ROY  AND  DALE 

GOLDEN  CLOUD  -  TRIGGER

THERE  THE  AUTHORS  EITHER  ARE  UNEDUCATED  OR  BLINDLY  GO  ALONG  WITH  THE  STRANGE  AND  ODD  IDEA  OF  ROY  AND  DALE,  MAKING  TWO  HORSES  INTO  ONE  "TRIGGER."  IT  WOULD  SEEM  THAT  IN  THE  1940s  AND  UP  TO  THE  MOVIE  "SON  OF  PALEFACE"  IN  1952,  EVEN  ALL  THE  REPORTERS  AND  WHOEVER,  ALSO  WENT  ALONG  WITH  THE  TWO  HORSES  MADE  INTO  ONE  HORSE  IDEA.  ANYONE  TAKING  A  CLOSE  LOOK  AND  NOTING  THE MARKINGS  ON  THE  TWO  HORSES  COULD  EASILY  TELL  THEY  WERE  INDEED  TWO  HORSES  MADE  AS  IF  ONLY  ONE.  THE  TRUTH  OF  THE  MATTER  IS  THE  HORSE  USED  AT  RODEOS  AND  PERSONAL  APPEARANCE  SHOWS [WHERE  "TRIGGER"  WAS  PRESENTED]  AND  IN  THE  MOVIE  SONS  OF  PALEFACE  IN  1952,  AND  WAS  MASTER  OF  100  TRICKS  OR  SO,  WAS  NOT  THE  TRIGGER  THAT APPEARED  IN  ROY'S  90  OR  SO  MOVIES  AND  TV  SERIES  OF  THE  1950s.  IT  WAS  AS  IF  THE  WHOLE ENTERTAINMENT  INDUSTRY  WAS  QUITE  WILLING  TO  GO  ALONG  WITH  THE  "SANTA  CLAUS"  TYPE  MYTH.  WHAT  WAS  EVEN  MORE  STRANGE  AND  PECULIAR  WAS  THAT  YOU  NEVER  QUITE  KNEW  WHICH  TRIGGER  ROY  AND  DALE  WERE  REFERRING  TO; EVEN  MOVING  FROM  ONE  "TRIGGER"  TO  THE  OTHER  "TRIGGER"  IN  THE  SAME  SENTENCE.  PHOTOS  IN  BOOKS  AND  MAGAZINES  WOULD  JUST  SAY  "TRIGGER"  -  BUT  THE  BUILD  AND  MARKINGS [4  WHITE  STOCKINGS;  NOT  AS  LONG  A  MANE;  BLAZE  ON  THE  HEAD  BEING  DIFFERENT  WITH  THE  GREAT  "TRICK"  HORSE]  WOULD  TELL  YOU  WHICH  "TRIGGER"  IT  WAS.  WHEN  ROY  TALKED  ABOUT  THE  SPEED,  THE  "SPIN  ON  A  DIME  AND  GIVE  YOU  9  CENTS  CHANGE" AND  THE  BEST  "COWPONY"  YOU  KNEW  HE  WAS  REFERRING  TO  THE  "ORIGINAL  TRIGGER"  AS  I  NAME  IT;  THE  ONE  IN  HIS  FIRST  MOVIE  "UNDER  WESTERN  STARS"  AND  WHICH  HE  EVENTUALLY  BOUGHT.  

Trigger was gentle and kind . . . he had a great rein

on him as a cowpony. He was a fabulous horse.

Roy  Rogers, 1990

ROY  IS  HERE  REFERRING  TO  THE  ORIGINAL  TRIGGER  -  Keith Hunt

A giant full moon shines down on a sleepy Mexican village somewhere in southern Texas. In the shadows of a second-story balcony, Roy Rogers sneaks a peek through one of the windows. Some of the territory's most ruthless desperadoes have gathered and are making plans for a bank robbery. Roy will go to great lengths to put an end to their criminal behavior and bring them to justice. He'll need all the help he can to get the job done, but for now it's just him and his reliable four-legged partner.

After Roy learns what the bad guys are going to do, he inches himself to the edge of the balcony and gives a soft whistle. Out of the darkness, trotting into the beams of the moonlight, is a chestnut-brown palomino. He waits patiently under the porch. After a few moments Roy leaps over the railing and down onto the back of the stallion. The pair ride off into the night, confident right will win out in the end.

There wasn't a desperado who came up against Roy Rogers and his cohort Trigger who could escape the law. Trigger—or Golden Cloud, as he was originally named—began his movie career in 1938, appearing in the film The Adventures of Robin Hood as Olivia de Havilland's faithful steed. He appeared in a few other small-budget pictures before teaming up with the King of the Cowboys in Under Western Stars.

