We have been working to update the web site’s technical structure, mostly what you can not “see”, but you might notice some visual changes as well. It is using dynamic content management system now, this will enable lots of new features and make things easier to maintain and secure.

The blog that was previously located at http://www.theblackstallion.com/blog had to be removed, because it was outdated and could not be updated any longer. It has been moved and all posts have been incorporated into the news blog that is now completely part of the site, searchable and all. Just in case you get to the old link, an automatic forward is in place, so you can’t go wrong and will be directed to the new one.If you wish to comment on Tim Farley’s and my news posts, you can do so by registering with the site, at the bottom of every page. This is a different registration from this message board.

This message board will remain as is, but it has been embedded visually into the site as well. I suggest you access it via the link on the web site. Direct access using the previous link still works, but you will not have the site navigation on top any longer.

The updated site is almost complete, except for some of the pages that have the Comics, Audio and Video files. These will be added shortly and in the coming days.

A new contact form has been added to the Contact page, you can use it to send a message to Tim Farley. As always comments, questions and suggestions are most welcome.

Enjoy your stay on this site and be part of this lively community of Black Stallion Fans!

Thank you,
Administrator

The new Galleries at the Horse Park in Lexington are not to be missed! The opening was fantastic but the real treat is spending time there and learning so much.

The Entrance

You could visit every day and always see something new. The Park itself has so many events and things to do, you gotta stop by!

Enjoying The Books

Experience the “Black Stallion Experience”!

Little Black, A Pony Panel

Hope Summer is Great and not going too fast….

A story from Paula Turner who raised Seattle Slew.

Black Stallion

The great black stallion moved restlessly under me, barely able to hold himself back, within my restraining reins. His head darted forward, yanking the reins and my arm. At the touch of my left hand on his shoulder, he slowed from a side-stepping jig to a prancing walk. “Easy babe, sloooow” my voice stretched, dropping to such a low note—more vibration than sound. Twitching his ears back, he relaxed a little. He would always listen—and understand—that voice he knew so well. Like a couple grown old together, more was said in touch, tone of voice, than with words.

And he transmitted to me in that ancient, unspoken language of Horse, everything he felt… “Now, now I must run.” Dancing under me, he so wanted to sweep me away, take us flying once again… and remind me who he was.

Beneath the glistening black coat powerful hindquarters bunched and flexed, bringing legs forward to coil and spring below his loins. I could feel the muscles in his arched neck, shoulders, sliding under his skin… under my soothing hand. Below my seat and legs he moved with the strength and grace of a ballerina—ready to take flight. His left ear cocked back, hearing the intimate whisper—“Easy big man, slooow…”—meant only for him. He slowed. Before I could say whoa, the stallion felt my request and halted—stood motionless—surveying his kingdom… I waited for him.

The great flanks moved out, then let go a sigh. He walked—calm now—knowing soon I’d release him. “Ok, big man.” We flowed forward to his trot, moving as one. Several lengths later—not bothering with words—I thought, whenever you’re ready…and we glided into a gallop.

With each lengthening stride his pull on the bit, the reins increased, straining my arms to their limit. Though still contained, my stallion’s desire was clear: “Fly… we must fly…” I folded—ok, big man— until my chin lay inches above his withers—body melding with his—now!—and the big black shot forward.

Finally released beneath me, his great strength, power, again took my breath. Within a few strides we were flying, his legs pistons devouring the distance ahead, his movement fluid, effortless. At each stretch of his stride my arms followed his head forward and back; as he gathered himself again my legs were springs, absorbing his upward movement, keeping my head and back on one motionless, horizontal plane. Perfect unison. We moved together as two dancers who’d spent a lifetime practicing this art of controlled abandon.

