When A Horse Isn't Just A Horse

Painter, Owner Shared Many Memories

Painter, 38, died May 30 at his home in Springdale. The paint horse had spent the last years of his life peacefully in his own pasture, just outside Cecil Phillips’ front door.

Painter was a familiar face throughout the four-state horse world. Phillips’ daughter, Kelly, was crowned Miss Rodeo Arkansas on his back in 1986, and Phillips rode him to the state reining championship in 1988. Painter also worked team roping and team penning events, could be shown in halter class, western pleasure, trail and reining, and many rodeo queens rode him and won.

“He had big muscles and good confirmation, so he could win,” Phillips said. “He would catch the judge’s eye, and he wouldn’t make a mistake. He was just so willing to do what you would ask him to do.”

Painter also starred in many movies and television shows with Phillips: “The Blue and the Gray,” “North and South,” “Frank and Jesse,” “Hayes County” and a few episodes of “Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman.”

But perhaps his most important role came in 1992 in “Far and Away,” featuring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. The movie’s wrangler Rudy Eugland worked with Phillips on previous projects and knew Phillips’ horse sense and Phillips’ animals. Phillips’ son, Greeley, was riding Painter as an outrider in a wagon race scene on the movie set in Montana.

During lunch one day, Greeley and Painter were called to the tent where the stars dined. The movie’s producer, Ron Howard, heard about Painter’s disposition and put his then 4-year-old son on the horse to keep him entertained.

“So Painter was Ron Howard’s babysitter,” Phillips said.

Sometimes Painter got attention in stranger ways. Phillips recalled the time when he was running late to a horse show in Lincoln and knew Painter had laid down in some manure.

“I pulled into a car wash in Prairie Grove,” Phillips said. “I put in a quarter and dropped the lead rope on him. Cars would come by and just look, and he was there covered in soap. I guess somebody saw us because they were talking about it at the horse show. It didn’t faze him a bit.”

Painter loved water, Phillips said. “He loved to get into the river.” And he no doubt did on the many trails he and Phillips rode.

“He’s been all over the high country — Montana, Colorado, Idaho, Utah,” Phillips said. He carried Phillips all over the Ozarks Mountains on many trips with the John Henry Shaddox Memorial Wagon Train.

An average lifespan for a horse is 20 to 30 years, according to Tim O’Neill, a large animal vet in Farmington. “Thirty-eight is a good long life for a horse. Somebody was doing something right.”

Phillips’ grandson Tanner Autry was the last person to ride Painter, in the Fourth of July Rodeo Parade in 2002. Phillips wanted to ride the horse as grand marshal in the parade after he retired from the rodeo board in 2006.

“I got 20 feet across the yard, and I could hear his joints just a’crackin’ and a’poppin’ from arthritis,” Phillips said. “I’m not one to inject a horse for pain. His heaven became that pasture.”

On one of his last days, Painter went down and couldn’t get up, Phillips reported. The next morning, Phillips, his son and son-in-law got Painter up and took him to his morning corner of the pasture.

“But he wanted to go back (to his afternoon site). He could barely creep, but, by noon, he was back down there,” Phillips said.

“He was telling me it’s time to go. I’d been telling him for years I was going to bury him down there.”

Phillips was not present when the vet came or when his family buried his best friend in that pasture.

“The vet told me something that put my mind at ease,” he said. “He told me there was no doubt the horse was hurting, that he knew it was time to go.”

LAURINDA JOENKS IS A FEATURES REPORTER AT THE MORNING NEWS AND HAS LIVED IN SPRINGDALE SINCE 1990.

Upcoming Events