A Cowboy Needs a Horse — Disney, 1956, directed by Bill Justice.
A boy named Johnny daydreams his way into the life of a cowboy — mending fences, fighting off bandits, stopping a runaway train — set against a flat, modernist western landscape that looked nothing like typical Disney fare of the era. The whole thing rides on one central idea, spelled out in the title song: none of it works without the horse.
This is purely memorabilia. It’s the first piece of media I remember watching as a kid — not the first thing I ever saw, but the first one that stuck, the first one I can actually call up when I try to remember. The Mystery of Early Memories- Shaping Our Narrative is about exactly that gap: how little of early childhood survives, and how what does survive isn’t chosen for its importance. This short survived. I don’t know why this one and not something else, but it’s mine, and that’s reason enough to keep it.