Hi-Yo Phoebe, away!

WOODSTOCK – While Johnny Depp or the nostalgia factor could have been the driving force behind an audience member’s decision to see Disney’s “The Lone Ranger,” it was Silver – the masked hero’s trusty horse – that led Amber Bauman, owner of Valley View Acres, to the theater.

Silver, described by the Lone Ranger’s sidekick, Tonto, as a “spirit horse,” was portrayed by five separate horses on screen. One of those horses? Phoebe, a thoroughbred white horse born and raised in Woodstock … and previously owned by Bauman (the horse was sold to Silver Bullet Productions, Inc., which is owned by Disney).

Phoebe is also the first thoroughbred white horse to be born in the state of Illinois, and as Bauman points out, she is only one of about 200 in the country.

“Phoebe was never a horse I presented for sale, so it was really odd at first when I got that phone call [from horse wrangler Rex Peterson], who started asking me all of these questions about her. I knew they were going to make a Lone Ranger movie, but I never envisioned I would have a connection to it,” Bauman said.

That initial phone call, she adds, ended with her feeling a little skeptical about the proposition: “I didn’t believe him. I thought, ‘Who’s going to call you out of the blue, especially in Woodstock?’”

Bauman said she called her husband, who is a detective in Harvard, to “check this guy out.” When he returned with information that Peterson was the “real deal,” contact was re-established, and Peterson visited the farm within the week.

The decision to sell Phoebe to Peterson did not come easily to Bauman, who said she cried a lot before she realized it was an exceptional opportunity for her.

“As a business owner, you have to think with your head, not your heart, and I realized this is where she needed to be,” Bauman said, adding that whenever one of her three children would ask her why she’s crying, she’d answer, “These are happy tears. For Phoebe.”

Bauman hasn’t had contact with Disney since the sale but did keep up with Phoebe’s progress through promotional photos taken of the filming, video clips sent by friends, and general chatter as the movie neared its release date. She said it wasn’t her intention to butt in, though.

“Some owners want to know what’s going on after they sell their horse. I didn’t. I hate the way this sounds, but I just didn’t own her anymore. I knew she was being taken care of, and that’s all that mattered,” she said.

After seeing the movie, Bauman could spot her Phoebe in a couple of scenes – most notably a scene atop a train, “Which was obviously green-screened. They wouldn’t make a horse run on top of an actual moving train,” Bauman said.

She could tell it was Phoebe by her signature move, swishing her tail between her legs as she jumps. Since Phoebe is a female, and several of her counterparts were male, it was also easier to spot her.

“We went to see the movie with friends and family, and we spent a great deal of the movie just waiting to see her. I think a lot of people were waiting for me to jump up and shout, ‘Hey, that’s Phoebe!’ but I didn’t want to say anything,” Bauman said.

Seeing her horse on the silver screen alone “Has done so much for my soul,” she said. “I’m not the one getting accolades, my name doesn’t appear in the credits. But seeing her up there, seeing her do her thing, it just makes me feel good. As a little girl who loved horses, it’s a dream come true to get where I’m at. Even if we never see each other again, I’m happy for her.”

Phoebe is currently in a stable in New York, owned by Disney, and may be used again if a “Lone Ranger” sequel is given the green light.

If a reunion is ever to happen, though, Bauman said it would “be super cool.”

Bauman said, “She is an angel among us, and if I ever see her, it would be great. And if I don’t, I know I will one day again in Heaven.”

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