In 1946, Mom and Dad co-starred in a movie titled My Pal Trigger. To movie audiences, that beautiful golden palomino was just as important a part of the Roy Rogers movies as Roy was. And Trigger was important to Dad, too; they weren't just co-workers, or horse and master, they were, as that movie title correctly suggested, pals.

Trigger started out life as a movie rental horse. The first time that we know he appeared in a movie was with Olivia De Havilland on his back in the opening scenes of the 1938 classic The Adventures of Robin Hood, co-starring Errol Flynn. He was a registered palomino and his name was Golden Cloud. He was one gorgeous horse, as everybody who has ever seen him on the screen or in a photo knows. More than that, he was a great horse with a wonderful disposition. He was about three-fourths thoroughbred and a little bit what Dad said was a "cold-blooded mare" — that's an old horseman's word for a mutt; just a mixture of breeds. Dad always told me that there was a genuine connection between the two of them, right from the first time he sat in the saddle. Dad had a gift for handling most animals, but he said there was some sort of instant communication between him and Trigger. In Dad's case, it was love at first sight. …

… Dad had never done any serious riding before he got into the movies, but he was a truly gifted athlete, who caught onto the basic principles very quickly. Even the experts — the rodeo cowboys and stuntmen — always said that of all the movie cowboys, nobody sat a horse like Ken Maynard, Ben Johnson — and Dad.

Trigger had more than a little to do with helping Dad acquire that expertise. Dad worked with some great stuntmen and wranglers. He was what they call a "quick study" and it didn't take him long to pick out the horsemen who he thought rode best and then to figure the mechanics of what they were doing that he liked. He then set himself the task of copying what they were doing. Dad and Trigger would work together for hours on end until they could anticipate the other's demands. Of course, having the most photogenic horse that was ever on the silver screen didn't hurt the popularity of this new duo.

Dad always credited Trigger with saving his career. Dad happened to be in the right place at the right time when he overheard a conversation that Republic was looking for someone to cast in their next Western. Gene Autry's contract was being renegotiated and he and the studio hadn't reached agreement yet. Dad went across the street and, with a little luck, he got through the front gate, auditioned, and got the lead in Under Western Stars. Gene and the studio finally agreed on the terms of his new contract and Gene returned to work.

By the time Gene returned to Republic, several months had passed and I think Dad had already made three or four films. Dad loved to tell the story of how the studio head came to him when Dad was trying to negotiate a raise in his contract and in essence told him, "Thanks, but no thanks. You've been good, but we don't need you anymore. Besides, we can put anybody on Trigger and they'll look great."

Dad replied, "No you can't put anybody on Trigger — he's my horse. I'm buying him!"

And he really was. Almost from the minute Dad laid eyes on Trigger, he knew that horse was something very, very special. So, even though he didn't make much money, he decided to buy the four-year-old stallion from his owners, Hudkins Brothers. Dad and Ace Hudkins had struck up a deal for Dad to make payments while Ace continued to rent Trigger to Republic — but he wouldn't let them put another cowboy on him — until the last payment had been made. It took a couple of years for Dad to make all the payments — after all, he was making $75 a week and he paid $2,500 for the horse! In the early 1940s that was a pretty steep price to pay for any horse and more than one friend of Dad's told him that he'd been taken. But Dad knew they had something special together and he didn't want to run the risk of having some other cowboy riding Trigger in a movie. …

Trigger, or the "Old Man" as he was sometimes called … was always billed as "The Smartest Horse in the Movies" … He was great for running scenes, and he could rear better than any horse I ever saw. Dad always told me that he was never afraid of Trigger falling over while rearing. Trigger would stand on his hind legs while reaching towards the sky with his front legs — that horse could stand in an almost perpendicular position and he looked magnificent. When I look at some of those shots in the movies, I'm amazed that Dad could stay on Trigger's back and look so comfortable doing it.

