Horse Wrangler Dale Rickards Passes at 81
The longtime equestrian left the LAPD to work on television’s Little House on the Prairie, and turned his Malibu ranch into a popular location for filming Westerns
Dale Rickards, an expert equestrian who wrangled horses for numerous film and television productions and turned his Malibu ranch into a replica of a western town for location shooting died of emphysema on December 29, 2009, at his home in the hills above Malibu. He was 88.
Prior to his work in the entertainment industry, Rickards was a Los Angeles Police Department officer who worked the horse detail at the city's Hansen Dam on weekends. He was with the LAPD from 1946 to 1973.
Rickards left the force to wrangle for the popular television series Little House on the Prairie, which was set in the 19th-century American frontier. On the show, he rode horses and drove wagons. He also developed a movie-prop business, Rent from Rickards.
His business was located on his property in the Santa Monica Mountains, which he bought in 1957. His many authentic western props included steers’ heads, wagon wheels and horse troughs.
He also rented the ranch itself, which he had equipped with buildings able to stand in for a saloon, general store and other familiar western locations. The property is still used frequently for everything from commercials to still photo shoots for magazines and catalogues.
Rickards was born June 29, 1921, in Wichita, Kansas, where he grew up on a farm. He reportedly developed his love for animals as a child when he would sneak into the circus.
His facility with horses led him to the mounted force of the U.S. Army, the U.S. Cavalry, which he joined in 1939. He fought in Europe during World War II, and after the war settled in Los Angeles, where one of his brothers had moved some time before. When the Korean War broke out, Rickards served in the Army again.
He is survived by his wife, two sons, a daughter, five grandchildren and several great-grandchildren.
