My Virtual Reading Room

From a biography of DeForest Kelley, "From sawdust to stardust"--thanks again to  wirral_bagpuss  for the recommendation :)
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Aileen Pickering's riding lessons and the instruction he took later on made DeForest a fine cowboy actor. As Carolyn recalls, "He looked good on a horse."

However, there are some things a cowboy actor can't be ready for. With self-effacing humor, Kelley told the story: "My gang...we ride into town. There are about fifteen or twenty of us just hellbent for leather, and we tie up at a tie rail and all swing off the horses one after the other.  And as I swung, I had spurs on. My foot hit the horse next to me in the rump, and he kicked, and I went into the air." He used his arms and hands to trace the arch and spin of his body in space. "I did a loop. I knew I was turning over. I could feel myself in the air, and the tie rail, you know, and i fell, and my head just missed that tie rail. I uttered an obscenity while in the air and landed on the ground...silence...I open my eyes, and I look up, and I see all these horses. Here comes Eddie Dmytryk, big cigar, looked over. 'You all right, De?' 'Yeah.' He said, 'God, I'm glad I hired real cowboys.'"