When Zorro jumps off the balcony onto Tornado "The Arm" is seen.
Here is some GWF discussion on "The Arm", guesses as to who it belongs to, and facts from Sue Schuck.


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From: Venil.

Who does the arm belong to?
That's easy, the person is a part of the cast.
The Old Shepherd, to be precise.
Venil

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MELISSA ROYBAL.

LOL! And I always thought it was Bernardo.
I guess I wasn't paying attention.
Melissa

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Pat Gregson said:
I'm sure SOMEONE must have seen that arm when the show was aired but,
why wasn't something done to edit out the arm or
reshoot that scene. . . curious isn't it?

Janis answered:

I think it's because you couldn't do anything.
Someone had to hold that horse.
I don't know how much much animation Disney could put in a scene and still have it look right.
That's what it would have taken to remove that arm.

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Facts about "The Arm" from Sue, who worked on Zorro.
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"The Arm," by Sue Schuck.
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There is only one arm shot! It is just used over and over,
or flipped to make the horse ride the other way.
Since he is wearing a "Bernardo" type outfit,
I would guess that it was the man who used to ride for Gene (Sheldon)
(and yes, he had a particular stunt man just for him.)
I remember asking about that scene one day when I was working years later with some old Disney wranglers,
and their answer was that Disney believed the viewer's eye would follow Zorro, or the action was not exciting enough.
It worked just fine.

As to why someone held the horse. . .
It wasn't necessary if the stunt man got the leap the first or second time,
but horses are smart, and will take a step forward or backward
at the last minute if the scene is done more than twice.
It hurts to have that saddle jammed into your back!
The stunt man breaks his fall by landing on the knee away from the camera,
then sliding down into the saddle. Usually we bring in another horse
(which is why there were four to five of them), but it was getting dark,
and they wanted to get the shot before they quit for the day. The other horses had been put away.
I don't think the stunt man holding the horse thought the camera angle made his arm visible,
and the cameraman was focused on Zorro's retreat path.
The editor caught the mistake, but Disney never did a re-shoot.
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