Popular Culture
Many film and television horses of the Golden Age of Hollywood were also Saddlebreds, including the horses selected to portray Mr. Ed, Flicka and one of the horses used in National Velvet. Saddlebreds played themselves in the film classic Gone with the Wind, and many early action movies, like the original Zorro.
The Hollywood connection works both ways: actors today who own Saddlebreds include William Shatner, who, reprising his role as James T. Kirk in Star Trek Generations, rode one of his own Saddlebreds during scenes shot with Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) set in the alternative universe of the "Nexus." Another celebrity known for owning Saddlebreds and for his success as a horse show exhibitor is Carson Kressley, star of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.
Other notable owners and exhibitors of Saddlebreds include the Don Mattingly family (Diamond 5 Farms), Misdee Wrigley Miller (of Wrigley's gum), Michele MacFarlane (Scripps newspapers), Elisabeth Goth (Dow Jones), the Pettry-Fergusson family (Rustoleum), Mary Gaylord McClean (Gaylord Entertainment) and many others.
Read more about this topic: American Saddlebred
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