Red made his public debut carrying the Greenon Knight around the field at homecoming. For weeks, our daughter Katy had carefully acclimated the horse to the crowds at soccer games and football practice, but nothing could have prepared Red for the band with those feathered hats and those drums. Uh oh. It was a bit wild at first, but he settled down for a triumphant circle around the field.
Red soon learned to stay calm during wild circumstances that might have spooked other horses. He was gun-trained, and cannon-trained which meant that he would not jump if his rider shot a gun or if he was standing near a cannon being fired. This made him eligible to be a horse in the Fourth Continental Light Dragoons and to take part in Revolutionary War battle re-enactments.
Red’s success was sealed when he was in two full-length features for the History Channel; Boone and Crockett — Hunter Heroes, and First Invasion of America — War of 1812. As Crockett’s horse, Red’s image still graces a series of billboards and oil tanks in Texas.
In War of 1812, Andrew Jackson’s bodyguard rode Red. The British general borrowed him for another scene. However, Red’s starring moment was when Gen. Andrew Jackson borrowed him for the Battle of New Orleans. As if on cue, Red reared up just as Jackson waved his hat and the troops cheered.
Yep, Red was a star.
For more than 15 years Red was a part of the Fair at New Boston. George Rogers Clark would ride Red in the opening ceremonies. He was a Shawnee horse during the day.
Springfield News-Sun photographer Barbara Perenic took a marvelous photo of Red and Chief Black Hoof during a battle re-enactment. The photo was featured on the Fair at New Boston billboards this year on Route 4. I think they are still up if you want to see Red on one of his happiest days.
He loved giving our grandchildren and their friends their first horsey rides and pulling sleds.
Simon Kenton rode on Red to open the Simon Kenton Trail for National Trail Parks and Recreation. Red participated in the Springfield Memorial Day Parade and sometimes the Enon 4th of July Parade.
During the New Carlisle Bicentennial concert in Smith Park, a Shawnee warrior rode Red through at the beginning of the concert to remind the people that they were not the first to live in the area.
But as he got older, Red had to stay home and let one of the younger horses do his job. His system couldn’t handle too much of the yummy green grass in the spring, so his pasture time had to be limited to avoid foundering. When we were not looking, he’d stand in a corner of the pasture and beg the neighbor’s grandson for apples fresh off their tree.
Red would get so excited as the Fourth of July approached. The firecrackers and rockets in our neighborhood had him convinced that there was a battle re-enactment somewhere. He would prance around and hold his head high as he waited next to the horse trailer. In his mind he was a warhorse.
Illness took 33-year-old Red quickly. He passed away on a warm afternoon last week, lying in the sun on his favorite hillside in the pasture with us gathered around him.
I’d like to think that somewhere Red is grazing on a never-ending field of sweet clover lined by over hanging apple trees, and every afternoon he still gets to be a warhorse.
RIP Old Buddy.
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