The Black Stallion

Cass Ole, the Black Stallion

Cass Ole
Picture of The Black Stallion rearing up
The Black Stallion was played in the movie by a beautiful and very smart Arabian stallion named Cass Ole. Cass Ole was also a show horse, and won ribbons and trophies in halter classes and English and Western performance classes.

He was truly a black stallion, but Cass Ole also had four white socks and a white star on his forehead. These white markings were dyed black for his role as The Black Stallion. The horse was trained "at liberty" for his work in the film. He wore no halter or bridle during many of the scenes, but watched a long whip the trainer held, and would come toward the whip or go away from it depending on how it was held. He was not hit with the whip -- it was only used to signal him.

Cass Ole has passed on, but when he was in his prime, I was lucky enough to see him at a horse show. He was not showing in the classes, but performing a special act with his trainer.

It was lovely to see -- the ring was darkened, and then a spotlight aimed at the entrance gate. This beautiful black stallion with a splash of white on his forehead and four very dressy white stockings came running into the ring, head and tail held high. The spotlight followed him for a moment and then the lights came on. He was absolutely free, no halter or any tack on him. He ran around the arena a few times, shaking his beautiful head and long mane, and then his trainer entered. She was tall and wearing a tuxedo. She carried two long black whips. At the crack of one, Cass Ole came running to her and slid to a stop and reared up high.

The trainer was wearing a cordless microphone, so we could hear her tell us about the horse and how he was trained. We could hear her talking to him too! He was very spirited, and once in a while he didn't do exactly what she wanted -- she would laugh and coax him, and you could see how much he liked her in his response. He would always come around and perform the trick for her. Remember, all this time he was absolutely free of constraint. He seemed to be very aware of the audience -- he would often look up into the stands of people and seemed to be checking to make sure everybody was watching him!

He would come toward her at a walk when she held the whip in a certain way, and then back away (straight!) when she held it another way. He would even rear up and walk toward her! At the end of the performance, she asked him to bow, and he didn't want to. She said that she had practiced the bow with him on a gravel surface just before the performance, and it hurt his knees, so he was reluctant to bow down. Then, she spoke to him a few times, telling him that the arena footing was lots softer (of course he didn't know the words she was saying, but he understood her coaxing tone), and finally, he bowed.

Then, she put a halter and lead rope on him and led him to the center of the arena. She invited some kids to come down and meet him, and he was very sweet with them, reaching out to let them pet his face.

How lucky I was to see this wonderful horse perform!

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