The Horse with the Flying Tail
![The Horse with the Flying Tail](https://prod-images.tcm.com/v5cache/TCM/Images/Dynamic/i440/horsewiththeflyingtail1960_629733_1023x768_06022017031227.jpg)
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Larry Lansburgh
Nautical
George Fenneman
Dorian Williams
Hugh Wiley
Bertalan De Nemethy
Film Details
Technical Specs
![](https://prod-images.tcm.com//img/global/logo-AFI.png)
Synopsis
At the International Horse Show in Aachen, Germany, all eyes are on Nautical, a golden palomino colt, who is competing for the United States Equestrian Team against the world's best. Nautical's path to fame is long and difficult: Nautical is born at the South Springs ranch in New Mexico and bred to be a cow horse, not a jumper, spending most of his first two years running free on the range. In search of food, he pays frequent visits to an Indian village near the ranch and is named "Injun Joe." In his third year, he is rounded up with other horses and taken to the ranch for training as a cow horse. After being broken in, Injun Joe works rounding up cattle, but also demonstrates a natural gift as a jumper. When his owner decides that he could become a jumper, Injun Joe is trained by a retired Cavalry officer, Colonel Anderson Norton, and his daughter Sue. Later, Injun Joe is sold to a Virginia couple, who ride him in their fox hunts, but he proves too uncontrollable and is sold to a man who begins to train him as a show-ring jumper. However, because Injun Joe does not like his unscrupulous new owner, he resists the training and is whipped, then left alone, half-starved, for several months. Believing Injun Joe is now submissive, his owner tries again, but after being thrown twice, sells him to a small riding academy with amateur riders. Time passes and Injun Joe is taken over by a professional jumping horse trainer. Injun Joe grows to enjoy the training and is spotted at a small Eastern show by Hugh Wiley, a member of the U.S. Equestrian Team. After Wiley brings Injun Joe to the attention of coach Bertalan de Nemethy, the horse joins the amateur team at its Greenwich, Connecticut, headquarters, where he receives expert care and training. Injun Joe makes friends with Wiley's award-winning horse Master William, and together they train for international competitions. Injun Joe is renamed Nautical and is ridden by Wiley. The team, composed of four riders and horses, flies to Paris, where they participate in a major competition against riders from French Morocco. Nautical does well, but does not place. The team then moves on to the event in Aachen, which is attended by fifty thousand enthusiasts and offers several special attractions, including German carriage horses and Belgian horses pulling beer wagons. Although the horses are not permitted to experience the jumping course until the day of the event, their riders may study it. Nautical, ridden by Wiley, does very well with only one fault, and places third against sixty-eight entrants. He is also a great favorite with the crowd, due to his handsome appearance and style. Unfortunately, Master William goes lame just as the team heads for London, where he and Wiley won the King George V Gold Cup the previous year. Wiley decides to ride Nautical in the competition, and after a brief vacation at Ostend, on the Belgian coast, where Nautical enjoys running in the surf, the team heads for the White City Stadium in London and the Royal International Horse Show. A palomino horse is rarely seen in this type of competition, and once again, Nautical becomes a great favorite with the audiences. By the end of the week's competition, Nautical and a great Spanish contender, Toscanella, are tied for first place, and a jump-off over fourteen fences is required. Toscanella goes first and hits only one fence. In order to win, Nautical must execute a perfect round, and after he performs this feat, Wiley receives the cup from Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. From his humble beginnings, Nautical has become a true ambassador for the United States.
