There's a documentary--I think it's on the DVD/Bluray. Half the kids were pro actors. The other half could handle and ride horses. The director made a deal with them: one group of kids would teach the other about their craft, and vice-versa. And it worked.
Also what was interesting in that documentary was how nearly every adult in the cast (and the director) had chips on their shoulders about John Wayne.
None of them had ever met him before, but they HATED him just for his conservative reputation. "And his support of the War in Vietnam!!" they hissed.
Then they do meet him ... and find out he's a total gentleman. No where near the monster they've built him up to be. 40 some years later, they still couldn't understand how they could have been so wrong.
Thank you for the correction on the kids teaching each other their crafts - not that you mention it, I think I had heard that before.
I was recently looking at Bruce Dern. (My wife said he played the bad guy in Clint’s movies, and I argued he was the bad guy in Wayne’s movies. We were both right!)
He was only on the set of “The Cowboys” for a few days as he was in the midst of another film. John Wayne gave him permission to be a real jerk to everybody - including Wayne, so the kids would hate him. I think Dern even slugged Wayne once on the set during an “argument”.
He also spoke about how for years he would get accosted and yelled at on the street for being the guy that killed John Wayne. “Look lady - I’m just an actor!”