Re: RC: Re: Robert Duvalls casting call for his Civil War Movie

["Linda B. Merims" <lbm@naisp.net>]

"Howard Bramhall" <hwb67@msn.com> said:

>>From: goearth
>>Subject: RC: Robert Duvalls casting call for his Civil War Movie
>>  
>>This Saturday in Staunton, Virginia Robert Duvall has advertized he is
looking >>for a few good men that can ride for his upcoming Civil War Movie...

>I loved the movie Gettysburg.  My favorite scene was watching the actor who
>played Jeb Stuart ride a Saddlebred who looked just like Dance Line.  The
horse >was constantly rearing while the actor said his lines.  While I was
watching it >I kept saying to myself, "Jeb Stuart is riding my horse. He's
on Dance Line."  

Hi, Howard;

Have you ever read Louis Taylor's history of the Saddlebred,
_The Horse America Made_?  In it he gives a very interesting
account of the role Saddlebreds played in the Civil War
as Confederate Cavalry mounts including the raiding squadrons of
people like Morgan and Nathan Forrest.  More to the topic of
Endurance, he tells the story of Rex Rysdyk, a champion 3-gaited
Saddlebred who twice finished close to first in the Army's famous
cavalry horse distance trials racing from Vermont to Washington
in the late 19teens and early 1920's.  These trials are
often cited as precursors to today's modern endurance race,
although they were run more like CTR's.

It certainly was in them.  I just don't think it's been bred for
for 100 years.  I wonder if it's still there.

Linda B. Merims
lbm@naisp.net
Massachusetts, USA