No matter how many times we flew together it was always new, exhilarating…always like the first. And each time his unspoken message the same: He was known everywhere… the fastest horse in the world… and I trained him…

Can I really be feeling this? Are his feet truly touching the earth? I can always tell, in the middle of a dream, if it’s real or not. This is no dream—my black stallion is real. We slowed. I can feel his neck under my hand, hear him nicker, feel his body dancing beneath my seat and legs—sense my oldest friend. Why do I have to see him? Luxuriating in us, I resisted the urge to look at my great dancing steed; with bliss so complete, what more could heaven offer?

I can’t stand it; I’ve got to see him! My eyes opened. There below me—as always—were only my own two legs, straddling a broomstick. Overwhelming disappointment woke me from the dream.

My ten-year-old mind thought, Dad-gummit! The same broom I ride around the orphanage! Why do I always have to look down and spoil everything? I control my other dreams, do whatever I want—fly all over the Home. After having the exact same dream for years—six zillion times—why can’t I remember? –Next time I gotta remember not to look down!

He’s so much like the Black Stallion—except I trained him… He’s my black stallion. I closed my eyes, chased away disappointment and pulled back his delicious memory.

But soon the six o’clock bell called me and forty-four girls to rise. We lived in the huge brick “middle-size-girls’ building” of the Junior Order Home for Children, outside Lexington, North Carolina, and my grandmother—“Nannye”—was our housemother. The orphanage was home to over two hundred children with nowhere else to live.

After breakfast of cornflakes, fourteen of us congregated outside. “Let’s play horses—I wanna be the Black Stallion!”

Barbara Lovell admonished, “Paula, You always wanna play horses—you always wanna be the Black Stallion!”

My favorite tomboy and idol, Lois Padon, piped back, “That’s not true; sometimes she wants to be Alec…” And with Lois as back-up we played “horses” again, Lois and I choosing up sides: the girls on mine would be my “herd” while Lois would lead the “cowboys” trying to capture us…

Shaking my long mane, I pawed the ground with one leg, snorted and reared—striking my arm-forelegs in the air—and whinnied, loud and long—just like a stallion—summoning my band. The moment my front feet touched ground this Black Stallion wheeled and galloped away, followed closely by the herd…

DREAMHORSE

North Carolina, May 3, 2002

My groom took the young racehorse and handed me a phone. It was a writer-friend, Jody Scott, whom I’d asked to critique my article on training Seattle Slew. “I finished the article—so you named him Baby Huey—that’s part of his legend.”

“Yeah, how was—”

“You know there’s got to be Slew retro on Saturday’s Derby coverage. After all, he is the only living Triple Crown winner—not to mention, undefeated. –I can see it now, camera picks out old Slew Crew members “—and there’s Slew’s first trainer, Pa—”

“—No. That won’t be happening.”

“What? Why not?”

“First of all, I’m not going; second, they wouldn’t remember me.”

“Wait. ‘Only woman—I ever heard of—to play a vital role making one of history’s greatest racehorses, but you’re not going to the Derby on his twenty-fifth—”

“—No.”

His voice dropped. “It’s your anniversary too…”

Don’t sound so impatient. “Hey, how bad was the article?”

“Paula, I can’t belie—why not go?”

Hiding my exasperation was hopeless; words came quick. “I don’t go to the racetrack. –How was—”

“—But… it was your world… for so long.”

“Let’s just say I moved here to be forgotten, ok? —So what about the article? Have I got three days of editing?”

Resigned, Jody sighed, “Only two. ‘Sure you won’t reconsider Kentucky?”

“Seriously, does it need major revision?”

“Well, I’m sure you’re sentimental, but isn’t it a bit extreme?”

“What do you mean?”

“Here, where you wrote, ‘One day the phone will ring…’” As he read I remembered the difficulty of writing those lines. …and I’ll hear the words I dread, that my boy, Huey, is no more. And black will be my color, for we were not meant to outlive our children. “Paula, isn’t that stretching it a bit—for a horse?”

I stared into the distance, silent.

“Paula?”

