10/21/2025
22 years. What a beautiful friendship...
For 22 years, Jimmy Stewart rode a horse that nearly killed other Hollywood stars—but with him, the "dangerous" horse became his most trusted friend. In the golden age of Hollywood Westerns, every cowboy star had their horse. Roy Rogers had Trigger. Gene Autry had Champion. The Lone Ranger had Silver. And Jimmy Stewart had Pie. But Pie wasn't like those other famous horses. He wasn't bred for the movies. He wasn't trained from birth to be gentle under bright lights and cameras. In fact, Pie had a reputation that made veteran stunt riders nervous. He'd hurt people. Badly. Audie Murphy, one of the most decorated soldiers of World War II and a Western star himself, rode Pie a few times and barely managed to control him. Glenn Ford, another major Hollywood actor, had a terrifying experience when Pie bolted at full speed and ran directly into a tree. Pie was known as a maverick—unpredictable, temperamental, dangerous. Most riders avoided him. But when Jimmy Stewart first saw this small quarter horse-Arabian mix on a film set in the early 1950s, something clicked. "I liked this darned little horse," Stewart later said in his distinctive drawl. What happened next became one of Hollywood's most beautiful friendships. For more than two decades, Stewart rode Pie in nearly every Western he made—"Winchester '73," "Bend of the River," "The Far Country," "The Man from Laramie," and many more. The horse that terrified other riders became completely calm and reliable with Stewart. Stewart described it like this: "I got to know him like a friend. I actually believed that he understood about making pictures. "And Pie did seem to understand. When the cameras started rolling, his ears would perk up. He knew the difference between rehearsal and filming. Stewart could gallop at full speed straight toward the camera, pull Pie to a sudden stop just feet away, and then deliver pages of dialogue while the horse stood absolutely motionless beneath him. "He never moved," Stewart marveled. "He knew when the camera would start rolling and when they did the slates. "Here's the part that makes this story even more special: Stewart never owned Pie. The horse belonged to a young woman named Stevie Myers, whose father had been a legendary Hollywood horse wrangler in the silent film era, working with Western stars like Tom Mix and William S. Hart. When he retired, he gave Pie to his daughter. And Stevie wouldn't sell. No matter how much Stewart offered—and he offered many times over the years—she always said no. Pie was hers. But she let Stewart ride him, film after film, year after year, because she could see what everyone else could see: these two belonged together. It was a unique arrangement. The biggest movie star in Hollywood, riding a horse he could never own, borrowed from a young woman who trusted him with her most precious possession. When Stewart finally stopped making Westerns in the 1970s, his partnership with Pie came to an end. The horse retired to Stevie's ranch, and Stewart would later say that saying goodbye to Pie was one of the hardest partings of his life. What made their bond so special wasn't just that a dangerous horse became gentle. It's that Pie seemed to choose Stewart, just as much as Stewart chose him. The horse that hurt others seemed to understand that this particular human was different—patient, respectful, genuine. In a way, it mirrors Jimmy Stewart's entire career. He was never the toughest cowboy or the most rugged action hero. He was the everyman—honest, decent, genuine. And somehow, a maverick horse recognized those qualities and decided to trust him. Years later, reflecting on his decades of riding Pie, Stewart's voice would soften with affection: "He was my friend. "In an industry built on illusion and performance, Jimmy Stewart and Pie had something real. A maverick horse. A humble star. And a friendship that lasted 22 years—one that no amount of money could buy, because the best things never are for sale. Sometimes the greatest love stories aren't between people at all. Sometimes they're between a man and a horse who chose each other, against all odds, and trusted each other completely.