Old Trigger remained Dad's favorite, but there were actually [other] Triggers. Dad bought Little Trigger (the "Little Horse") a couple of years after he bought Old Trigger. He purchased the second horse primarily to spare wear and tear on Old Trigger. He wanted a horse that he would take on the road; he only used Old Trigger for the movies. Dad never publicly admitted that there was more than one Trigger. He always said that he didn't want to confuse the little kids who loved Trigger. The fans knew about Trigger Jr. — the studio even had a contest to name him when Dad first got him — but Little Trigger was a "secret." …

Old Trigger co-starred in all 82 of the movies Dad made between 1938 and 1952. He also appeared in all 100 TV episodes of The Roy Rogers Show. In fact, the only one of Dad's films he wasn't in was Mackintosh and T.J, which was released in 1974. Trigger had died on July 3, 1964. …

… Whenever a director wanted a spectacular chase or stunt in the movies, that's when Old Trigger did his thing. In fact, in Dad's early movies the studio wouldn't rent a double for Trigger, so he did all of his own stunts.

Republic Director Billy Witney was probably Trigger's biggest fan, next to Dad. He loved to tell the story of when he got the idea to have Trigger jump fifty-gallon drums that were being rolled off the back of a truck Dad was chasing. The scene had originally called for Trigger to dodge the drums, but Billy thought it would make the scene more exciting if Trigger jumped them. … They filmed that scene in one take. Then Billy sat down, turned white as a sheet and started shaking when he realized the danger he had placed Old Trigger in; he loved that horse. Over the many years I knew Billy, we were never together that he wouldn't tell me Trigger stories and he would always get tears in his eyes when speaking about Trigger's great heart and what an incred-ible athlete he was.

Another of his favorites had a scene that called for Dad to jump out of a second story window, run along the roof of the saloon, leap off the roof, run across the backs of two horses, then jump into Trigger's saddle. Of course, it wasn't Dad doing either stunt, it was Dad's stunt-double Joe Yrigoyen, but it was Old Trigger. Once Joe was in the saddle, he and Trigger would gallop down the street in pursuit of the bad guys.

Well, they walked through the scene once to get the timing and see how it would look. It was not a perfect rehearsal, but generally things worked okay and Trigger stood there and watched it all. The director shouted, "Let's shoot it." But now Trigger was wise to them. When he heard the word "action!" he turned his head and watched as Joe came running over the other horse. As soon as Joe leapt for Trigger's saddle … the horse started galloping away and Joe hit the dirt. They tried it a couple more times, and each time Trigger would wait for the last moment, then run off and leave Joe flying through the air toward nothing but ground.

Finally, Billy called a conference with Joe and others in the crew to try to figure out what to do. They couldn't just get another horse — this was a Roy Rogers picture and Trigger was the co-star! So they went to lunch and tried to come up with a plan. Billy decided that he wouldn't say "action"; he would simply give Joe a hand signal. They figured that if Trigger didn't hear the word, then naturally, he wouldn't know when to start running. So the cameras began to roll, Billy gave the silent signal, and Joe ran across the roof of the saloon, jumped down and ran across the two horses — meanwhile Trigger looked around him, saw what was happening, waited just long enough … and took off! Joe got just one foot in a stirrup and was hanging on for dear life as he and Trigger thundered down the street. Even without the words, you couldn't fool Trigger. …

… Even toward the end of his life, years after Trigger passed away, Dad would be going through the museum, and every time — every time — Dad got to the display where Trigger stands, he would tear up. How Dad loved that horse! …

Dad truly loved that horse easily as much as any other member of our family. He couldn't bear the thought of putting Trigger in the ground where he would be subject to the elements. He told Mom of his plans to have Trigger mounted and put on display so that all could share in his magnificence. Mom did not think much of the idea … [but] Dad could not be dissuaded and a rather heated discussion ensued. It ended when Mom, in complete frustration, screamed at Dad, "Well, how would you like it if I had you stuffed when you died?" Dad replied in an instant, "That's all right, Honey. Just skin me out and put me up on Trigger, smiling and waving at the people." That put Mom away. She was beside herself with laughter and so ended another typical disagreement between my parents. Personally, I've never been sure that Dad was really kidding. He probably wouldn't have objected if she had done just that.