Trigger

Trigger, Roy Rogers' beautiful Golden Palomino stallion, and co-star with Roy in many of his movies and Roy's TV show, was often billed as "the smartest horse in the movies". The two of them appeared in dozens of westerns in the 1930s and 40s, always chasing and thwarting the bad guys, and working to serve peace and justice. Trigger even shared the movie title with Roy on two occasions: My Pal Trigger (1946) and Trigger, Jr. (1950). Trigger started life out as Golden Cloud (1934). His sire was a thoroughbred horse that had raced at Caliente Track, and his dam was a cold-blooded palomino. Trigger was foaled on a small ranch in the San Diego area which was partly owned by Bing Crosby. The manager of that ranch was Roy Cloud, a breeder originally from Noblesville, Indiana. At around 3 years of age, Golden Cloud was sold to the Hudkins Stables, which rented horses to the movie industry. Golden Cloud's first major appearance was in the movie, The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) where he was ridden by Olivia de Havilland. When Gene Autry failed to report for work at Republic Pictures, Roy Rogers found himself cast in the lead role for Under Western Stars (1938). Before filming began on Under Western Stars (1938), Hudkins Stables brought their best lead horses to the studio so Roy could select a mount. As Roy recalled it, the third horse he got on was a beautiful golden palomino who handled smoothly and reacted quickly to whatever he asked it to do. Roy said of Golden Cloud "He could turn on a dime and give you some change". Smiley Burnette, who played Roy's sidekick in his first two films, was watching and mentioned how quick on the trigger this horse was. Roy agreed and decided that Trigger was the perfect name for the horse. Roy purchased the horse for $2,500 and eventually outfitted it with a $5,000 gold/silver saddle. Roy was proud of the fact that throughout his more than 80 films, the 101 episodes of his television series, and countless personal appearances, Trigger never fell. Roy once said that "he felt that Trigger seemed to know when people were watching him and that he recognized applause and just ate it up like a ham!" Trigger won a Patsy award for the role in Son of Paleface (1952) & the 1958 Craven award winner. He was so popular that at one time, he even had his own fan club with members from all over the world. On July 3, 1965, at the Rogers ranch in Hidden Valley, California, Trigger, at age 30, passed away. Roy was reluctant to "put him in the ground", so Rogers had the horse mounted in a rearing position by Bishoff's Taxidermy of California. The rest of his remains are buried in Thousand Oaks, California on one of Roy's former ranches.