Trigger was the third horse Roy auditioned, and after giving the gold-colored pony a test ride, he knew he'd found the horse for him. The duo made eighty-six feature films and a hundred television shows together.

Billed as the "Smartest Horse in the Movies," Trigger could perform numerous tricks for the camera with no problem. He could count up twenty-five by stomping his foot, do simple subtraction and multiplication problems, drink milk from a bottle, and cover himself with a blanket. 

THE  AUTHORS  NOW  MIX  UP  THE  TWO  HORSES  AS  ONE…..THEIR  LAST  SENTENCE  WAS  THE  "TRICK  HORSE"  TRIGGER….THE  ONE  IN  THE  1952  MOVIE  "SON  OF  PALEFACE"  STARING  BOB  HOPE  AND  JANE  RUSSELL;  THE  "TRIGGER"  THAT  WENT  INTO  HOTELS,  SIGNED  HIS  NAME  WITH  A  CROSS  ON  THE  HOTEL  REGISTRATION,  AND….WELL  THEY  SAY  LEARNT  ABOUT  100  TRICKS  -  Keith Hunt

Roy and another trainer taught the horse self-restraint so he could enter hotel lobbies and hospitals to visit fans and patients. Trigger occasionally upstaged Roy during personal appearances, yawning or breaking into a dance step at the very moment Roy was talking or singing. Roy would often joke about "the ham in the horse."

YA  THIS  WAS  THE  "TRICK"  HORSE  TRIGGER,  NOT  THE  "ORIGINAL"  TRIGGER  OF  1938  WITH  ROY  IN  HIS  FIRST  MOVIE  "UNDER  WESTERN  SATRS"  -  Keith Hunt

Trigger paid a price for his fame. Whenever he made public appearances, some overzealous fans would pull hairs from his tail for souvenirs. At times Trigger's tail hairs were nearly all gone. While waiting for them to grow back, he wore a "tail toupee."

AGAIN  THIS  WAS  NOT  THE  ORIGINAL  TRIGGER  OF  1938  -  Keith Hunt

"No one sits a horse better than Roy Rogers," Dale Evans once said, "and no horse is as competent as Trigger." 

ONCE  MORE  THE  SECOND  PART  OF  DALE'S  SENTENCE  HAS  A  HUGE  QUESTION  MARK  OVER  IT….. WHICH  "TRIGGER"  WAS  SHE  REFERRING  TO….. ONLY  THE  CONTEXT  BEFORE  WOULD  TELL  YOU  THE  ANSWER.  ONLY  THE  CONTEXT  OF  "COMPETENT"  WOULD  TELL  YOU  -  YES  VERY  STRANGE  MIND-SET   ROY  AND  DALE  OFTEN  USED….. BLENDING  TWO  HORSES  INTO  ONE  -  Keith Hunt

Indeed, Roy Rogers was the only cowboy star to make all his pictures with the same horse. He was a superior animal who became one with his longtime rider, anticipating his every move and direction. Among the equestrian stars of the 1940s, Trigger was the best known, followed closely behind by the Lone Ranger's horse, Silver.

THE  "ORIGINAL  TRIGGER"  WAS  IN  ALL  OF  ROY'S  MOVIES [EXCEPT "SON  OF  PALEFACE" - 1952, BUT  THAT  WAS  NOT  REALLY  ROY'S  MOVIE  ANYWAY]  AND  TV  SERIES  -  TRUE  THE  TWO  TRIGGERS  WERE  THE  MOST  FAMOUS  "ONE  HORSE"  OF  THE  1940s  AND  1950s  -  Keith Hunt

Images of Trigger graced innumerable lunchboxes, bedspreads, boots, and shirts. Boys and girls across the world treasured their precious memorabilia while pretending they were the King of the Cowboys galloping across the plains atop the golden steed. The highlight for fans lucky enough to see the pair in person was when Roy and Trigger would hurry to the center of the arena at the end of the show, and Trigger would take a bow.

NOT  LONG  AFTER  ROY  ROGERS  BECAME  FAMOUS,  THE  SECOND  "TRIGGER"  WAS  PART  OF  ROY'S  RODEO  AND  HORSE  SHOWS;  IT WAS  THE  "ON  THE  ROAD  TRIGGER"  -  AS  ROY  WOULD  ADMIT  LATER,  TO  HAVE  THE  MOVIE  "TRIGGER"  BE  ALSO  THE  RODEO  AND  ON  THE  ROAD  "TRIGGER"  WOULD  BE  PHYSICALLY  ASKING  WAY  TOO  MUCH  FOR  THAT  HORSE….. BUT  THE  STRANGE  MIND-SET  OF  BLENDING  TWO  HORSES  INTO  ONE  HORSE,  CONTINUED  WITH  ROY  AND  DALE  AND  IT  SEEMS  WITH  ALL  THE  MEDIA  AS  WELL  -  Keith Hunt

Trigger was boarded at a ranch miles away from the Rogers home in Apple Valley. All of the family's show horses were boarded there. Trigger Jr., Trigger's successor, was born at that location as well. When Trigger was getting along in years, Roy rode the colt. Trigger Jr. wasn't as tall as Trigger, but he was just as smart.