Eyes closed, my voice went soft, low. “No… It’s not…”

There’s a nice article in Cowboys and Indians Magazine next month (July edition) … “Favorite Famous Horses”.
Guess who is one of the featured ponies?
You got it “The Black Stallion”!!

Here’s an excerpt;

7 Special Horses
by ELIZABETH KAYE McCALL

They’ve galloped into hearts and minds, from films and fields and pages of books. Whether born of fiction or real-life legends, some horses are so distinctive they become part of the human story. In Part 1 of C&I’s Famous Horses series, we present seven who have the timeless quality of all great equines: the power to make life better.

THE BLACK STALLION

The budget on The Black Stallion wouldn’t even pay for most TV commercials these days,” says Tim Farley, son of the late author Walter Farley, whose vision of a wild black horse, a boy, and their amazing journey has touched millions around the globe for nearly 70 years. Partially penned on a kitchen table when the author was just 16, the story grew into 30 novels in 22 countries, three motion pictures, the Arabian Nights theatrical dinner attraction in Orlando, Florida (where the official Walter Farley’s Black Stallion performs live nightly), and a vibrant program from the Black Stallion Literacy Foundation that combines reading books and actual horse visits. The literacy project has also translated Farley’s once out-of-print Little Black, A Pony into Navajo.

As for the Black Stallion’s life-altering influence, consider the story of Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein, president of the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI), the international horse sport organization overseeing the World Equestrian Games in Lexington, Kentucky, and daughter of the late King Hussein of Jordan. Sharing some personal insights with the local Lexington Herald-Leader newspaper about the impact of Walter Farley’s Black Stallion books on her early life, the princess said that as a sleepless child following her mother’s death, the novels were a source of consolation. It was Walter Farley’s books, she said, that led her to the horse country of the United States. www.theblackstallion.com.

Black Stallion Exhibit
Coming in June: the brand-new Al-Marah Arabian Horse Galleries at Lexington’s Kentucky Horse Park. The museum features The Black Stallion Experience, a 326-square-foot exhibit devoted to Walter Farley’s beloved classic that includes five giant step-inside “books,” each devoted to a theme. Visitors can also see artifacts and memorabilia belonging to Farley, along with a working captain’s wheel, harking back to the horse’s dramatic sea voyage. There are movie clips, too, from the 1979 Francis Ford Coppola film: of the Black Stallion being fed sugar cubes before the ship capsizes, and of the famous ride on the beach where a young Kelly Reno, portraying Alec, gallops on the Arabian stallion Cass-Olé (who was trained by the late legendary Hollywood horse trainer Corky Randall, whose father, Glenn Randall Sr., trained Trigger). The Black Stallion Returns section features more film clips from the 1983 sequel, and a section based on The Black Stallion and the Girl uses the Hopeful Farms theme to teach aspects of farm management and horse racing. The last part of the exhibit, devoted to Walter Farley’s beloved Little Black Pony series, allows children to act out the Black Stallion of their imagination with wooden toys created by an Ohio model maker. www.purebredarabiantrust.com

The Pie • Trigger
The Black Stallion • Secretariat • Pokey• Mister Ed• Scamper

to read the entire article click here!

The new Black Stallion Experience opens this weekend at the Kentucky Horse Park!
It’s an all new and beautiful wing of the Museum at the Horse Park just outside of Lexington, KY.

The special exhibt “A Gift of the Dessert” will only be there a few months but the Arabian wing that features the “Black Stallion Experience” is part of the permanent galleries.

If you’re lucky enough to be there this summer for a show, the Rolex or the World Equestrian Games … or if you’re just visiting on a drive down I-75 … take a look!
The Black Stallion is your guide through the world of the Arabian horse from the dessert to the show ring.
We hope to get some pictures of the gallery soon but it’s been such a fast and secret ride we don’t have any yet.

If you DO get to visit be sure to write us back and tell us what you think.

Check back soon for more news and photos!

Link to the video about the gallery: Click here.
Floor plan of the “Black Stallion Experience”: Click here.