 1930s, but were not common until the 1950s.

The first “Silver Screen Cowboy” was William S. Hart. He appeared in silent movies. This was slightly before my time. One of the most important of the early cowboy stars was Tom Mix and his horse Tony. Tony was billed as, “The Wonder Horse.” Tom Mix appeared in both silent movies as well as the early “talkies.” Tom Mix and Tony also appeared in Circuses and Wild West Shows. It has been said that Tom Mix created his own pre movie Star background. I have read and heard the claim that Tom Mix was once a Texas Ranger. I have never found any evidence that this was true.

Henry W. Gaffney of Lititz, Pennsylvania, an ADMS member, recently sent me a photo of Tom Mix and Tony, the original of which was given to him by Tom Mix back in Mister Gaffney’s childhood. It is with great appreciation that I have added this photo to my cowboy collection.

By the time I was in High School, Tom Mix was a long time deceased. The Ralston Purina Company, however, sponsored the Tom Mix Show on radio every afternoon at about 5:00PM. A radio actor played Tom Mix. Sound effects created Tony as well as all the action. Tom Mix and Tony got into and out of all kinds of complicated situations. At the time, we were living on the family farm at Potosi, south of Abilene. My Father and my Mother both worked in town. I had an aunt and uncle who lived a few blocks from Abilene High School. I would walk to the home of my aunt and uncle and listen to the Tom Mix Show each day after school. There was even a theme song that started, “Shredded Ralston for your breakfast starts the day off shining bright, it’s a warm up build up breakfast, and it makes you feel just right.” It made the listeners believe that Tom Mix, even though deceased, started each day with this same breakfast. It most likely sold a lot of breakfast cereal.

I can no longer name all of my cowboy heroes. One that stands out in my mind is Charles Starrett. I got to see him and his Palomino horse in person at the Linda Theater on Pine Street in Abilene. Many years later as an Abilene Police Officer, I had the occasion to be back stage in the Linda Theater. There were doors that opened into the alley and a very small room behind the stage with about three steps going up to the stage. I have no earthly idea how they got that horse up on the stage, but they did.

Some of my other movie cowboy heroes were Ken Maynard, Tim Holt, Tim McCoy, Johnny Mack Brown, Don Red Berry, Buck Jones, Robert Ryan, and many more that I can no longer name.

William “Bill” Boyd using the name Hopalong Cassidy or Hoppy was another extremely popular silver screen cowboy. The Hopalong name came about by a limp that was used in his first couple of movies. The story indicated the limp was due to a gunshot wound to the leg. Soon the limp faded away, but the name stayed.

It has often said concerning Western movies that, “good guys always wear white hats.” Hopalong Cassidy was an exception to this rule. He most often wore a black hat and black clothing. William Boyd had white hair and he rode a white horse. His white hair and his white horse really stood out, contrasting that black hat and black clothing.

There was probably as much merchandising of Hopalong Cassidy products as there was for Gene Autry and Roy Rogers merchandise. There were mugs and lunch boxes and many other items. I have a Hopalong Cassidy mug in my collection. For years I have searched for a Gene Autry or Roy Rogers guitar. Those I have found have been in extremely poor condition with an extremely high price.

Some movie cowboys rode unusual horses. One such actor was Bob Steel. He rode a horse of a color that was sometimes called, a “black Palomino.” These horses are Palominos with so much dark dappling that it makes the coat color appear to be black or near black dependant upon the extent of dappling. In those early black and white movies, the black appearance was enhanced. This dark color enhanced the white mane and tail. There was another thing unusual about Bob Steel in that he appeared in movies as both the hero and as the villain. I guess that is one of the marks of a great actor. They can play any part.

Randolph Scott was a cowboy star, but he also played in other type roles. He like Bob Steel rode an unusual horse. The horse was sorrel with a white rather than flaxen mane and tail. I often suspected the mane and tail might have achieved this lack of color by means of bleach or possibly mane and tail whitener often used on Palominos in preparation for the show ring. Randolph Scott played in both B westerns and A westerns.

There was another category of movie cowboys. These were the “Singing Cowboys.” The first of these was known as Singing Sandy. He was none other than Marion Morrison who later adopted the name, John Wayne. Singing Sandy, the first singing cowboy could not sing. All the singing was dubbed in. As John Wayne he made many movies classed as A Westerns as well as a wide variety of other types of films.

The second cowboy star and the first singing cowboy that I saw in person was Tex Ritter. When I was in High School I was active in vocational agriculture and the Future Farmers of America (FFA) as well as the 4H Club. The big event for FFA and 4H Club each year in Taylor County was the Spring Livestock Show at the Fair Grounds in Abilene. There is a big round building that still stands. It was used as the judging ring for livestock shows. Most of the exhibitors, including myself spent the nights at the stock show sleeping on cots near their animals.

The stock show management arranged for Tex Ritter to be in the show ring building one night to entertain the exhibitors. It was just Tex and his guitar, no band. Because I am a music lover and guitar player, it was a great treat for me. An event I will never forget.

About a year later, I appeared on stage in that same building with Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys as part of a talent contest. Needless to say I was not the winner of this contest, but I will always remember being on the stage with the Texas Playboys. The fact that it was in the same building where I met Tex Ritter made me enjoy it more.

Another singing cowboy I saw in person was Gene Autry. I was an adult by the time I saw him in concert at Rose Field House, located on the campus of Hardin Simmons University in Abilene. Gene Autry was one of the two most popular of the singing cowboys. He joined the U.S. Army during World War II. If my memory is correct, he served in the Army Air Corps.

