In old western films starring John Wayne, particularly later in his career, he regularly gripped the horn of his saddle when riding. Was this because Wayne wasn’t a very good horseman or do cowboys typically hold the pommel when horseback riding?
Before he ever became famous on screen, actor John Wayne was already a skilled horseman who said that riding a horse “came as naturally to me as breathing.”
^^^ Although he was recognized for his particularly skilled and even graceful horsemanship, Wayne (at 6′4″) was a big man in the saddle, and he was aware that he needed to keep his arms and hands down to avoid looking bigger than the horse.
So, in non-action shots, he typically kept his hands folded low and centered in front of him, resting on the pommel. He still looked bigger.
Duke was also quite picky about his horses and saddles. Later in life, while filming True Grit (1969), Wayne noticed that his body-double stuntman on the set had a far better and more authentic Western saddle than the star had. He asked the stuntman if he could take it for a ride, and he immediately fell in love with it; whereupon, Duke called a halt on production of True Grit, flew to Denver and had Colorado Saddelry build him a custom tooled-leather Western saddle for the movie.
Wayne’s visit made Colorado Saddlery famous in Hollywood.
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