Famous Horses in History…Trigger – by Donna Schlachter with Giveaway

Roy and Trigger courtesy MorganHorse.com

Trigger the horse was one half of a famous team that included Roy Rogers. So let’s spend a little time looking at the famous man whose untiring devotion to the horse, and whose acute business sense saw the benefit in marketing this animal to his audience (many of whom were children), made Trigger’s fame possible.

Roy was born in 1911 in Cincinnati, Ohio, the third of four children. Leonard Franklin Slye lived with his family on a hand-built houseboat, which they moved to dry land during the Great Flood of 1913 and continued living in it.

In 1922, when Leonard/Roy was 11 years old, he was given a horse and learned to ride. The family was musical, so Leonard/Roy learned to sing, yodel, and play several instruments. During the Depression, the family moved to California, and although Leonard/Roy worked as a fruit picker and other itinerant jobs, he longed to pursue singing. He eventually co-founded the Sons of the Pioneers, making their first records in 1934 when he was 23. The actor Gene Autry gave them their first break with singing parts in his movies. Sometimes, who you know matters.

Just a few years later, Leonard/Roy got a lengthy contract with Republic Pictures, who wanted to cash in on the popularity and recent passing of Will Rogers, so Leonard/Roy changed his name to Roy Rogers. His first movie, Under Western Stars, released in 1938, required the use of a horse. Several were brought to him, and he chose the third mount, Golden Cloud, not even looking at the rest.

Roy and Trigger (MorganHorse.com)

 

From the beginning, Roy observed that Golden Cloud was no ordinary horse. Smiley Burnett, a co-worker, said, “he is quick off the trigger”, and Roy thought that a good name.

Trigger’s ancestry has always been up for debate, but Roy did some research, and he learned that the sire was at least part Morgan, part Thoroughbred, and his dam was also part Morgan. Despite that, Trigger’s bloodlines included the work ethic of the Morgan and the intelligence and agility of the Thoroughbred.

Trigger doing tricks with Roy (MorganHorse.com)

 

Hollywood Horse Trainer Glenn Randall trained Trigger on more than 150 tricks, including his famous two-legged rear, sitting in a chair, covering himself with a blanket and taking a nap, and because of a hectic travel schedule, was even housebroken.

Although Roy carefully guarded the secret that there was more than one Trigger, the horses were not identical. Trigger had one white stocking, while Trigger Jr. and Little Trigger had four. Their sizes were slightly different, and had Roy stood them side by side, even the little children would have realized their beloved Trigger had look-alikes. Interestingly, because Trigger was never bred, neither of his stand-ins were direct descendants. When asked why he didn’t allow Trigger to breed, Roy said he didn’t want to risk losing the docile spirit of the horse, as that made him trainable and also able to stand quietly while inexperienced riders sat on him.

Here are some interesting facts about Trigger and Roy:

-- Trigger, as Golden Cloud, had first been used in a movie featuring Olivia de Havilland as Maid Marion in The Adventures of Robin Hood

-- Trigger and Roy appeared in 88 movies from 1938 through the mid-1950s

-- Trigger had his own fan club, with members worldwide.

-- Trigger and Roy have their prints in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre 

Handprints and hoof prints at Grauman's Chinese Theater (MorganHorse.com)

-- Little Trigger was the horse that folks called “the smartest horse in the movies”, but Trigger got the fame

-- The Denver Broncos NFL team received permission to use the mold that created the form for Trigger after he died, and Bucky the Bronco was used to create the blue stallion with the blazing orange eyes that is synonymous with the Bronco team. The mold was destroyed after that.

-- In 1999, actor Val Kilmer led a horse named Triggerson on stage at the 71st Academy Awards as a tribute to Roy Rogers and his cowboy peers. Triggerson was reportedly grandsired by Trigger Jr.

Trigger died of natural causes one day shy of his 30th birthday at Roy’s ranch in Apple Valley, California. Unwilling to let his long-time friend and companion go, Roy arranged for a professional taxidermist to preserve the hide on a foam likeness of Trigger. The likeness was put on display in the original Roy Rogers-Dale Evans Museum in Apple Valley in 1967, then moved to the new museum location in Victorville, California, in 1976, and then resided in Branson, Missouri, since 2003.

Classic two-legged stance (Courtesy of wikipedia)

 

When the museum closed in 2010, its contents were sold at public auction. Trigger’s likeness was initially purchased by a television station, which planned to include it in a western museum, but those plans never materialized. But that hasn’t stopped Trigger. Instead, he’s spent the years since greeting visitors at the station’s corporate headquarters, along with Buttermilk, Dale Evans’ horse, and Bullet, Roy’s companion dog. The trio are occasionally lent to venues like John Wayne: An American Experience, and The Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame, where they continue to delight audiences of all ages. 

 

As Roy would say, "Happy trails to you!"



Leave a comment about any fond memories you have of Trigger and Roy Rogers, and I will randomly draw from all comments for a free ebook of Hollenberg Hearts to be sent to one lucky recipient.