Gene Autry was a telegraph operator in Oklahoma when he was discovered by Will Rogers while playing his guitar and singing. Will Rogers was also a cowboy, a trick roper, a vaudeville entertainer, and news paper writer. Will Rogers also made a number of movies. I don’t remember how many, or if any of them were westerns

Gene Autry was one of the two best known and most popular of the singing cowboys. He later joined into a partnership with Everett Coburn as a Rodeo Producer. He also became the owner of a professional baseball team and established the Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum.

One of my childhood treasures that survived into my adulthood is a photo of Gene Autry on his horse, Champion.

Other singing cowboys included Johnny Bond and Jimmy Wakely. Johnny Bond sometimes played the singing sidekick. Another singing sidekick was Smiley Burnett, known as Frog due to his deep voice. Smiley “Frog” Burnett was often the sidekick of Gene Autry.

The second of the two best known and most popular singing cowboys was Roy Rogers. Roy Rogers was born Leonard Sly. Roy Rogers was actually his second screen name. He was a member of the great western music band, The Sons of the Pioneers led by Bob Nolan. The Sons of the Pioneers often played supporting roles in early Gene Autry movies and later in Roy Rogers movies. Young Leonard Sly as a member of the Sons of the Pioneers was known as Dick Weston in these movies. It has often been reported that Roy Rogers founded the Sons of the Pioneers. I do not know if that is correct, but he was an extremely important member of this group.

In the late 1960s, my wife and I had the pleasure of seeing Roy Rogers and Dale Evans in the Taylor County Coliseum at the West Texas Fair in Abilene, Texas. Roy Rogers became an honorary Texas Law Enforcement officer. A group of my peers elected me President of The Law Enforcement Officers Association of Texas for 1970 – 71. During that time period, I made Roy Rogers an honorary member of The Law Enforcement Officers Association of Texas.

When Gene Autry entered military service during WWII, Roy Rogers and his Palomino horse, Trigger, moved up to fill in the gap. After the death of Roy Rogers’ wife, he married the leading lady in his movies, Dale Evans. Together they continued to make movies, television shows, personal appearances and recordings. Both Roy and Dale were prolific song writers. Gene Autry also had a regular TV show called, The Melody Ranch Show.

With the advent of television, the B Westerns started to fade out of existence on the silver screen, however, some of the old B Westerns gained new life on the TV screen. Many new western shows along the line of the old B westerns were created specifically for TV. I guess my favorite was The Lone Ranger with Clayton Moore as the lone Ranger and J. Silverheels as Tonto.

Another former member of The Sons of the Pioneers, Ken Curtis became the second sidekick for Marshal Matt Dillon (James Arness) in the long running TV series, Gunsmoke. Ken Curtis played the part of Deputy U.S. Marshal, Festus Hagan. Ken Curtis was in at least one Gunsmoke show before he assumed the role of Festus. Ken Curtis assumed the role of Festus in a few episodes before Festus became Mat Dillon’s Deputy. As Festus, his mount was a bay mule he called Ruth. I can not remember any movie or TV cowboy sidekick other than Festus, who rode a mule.

The last of the singing movie cowboys to come on the scene was Rex Allen. Rex Allen was a true Arizona cowboy and in my opinion one of the best singers that ever lived. It was reported that his voice had the greatest voice range of all singers of any style of music including classical opera. His voice made him the narrator of numerous Walt Disney films long after his silver screen singing cowboy days.

Rex Allen was one of the movie cowboys that rode an unusual horse. The producers of his movies told him to find an unusual looking horse and that is just what he did. He found a chocolate brown stallion with a white mane and tail. He named the stallion Cocoa. The stallion was reported to be extremely gentle and to be no problem around other horses.

In my lifetime, I have seen only one other horse of this color. A family friend in the Potosi community had such a horse in the late 50s and early 60s. I am sure there are other such horses, but they must be few.

Cocoa was such an unusual horse that neither Rex Allen nor the movie producers were willing to risk possible injury to the horse. The unusual color made it seem impossible to find a double for scenes with the remote possibility of injury to the horse. They found a rather easy way to do this, however. They used a white or a gray horse. They died the entire coat of the horse leaving face and feet markings white. The mane and tail were also left white.

There was one other cowboy who made a big impact on my life. He was never a movie star, but he worked in the movie industry and one of his books became a movie. He was Will James, a true life cowboy, writer and artist. I think I learned more about the equine anatomy from the drawings of Will James than from any other source.
Will James was often the double riding a bucking bronc. He was also often a back ground extra as well as working behind the scenes as a horse wrangler.

His work in Hollywood however was not his most important work. During the late 30s through the 50s it was hard to find a kid that had not read Will James’ most famous book, Smokey the Cow Horse while in school. Many schools used this book as a reading textbook known as, a reader. This book was made into a movie although the movie was not very true to the book and the story as Will James wrote it. For one thing they did not even get the color of the horse correct. The movie folks used a brown horse to play the part of Smokey. Will James described the horse as what he called mouse color.

During my time in the 7th, 8th, and 9th grades I read every book that Will James wrote and some of them more than one time. I read Smokey the Cow Horse again about two years ago. Any lover of equines who has never read the books of Will James or seen his art is missing much. I think the most important thing that Will James taught me is to take care of your animals first, before your own needs.

I sincerely believe that for all of us still living today who were born in the 1930s or before, our lives were a little bit richer because of the silver screen cowboys. As Roy Rogers would say, “Happy Trails.”

November 17, JBW
Note: This article was previously published in The Brayer magazine. I had more fun writing this article than any other that I have written for The Brayer which is published by the American and Donkey Society (ADMS).