Friday Flicks: Sylvester Stallone, equestrian

Did you know that this famous actor is also an avid horse person? He’s played polo competitively and just bought himself a reining horse. Amanda Ronan has the scoop.

From Amanda:

“Yo Adrienne! I bought a new horse!” Sylvester Stallone recently purchased this lovely Palomino Quarter Horse, Step to the Bar Jac.

Photo Courtesy of Norwood Performance Horses @ Facebook

The photo above received 736 Facebook Likes and 551 Shares, and as you can imagine the comments ran the gamut of “What’s with the hat?” to “ROCK IT SLY!” There were also a few… ahem… negative comments about Mr. Stallone and his entry into the world of reining, but many of the commenters have no idea of the rich equestrian history of the Stallones.

Frank Stallone, Sylvester’s father, learned to ride horses in his home country of Italy and after immigrating to America in the early 1930s served briefly in the U.S. Army cavalry. Frank was also an avid polo player for the Potomac Polo Club throughout the 1950s. Sylvester learned to ride at a very young age on his father’s farm in the Potomac area.

Frank Stallone photo courtesy of The Washington Post

In the 1990s, after a bitter divorce from Sylvester’s mother, Frank moved to Wellington, Florida where both he and Sylvester played polo competitively. The Washington Post reported that “Mr. Stallone and his famous son had an on-again, off-again relationship. While the pair occasionally feuded, they shared an enduring bond through polo.”

Sylvester Stallone photo courtesy of The Villages Polo Club

Sylvester seems to be passing the family love for horses onto his children, according to this Tweet.

So you see, it’s not that odd that Sly would buy himself a reining horse. Here’s to hot men on good-looking horses in multiple disciplines!

And a bit of trivia…one of my favorite fictional horses is “Sylvester Stallone” from the movie Sylvester (1985), played by the infamous eventer The Gray Goose.

GO RIDING!

About the Author

Amanda’s experience with horses is just as eclectic as her taste in movies.  She has dabbled in almost every discipline from eventing to team penning to fox hunting.  She started riding when she was 8 with her local 4-H club in Western performance events.  She moved on to the AQHA circuit with her Quarter Horse, “Aggie,” when she was 12 and he was a green 2 year old.  Through college she held a working student position at Seahorse Sporthorses, owned by Terri Adams, where she was introduced to the wonderful world of show jumping and eventing.  Along with Aggie, who just turned 20 years old, she has two OTTBs in her herd named “Gump” and “Lizard.”  Amanda continues her jumping training with Ms. Adams and works on that necessary evil also known as dressage with Mimi Burch of Blue Moon Farm.