 

About Hollenberg Hearts: A mail order bride. A crippled stationmaster. No way out for either of them—except with each other. Can they surrender their hearts and find true love?

About Donna:

A hybrid author, Donna writes squeaky clean historical and contemporary suspense. She has been published more than 60 times in books; is a member of several writers' groups; facilitates a critique group; teaches writing classes; and judges in writing contests. She loves history and research, traveling extensively for both, and is an avid oil painter. She is taking all the information she’s learned along the way about the writing and publishing process, and is coaching committed writers eager to tell their story. Learn more at https://www.donnaschlachter.com/the-purpose-full-writer-coaching-programs Check out her coaching group on FB: https://www.facebook.com/groups/604220861766651

Website: www.DonnaSchlachter.com

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Resources:

Rearing image of trigger: (picture credit): https://ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p267401coll32/id/15871/)

https://saddleupcolorado.net/blog/-roy-rogers-horse-trigger-breed-facts-where-he-is-no/?srsltid=AfmBOorpRamQCZ0b9o7ULLbs7GjmUBPAbA46x6t732KOmF74aA9J4MS9

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trigger_(horse)

https://www.morganhorse.com/upload/photos/page_1144_4-tmh_oct2020_historical_morgans_in_western_films_iv_roy_rogers_trigger.pdf

The Origins of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

 

 

We’ve all heard the oft-played Christmas ballad about Rudolph, the poor, bullied reindeer who became a hero when Santa gave him the opportunity to lead his sleigh and save Christmas on that fateful, foggy Christmas Eve. But you may not know where the character or story came from.

An old Montgomery Ward catalogue

 

In 1939, the country was emerging from the Great Depression. Thirty-five-year-old Robert L. May was employed as a copywriter and ad man for the Montgomery Ward department store. He was known as a storyteller and often entertained his coworkers with limericks. Because of these qualities, his boss asked him to write a Christmas story to give away as part of the annual Christmas promotion. May thought a while and decided to model his story after The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Anderson, as well as his own history of being a gawky, maligned child. So Rudolph was born. End of story, right?

 

No. Bob May’s boss wasn’t sold on the idea, largely because having a red nose was often associated with drunkenness, and he didn’t think that would be appropriate for the Christmas promotion. According to an interview May gave in the 1970s, the man asked May if he couldn’t come up with anything better. May knew Rudolph was a winner, so he went to the artists in the Montgomery Ward art department for help. They drew up sketches and put together a package that eventually sold the boss on the idea. That year, they distributed over two million copies of the promotional story.

May's original cover

 

Okay, so that must be the end of the story, with May having become rich and famous…but no. In fact, May fell on hard times after writing Rudolph. His wife had developed and died from cancer in 1939, during the time May was writing Rudolph’s story. That medical crisis left May a single father deep in debt from his wife’s health expenses. Worse, when Bob May wrote Rudolph’s story, it was Montgomery Ward that benefited from the fame of the red-nosed deer. The  department store, not May, owned the rights and earned the notoriety and money from its distribution.

 

Drowning in his debt, May approached the store’s CEO in 1946 to ask if they might be able to help him by allowing him even a small portion of the proceeds they earned from May’s Christmas story. In a move not often seen in modern corporations, the rights to Rudolph were reverted to May. He became the sole owner of the story and could do with it as he pleased. The same year, a publisher agreed to reprint and updated version of the story, and it became a best-seller.

Robert L May, author of
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

 

May’s sister was married to up-and-coming song-writer Johnny Marks. Johnny set Rudolph to music in 1946, and in 1951, singer Gene Autry recorded the now-famous version. At this point, Rudolph really took off. May quit his job with Montgomery Ward and spent the next seven years stewarding the new-found fame and fortune that came from his beloved Christmas tale. But in 1958, feeling that the Rudolph empire and legacy was in a good place, May returned to Montgomery Wards, where he worked until 1971. 

 

Bob May also wrote two sequels to Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, as well as four other children’s books before his death in 1976. I do believe, just like his famous reindeer, Mr. Bob May—once a gangly, disliked schoolboy—found his place of love and acceptance in the world through his most famous story.

 

From us all at Heroes, Heroines, and History—Merry Christmas everyone!

Jennifer Uhlarik discovered the western genre as a pre-teen when she swiped the only “horse” book she found on her older brother’s bookshelf. A new love was born. Across the next ten years, she devoured Louis L’Amour westerns and fell in love with the genre. In college at the University of Tampa, she began penning her own story of the Old West. Armed with a B.A. in writing, she has finaled and won in numerous writing competitions, and been on the ECPA best-seller list several times. In addition to writing, she has held jobs as a private business owner, a schoolteacher, a marketing director, and her favorite—a full-time homemaker. Jennifer is active in American Christian Fiction Writers, Women Writing the West, and is a lifetime member of the Florida Writers Association. She lives near Tampa, Florida, with her husband, college-aged son, and four fur children.