THE  AUTHORS  REALLY  GET  IT  ALL  WRONG  HERE!!  TRIGGER  JR. WAS  NOT  BORN  AT  SOME  RANCH  NEAR  APPLE  VALLEY.  ROY  COULD  NOT  BUY  HIM  UNTIL  THE  HORSE  WAS  9  YEARS  OLD;  THE  OWNERS  FOR  SOME  YEARS  WOULD  NOT  SELL  HIM  TO  ROY.  TRIGGER  JR.  WAS  ALWAYS  TRIGGER JR.  IT  REPLACED  THE  "SECOND  TRIGGER"  FOR RODEOS  AND  HORSE  SHOWS.  SOMETIMES  DALE  WOULD  SAY  THINGS  TO  MAKE  IT  SOUND  LIKE  TRIGGER  JR.  WAS  FROM  "TRIGGER"  -  LIKE  FATHER  AND  SON.  ALL  EXPLAINED  IN  OTHER  ARTICLES  UNDER  THIS  SECTION  -  Keith Hunt

By the time Trigger was thirty-three years old, his golden locks had faded to gray, and age was showing around his eyes and ears. 

MORE  HUGE  MISTAKES  BY  THE  AUTHORS;  THE  ORIGINAL  TRIGGER  NEVER  LIVED  TO  BE  33  BUT  ONE  DAY  SHY  OF  31.  NEITHER  OF  THE  TWO  TRIGGERS  HAD  "GOLDEN  LOCKS"  FADING  TO  GRAY;  GOLDEN  PALOMINOS  DO  NOT  TURN  GRAY  -  IF  THE  HAIR  HAD,  ROY  COULD  NEVER  HAVE  MOUNTED  HIS  ORIGINAL  TRIGGER'S  SKIN  AND  PLACED  THE  MOUNTED  HORSE  IN  HIS  MUSIUM  -  Keith Hunt

He died in the summer of 1965. He had lived a long life and brought joy to the hearts of children everywhere. Roy was quietly despondent over Trigger's passing—so much so that he couldn't bring himself to tell his family. It was more than a year after Trigger's death before Roy broke the news to his children and the public.

YES  THIS  WAS  TRUE  -  WITH  THE  ORIGINAL  TRIGGER.  THE  "SECOND"  TRIGGER,  WHO  DID  ALL  THOSE  TRICKS,  WAS  THE  "ON  THE  ROAD  TRIGGER"  FOR  YEARS,  NEVER  GOT  PRESERVED  OR  MENTIONED  IN  ANY  NOTABLE  WAY  BY  ROY  OR  DALE.  THE  TWO  HORSES  AS  ONE,  WAS  NOT  TO  BE  MENTIONED  IN  ANY  LARGE  PUBLIC  WAY….. THE  GREAT  DECEPTION  WAS  LARGELY  TO  REMAIN  AS  JUST  THAT….. A  GREAT  DECEPTION  -  Keith Hunt

Variety Magazine wrote on April 6,1966:

"Trigger, Roy Rogers' famed Palomino, and his equine costar for many years, died of old age at thirty-three on July 3,1965. It has just been disclosed by the film and television star that he is having the horse stuffed and mounted…."

AGAIN  THEY  GOT  IT  WRONG…. THE  HORSE  WAS  ONE  DAY  SHY  OF  31.  THE  HORSE  WAS  NOT  "STUFFED"  -  THE  SKIN  WAS  PLACED  OVER  A  MAN-MADE  FRAME.  THE  REST  OF  THE  HORSE….WENT….. YOU  KNOW  WHERE.  THIS  WAS  THE  BIGGEST  MISTAKE  ROY  EVER  MADE.  I  WAS  AT  THE  ROY  ROGERS  MUSEUM  TWO  MONTHS  BEFORE  IT  CLOSED;  THE  MOUNTED  "TRIGGER"  WAS  A  THIRD  CLASS  POOREST  SHOWING  OF  A  ONCE  BEAUTIFUL  LOOKING  HORSE.  THE  DISPLAYED  TRIGGER  WAS  NO  COMPARISON  TO  THE  ORIGINAL  TRIGGER  -  THE  DISPLAYED  TRIGGER  WAS  A  POOR  SHADOW  OF  A  ONCE  UPON  A  TIME  MAGNIFICENT  STALLION  -  Keith Hunt

……………….

TO  BE  CONTINUED