Okay, so the other day, I was thinking about that old movie, The Black Stallion. You know, the one from the ’70s? It got me all nostalgic, and I started digging around to see what I could find out about it. Turns out, the horse in that movie, Cass Ole, was a pretty big deal. He was a champion Arabian stallion, a real beauty. He was the star, but they also used another black Arabian named Fae Jur as his stunt double, you could say.

I also stumbled upon this book, also called The Black Stallion. It’s geared towards kids, like fourth and fifth graders, with a Lexile measure of 680L, whatever that means. It seems like it’s got a similar vibe to the movie. And get this – there’s a real-life racehorse named Lexington that inspired a book called HORSE. All these horses and their stories started swirling around in my head.
I remembered the kid in the movie, Alec, played by Kelly Reno. I decided to search some information about the actor who played the role of Alec. After that, I went back to my original intention of searching for horses. I got to thinking about all the famous horses in movies and books. From Black Beauty to Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, these animals have really captured people’s imaginations over the years. It’s kind of a trip down memory lane, thinking about all those stories.
In the movie, Alec and the Black end up in the Arizona desert after Alec runs away from Hopeful Farm. He’s dealing with some heavy stuff, like the death of his friend Pam. It’s a sad situation, but it leads them to a new adventure. That’s all I am going to say. You will have to watch the movie.
Anyway, one thing led to another, and I ended up going down this rabbit hole of horse movies and books. I watched clips of The Black Stallion, read summaries of the book, and even looked up some of these other horse stories I mentioned. It was a fun little project, diving into all this horse-related stuff.
Here’s what I did, step by step:

- Started with a random thought about the movie The Black Stallion.
- Searched information about the horse in the movie, Cass Ole, and his double, Fae Jur.
- Found the book The Black Stallion and noted its reading level.
- Discovered the book HORSE and its inspiration, the real racehorse Lexington.
- Reminisced about other horse movies and books like Black Beauty and Spirit.
- Recalled the plot of The Black Stallion, especially Alec’s journey in the Arizona desert.
- Watched clips of the movie and read summaries of the book.
- Explored other horse-related stories.
- Ended up with a newfound appreciation for horses in literature and film.
It wasn’t anything groundbreaking, but it was a nice way to spend an afternoon, revisiting some childhood memories and discovering some new things along the way. I guess the point is, sometimes it’s fun to just follow your curiosity and see where it takes you.