Rodeos and Trail Rides

All Trails Lead to Houston

 by Martha Rogers

When I moved to Houston from college in 1957, I heard about the big rodeo and livestock exposition held every February. I became fascinated with the idea of rodeos and how the majority of Houston citizens celebrated Go-Texan Day for the big rodeo parade downtown.

I saw my first parade in February, 1958. I learned that schools closed on that Friday and business allowed people to take a break and witness the parade to kick off the two weeks of rodeo and livestock exposition. As I thought about those days recently, I became curious as to the origin of the rodeo and the trail rides that precede the week and make up most of the parade.

In January, 1932, seven businessmen met for lunch at the Texas State. They decided to host a livestock exposition Houston. They named Sartwelle as the first president and named it the Houston Fat Stock Show.

The very first show opened in April of 1932 at Sam Houston Hall, the Democratic Convention Hall. The show was designed as a regional event to showcase the agriculture and livestock of the area. The show ended with a deficit of $2,800 with approximately 2000 attendees at the end of one week. The only performers were the members of the Future Farmers Band of 68 high school students from across the state. A Grand Champion Steer was named and auctioned off to a local restaurant owner for $504. Here are ranchers bringing in their livestock for one of the early shows and then gathered around the Grand Champion.

Undaunted, the committee went ahead and held the show for the next four years and attendance grew to the extent that they outgrew the venue. They
began looking for a larger arena in Houston, and at the end of the 1936 show, the old Sam Houston Hall was torn down and the 1937 show was cancelled to allow for construction of a new arena. That year off gave the organizers the opportunity to expand and solidify plans for a larger even.

Sam Houston Coliseum: Home to the Rodeo until the Astrodome was built.

In 1938, they added the parade through downtown Houston, a carnival and a midway, and a rodeo that yielded a $640.50 purse. As interest and attendance grew, so did the plans. In 1940, the organizers decided to add musical entertainment.


 




At first, local talent performed at the rodeo in the evenings. In 1942, Gene Autrey, the singing cowboy appeared on stage as the first nationally 

recognized entertainer to perform at the show.

Roy Rogers and Dale Evans were two other popular performers at the rodeo.

One of the early posters advertising the Rodeo

As Houston grew and became more urban, interest flagged in the early 1950’s. In order to attract more  attention, the organizers decided to add a trail drive to the activities to precede the show. The first one originated in 1952 when the media were invited to join some cowboys for a 75 mile ride from Brenham, Texas to Houston and the Fat Stock Show.

When the event was so well-received, the Salt Grass Trail Association decided to continue with the drive. This inspired groups from other parts of the state to do the same. Thus one trail drive for publicity became a much larger event drawing statewide attention.

In 1961, the show became the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. The show grew even more and moved from the Sam Houston Coliseum to the Astrodome and Astrohall in the mid 1960’s.

To go along with the trail drives, a day shortly before the first night of the show, the committee designated a Go Texan Day for everyone to wear traditional Western wear. Someone said that now Texans were dressing the way most of the rest of the country thought they dressed all the time.

              Heading for Camp on the Trail                         Cooking on the Trail
Photo by Atha Marks
    Dimon


                                    
The Salt Grass Trail ride is still the “Granddaddy” of the trail rides that now converge on Houston the final Friday before the show begins. They camp out in Memorial Park the night before the parade and then ride in formation to 
downtown Houston for the parade on Saturday morning. People line the highways leading into Houston to greet the trail riders as they make their way to the park from all over Texas.  

Today, the show gives thousands of dollars in scholarships to deserving youth for their college education. In addition, the auctions at the end of the championship judging now bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars for the owners of the champion and reserve champion livestock.

So, the dream of seven men at a lunch at a hotel gave birth to what is now one of the largest rodeo events in the country and is recognized by the Professional Rodeo Association.

I have several special memories about the event held at the end of February and beginning of March. One of my favorites is the time my middle school homemaking class entered a contest in which we had to decorate a table with a theme of “Go Texan” for the rodeo. My class won first place for middle schools with our theme, “All Trails Lead to Houston” featuring the Salt Grass Trail Ride. I was so proud of my girls.

Pictures are from: https://bit.ly/2lHTG4V  and the files of The Houston Chronicle

Have you ever been to a rodeo? If so, what was your favorite part? Mine is the barrel races. 

Martha Rogers is a multi-published author and writes a weekly devotional for ACFW. Since receiving her first novel contract at age 73, Martha has written and published over 50 books. Martha and her husband Rex live in Houston, Texas where they are active members of First Baptist Church. They are the parents of three sons and grandparents to eleven grandchildren and great-grandparents to five. Martha is a retired teacher with twenty-eight years teaching Home Economics and English at the secondary level and eight years at the college level supervising student teachers and teaching freshman English. She is the Director of the Texas Christian Writers Conference held in Houston in August each year, a member of ACFW, ACFW WOTS chapter in Houston, and a member of the writers’ group, Inspirational Writers Alive.

Find Martha at:  www.marthawrogers.com, 

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