![](https://prod-images.tcm.com//img/global/logo-AFI.png)
Director
Larry Lansburgh
Cast
Nautical
George Fenneman
Dorian Williams
Hugh Wiley
Bertalan De Nemethy
William Steinkraus
Crew
Warren Adams
James Bauden
Jean Bowman
Bill Bryan
Robert Carmet
Walt Disney
Tom Downing
Werner Kurz
Janet Lansburgh
Larry Lansburgh
Larry Lansburgh
William Lava
Charles Maxwell
Hannis Staudinger
Sidney Zucker
![](https://prod-images.tcm.com//img/global/logo-AFI.png)
Film Details
Technical Specs
![](https://prod-images.tcm.com//img/global/logo-AFI.png)
Articles
The Horse with the Flying Tail
The film follows Nautical at the International Horse Show in Aachen, Germany, where the palomino, part of the United States Equestrian Team, is to compete. Unlike many champions, his backstory is less than glamorous. Born at the South Springs Ranch in New Mexico in 1944, he was originally intended to ride with cowboys as they tended their cattle. His love of visiting a local Native American village earns him the name "Injun Joe" and his natural gift for jumping makes him a standout. Injun Joe is trained by a retired Cavalry officer and his daughter before being sold as show-ring jumper. Unfortunately, the new owner objects to the horse's stubbornness and beats and starves him. Injun Joe goes through a series of owners before landing with Hugh Wiley, a member of the U.S. Equestrian Team. Now re-named Nautical, the horse becomes an award-winning champion.
Originally shot for the Walt Disney Presents television program, the film was written by Janet Lansburgh and directed and produced by Larry Lansburgh with narration by George Fenneman, best known as Groucho Marx's announcer on the TV game show You Bet Your Life. It was shot on location in New Mexico, Virginia, and at international competitions including Paris, London, Belgium, and Germany. Although technically a documentary, the film reportedly takes liberties with Nautical's story, as there is no evidence he was ever abused by any of his owners.
The Horse with the Flying Tail was pre-released on December 21, 1960 in order to qualify for that year's Academy Awards as part of a double-bill with Swiss Family Robinson. The strategy paid off as The Horse with the Flying Tail won the 1960 Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary. Later, the film would air on television in 1963.
Sixteen-years-old when The Horse with the Flying Tail was released, Nautical had won several trophies between 1957 and 1960, including the West Point and Stone Trophies at the National Horse Show, the King George V Gold Cup in England, and won the team gold medal at the 1959 Pan American Games, as in the film. Shortly afterwards, he developed pneumonia on a boat to Germany and could not compete in the 1960 Rome Olympics. His owner, Hugh Wiley, said of him, "Nautical was a highly intelligent, very gentle horse when not being ridden, but he could certainly be a problem under saddle. What made him so challenging was that he had overwhelming power and maneuverability and could jump enormous fences with hardly any preparation." Nautical retired after performing in The Horse with the Flying Tail and lived out the rest of his life at Wiley's farm, where he passed away in 1966 at the age of 22.
SOURCES:
https://www.disneystore.com/family-movies-entertainment-the-horse-with-the-flying-tail-dvd/mp/1322906/1013403/
https://horsecountrychic.blogspot.com/2013/04/nautical-horse-with-flying-tail.html
https://www.horsenation.com/2014/07/02/secret-history-the-fascinating-story-of-nautical-a-palimino-show-jumper-with-a-golden-career/
The Internet Movie Database
http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/629733/The-Horse-with-the-Flying-Tail/notes.html
By Lorraine LoBianaco
![The Horse With The Flying Tail](https://prod-images.tcm.com/img/film-participant-detail/Featured-Artilce_Placeholder.png)
The Horse with the Flying Tail
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
An opening title states: "This is the story of one of America's great horses. Without the United States Equestrian Team, the story would have had a different ending. Because of their interest and help, it can be unfolded on this screen." Publicity materials for the film reveal that multiple colts of Nautical's blood line were used to depict his early development.
According to a December 26, 1960 Los Angeles Mirror article, portions of the film were shot on location wherever Nautical competed, including in New Mexico, Virginia, Paris, London, Ostend in Belgium and Aachen in Germany. Originally intended for use on the television program, Walt Disney Presents, The Horse with the Flying Tail began a pre-release run in Los Angeles on December 21, 1960 in order to qualify for the Academy Awards. The film subsequently won an Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary. It made its television debut in 1963.
![](https://prod-images.tcm.com//img/global/logo-AFI.png)