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