Human fascination with horses is ancient and has only increased since they were first domesticated, five or six millenia ago, not least because of their ability to form deep connections with people. The advent of moving pictures, in the late nineteenth century, provided another outlet for the portrayal of horses and horsemanship.
Take Silver, the white American Saddlebred stallion that became the trusty steed of the eponymous, masked, former Texas Ranger in ‘The Lone Ranger’ television series, which aired on the The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) television network for eight years between 1949 and 1957. Wounded by a buffalo, and close to death, he is nursed back to health by the Masked Man and, rather than return to the wild, becomes the horse forever immortalised by the phrase “Hi-Yo, Silver! Away!” Similarly, albeit on a more whimsical note, the eponymous talking palomino, who starred in 143 episodes of ‘Mister Ed’ between 1961 and 1966, was an unforgettable figure in television history.
The fictional Triple Crown-winner, Khartoum, plays just a supporting role in ‘The Godfather’ (1972), but is nonetheless responsible, at least in part, for one of the most memorable scenes in cinematic history. Having initially refused a request from Don Vito Corleone, conveyed by his consigliere, Tom Hagen, to cast singer Johnny Fontaine in a movie, Hollywood producer Jack Woltz receives “on offer he can’t refuse”. The following morning, Woltz wakes to find his bedclothes soaked in blood and, on further inspection, the grisly severed head of his $600,000 prized possession at his feet. Suffice to say, Fontaine is cast in the part after all.
Memorable, too, for slightly less gruesome reasons is Joey, the titular character in ‘War Horse’ (2011). A bay, half-Thoroughbred colt, Joey is sold, unbeknown to his owner, a Devon teenager, to a young British cavalry officer (later killed by German machine gun fire) at the outbreak of World War I. After surviving capture by the Germans, Joey is finally reunited with his original owner, temporarily blinded by a gas attack at the Second Battle of the Somme, providing unashamedly dewy-eyed ending to what is, effectively, a powerful critique of war.