A GIRL, A DREAM, AND A HORSE

A GIRL, A DREAM, AND A HORSE

By Vicky Moon

When actress Elizabeth Taylor was married to Senator John Warner and lived in Middleburg from 1976-1982, people fell all over themselves. A friend saw her squeeze a head of lettuce in the Safeway and put it back. She went straight to it and bought the rejected Lactuca sativa What some may not realize, is the Academy Award-winning actress was devoted to horses from 1944 when she made the film “National Velvet” with Mickey Rooney. The star horse was a gleaming chestnut Thoroughbred named King Charles, foaled in 1937. She fell off and broke her back during the filming and, like any good horse gal, it did not deter her. She was given the horse at the end of production and kept him forever. During her years in Middleburg, she took lessons from Snowden Clarke and also attended a showing of a “National Velvet” fundraiser for Loudoun 4-H Riding for the Handicapped Foundation at the Community Center. Fifty years later, the organization, now known as Loudoun Therapeutic Riding, will screen the film once again at the same venue on Saturday, Feb. 17. Details: www.ltrf.org.

The author with the late Elizabeth Taylor’s daughter, sculptor Liza Todd Tivey who’s work was featured in the author’s book, “Equestrian Style.”

Photo by Leonard Shapiro

The horse in the film National Velvet was a Thoroughbred named, King Charles, foaled in 1937. For the film the gleaming chestnut was named The Pie.