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Cartwright Family Horses - The popular
western adventure BONANZA/NBC/1959-73 featured the proud and rugged Cartwright
family who owned a large homestead named the Ponderosa near Virginia City in
Nevada.
 Each of the family's four members rode a different horse.
- Little Joe
(Michael Landon) the youngest members rode Cochise, a black and white pinto
piebald (also Paint)
- Eric "Hoss" Cartwright (Dan Blocker) rode a
horse called Chubb (also Ginger & Paiute);
- Adam Cartwright (Pernell
Roberts), the eldest son rode a gelding named Sport (also Beauty)
- Ben Cartwright (Lorne Greene), the patriarch of these fine boys rode a buckskin gelding named
Buck.
The horses real names were Tomahawk, Dunny Waggoner, Slippers and Streak.
They were sold in 1969 for approximately $19,000. Michael Landon once related
during an interview on THE TONIGHT SHOW that Lorne Greene did not like horses
and he could often be heard mumbling in disgust when he had to mount or ride
one.
TRIVIA NOTE: Little Joe's horse, Cochise was a
12 year old Pinto. He was 15.3 hands high and weighed 1,150 pounds. Michael
Landon rode Cochise from September 1959 to early 1964 until the horse was
savagely wounded at the stables in 1964 and had to be put down. Michael Landon
offered a reward to apprehend the person responsible but the culprit was never
found. Throughout Bonanza's 14 year run, Michael Landon rode a total of ten
different Pinto horses.
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