Over past two years, Arctic Bright View, a pure, white son of Panoramic, has experienced an exciting adventure to Tinsel Town and back, and he lives to tell the tale.
Out of the Airdrie Apache mare Arcticanna, Arctic Bright View just emerged from training in Hollywood, Calif., where he was leased by Disney to portray Silver in "The Lone Ranger."
Several other horses were also trained to portray Silver in "The Lone Ranger," including another Thoroughbred, Cloud Ten of Blazing Colours Farm in Canada. Click here to view him.
Arctic Bright View
Owned by Paul Megson, 4-year-old Arctic Bright View is fulfilling other duties now that his Hollywood work is done: making appearances at various horse shows and servicing mares at Ed Crothers' Cedar Brook Farm near West Union, Ohio.
Arctic Bright View made his first public appearance at the Equine Affaire in Columbus, Ohio, an exposition that offers a variety of clinics, demonstrations, and seminars for horse enthusiasts of all breeds and disciplines.
During the event, Crothers dressed as the Lone Ranger and posed for photos for hours with Arctic Bright View. The reception was overwhelming, Megson said. "The older folks all wanted to get their picture taken with him because they knew the Lone Ranger and the younger folks wanted to get their picture taken with him just because he was a white horse," he explained with a laugh.
"The response has been tremendous...the horse looks fantastic," added Megson. "He's also got an attitude that's unbelievable for a breeding stallion. There would be times where there would be 10-12 kids in his stall with him, but he just pricks his ears and loves the attention. Most horses that were bothered that much during the day would go to the back of the stall and hang their head and go to sleep to get away from everybody, but as soon as somebody comes up to (Arctic Bright View's) stall, he goes over there and sticks his head up against the bars to get petted."
Added Crothers, who said between five and 10 people still stop by the farm daily to visit Arctic Bright View: "He's got a huge personality and intelligence. You only have to show him once and he'll do it. And he's a big ham...he's real cool, personable, and has the Thoroughbred elegance on top of being white. Everybody freaks out when they see him."
Megson was subsequently contacted by the American Paint Horse Association to have Arctic Bright View appear at the organization's Youth World Championship Show in Fort Worth, Texas, which runs from June 29-July 6, as well as its Open Amateur World Championship Show in November.
Since the shows will take place before and after The Lone Ranger's opening July 3, Megson felt they would provide a good opportunity to promote Arctic Bright View as a stallion.
Although unraced, Arctic Bright's coloring and energetic personality make him a rare jewel. He is both a registered Thoroughbred and a registered Paint Horse, which means he can be bred to Thoroughbreds, Paint horses, or Quarter Horses and still get a registered foal.
"With the movie coming out, hopefully everybody wants a little Silver running inside their mare," said Crothers, who breaks around 300-400 horses a year at Cedar Brook. Crothers was able to detect many of the skills Arctic Bright View learned while on the Lone Ranger movie set by working with him at the farm upon his return from filming. Click here to view a news video featuring Crothers and Arctic Bright.
Megson said the majority of horsemen interested in breeding mares Arctic Bright View are looking to add some color and size into their eventing horses. "The main attraction to the horse is the way he's built--he's a really tall, high withered, uphill kind of a horse," said Megson of the horse, who carries the dominant white sabino gene. "His disposition is such that I think a lot of people will be breeding to him to get event and show horses."
But Megson feels the horse's bloodlines carry the potential of throwing a good racehorse as well. A descendant of several black-type winners in his female family, Arctic Bright View's maternal grandsire, Airdrie Apache, is a son of the white mare Not Quite White and is also double registered as a Paint. Airdrie Apache is the sire of another horse owned by Megson, the 2-year-old colt Wear the Mask, who is expected to make his first start soon for trainer Ivan Vasquez.
"Ivan believes (Wear the Mask) is the best 2-year-old they've got in the barn there," said Megson of the colt, a registered white horse with a few brown spots.
Arctic Bright View was bred in Oregon by Darlene Knight, owner of Painted Desert Farm near Redmond. Known for breeding and raising a variety of colorful Thoroughbreds and Paint Horses, Knight recently retired from the business and sold all of her 20 white Thoroughbred mares to Megson, who keeps them at his breeding farm near Calvert City, Ky. Megson reported several of the former Painted Desert mares are in foal to Arctic Bright View for 2014.
Megson's farm is one of very few around the country that breed white Thoroughbreds. One of the other most well-known operations to produce horses of this color is Patchen Wilkes near Lexington. In addition to its rare-colored Thoroughbreds, Patchen Wilkes is also home to 2012 Kentucky Broodmare of the Year Lisa Danielle, the dam of 2012 Horse of the Year Wise Dan.
Patchen Wilkes, which registered the first white Thoroughbred in North America with The Jockey Club in 1963, has a remarkable-looking new arrival this year.
A son of Thunder Gulch and the white mare Spot of Beauty, as you can see, the colt has a band of chestnut on his ears, similar to that of a "medicine hat" Paint horse.
According to Native American legend, some tribes believed medicine hat horses possessed supernatural protective powers and were considered so special that only tribal chiefs, medicine men, and great warriors were allowed to ride them.
Do you plan on seeing "The Lone Ranger?" Are you as fascinated by these rare white Thoroughbreds as I am? Aside from anything else, they are sure bringing some more interest to our sport!
