Silver King the Horse

Biography

Silver King the Wonder Horse, aka "The horse with personality", was a white Palomino of seventeen hands height. He performed at major rodeos and headlined as the equine star of western movies between 1924 and 1937. In addition to the standard duties assigned stunt horses, Silver King was also capable of winking with one eye, nodding or shaking his head for yes or no, lifting bars, undoing knots and jumping from moving railway carriages. The animal was originally acquired in New York by cowboy star Fred Thomson and subsequently trained by him. Briefly a rival to Tom Mix in the sagebrush stakes, Thomson rode the horse in a series of popular B-grade westerns until his untimely demise in 1928. Silver King went on to receive second billing as the trusty steed to Hal Taliaferro (usually credited as Wally Wales) in westerns for Imperial Pictures, his stunt rider often being the legendary Yakima Canutt.