# Those Horrible Horse Movies



## farmpony84 (Apr 21, 2008)

I think I saw that movie and... Is that the one where she rode the blind horse or is that another one? I liked the one with the blind horse... It was sweet.

I love horse movies... But you are right... The Saddle Club used to drive me nuts with the riders and how awful they were and then when they would show the falls or the jumps... They were clearing 18 inches! ****....

But I really enjoy Heartland. They do a great job with the horses and the riders. I don't know if you've seen it, it's actually a series but it's really enjoyable.

I also enjoy older horse movies like National Velvet. I did see a few on Netflix that were pretty good, but like you said... I saw a few I couldn't even get past.... Ugh


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## Samson5261 (Jul 25, 2013)

I'm so happy someone else thought the same of that movie! Lol&#55357;&#56834;&#55357;&#56834; 

I have seen the movie with the blind horse and it is good. Another one I like is the colt. I dislike most horse movies on Netflix but heartland is a good show. Love the show and the books!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## horseluvr2524 (Sep 17, 2013)

I have seen all the ones you mentioned farmpony, and yes the one with the blind horse is really good. One of the few low budgets ever to be really good! lol.

Saddle club was a favorite of mine as a child... back when I didn't know a whole lot! :lol:

Heartland is a great show. I considered watching it today but didn't really feel in the mood for all of the people-related drama.

National Velvet was really good! Granted, you have to consider most of these shows/movies were based on books, which is why they were really good. I don't know why regular movie writers can't write good script. Maybe they didn't make it as authors so went to movies instead?... lol


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## Jan1975 (Sep 7, 2015)

I thought the same thing when we watched Flicka. And the Black Stallion!


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## Acadianartist (Apr 21, 2015)

I used to love horse movies just because I got to look at horses. Last night, I walked into the living room while my hubby was watching some Lord of the Rings movie on rerun and I froze when I heard whinnying... I turned to look at the tv and there are half a dozen Gypsy Vanners. They're just running free, each one basically a clone of the next (come to think of it, they may have been digital clones) and impeccably groomed despite having been living wild. Totally unrealistic, but nonetheless, eye candy.

Now, most horse movies are either pretty bad, full of really bad actors and mostly, actresses, or end in the horse dying. Either way, I'm NOT watching. 

Now, Heartland I cannot deal with (sorry farmpony). Sure the horses are nice to look at, but the humans and all their drama! 

And why isn't there a horse channel???


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## Rainaisabelle (Jan 2, 2015)

Acadianartist said:


> I used to love horse movies just because I got to look at horses. Last night, I walked into the living room while my hubby was watching some Lord of the Rings movie on rerun and I froze when I heard whinnying... I turned to look at the tv and there are half a dozen Gypsy Vanners. They're just running free, each one basically a clone of the next (come to think of it, they may have been digital clones) and impeccably groomed despite having been living wild. Totally unrealistic, but nonetheless, eye candy.
> 
> Now, most horse movies are either pretty bad, full of really bad actors and mostly, actresses, or end in the horse dying. Either way, I'm NOT watching.
> 
> ...


Are you talking about the hobbit? Because the LOTRs horses were real well majority. They actually hired people from all over NZ to come and ride most of them were farmers and such !


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## Samson5261 (Jul 25, 2013)

My step dad is super into old westerns. I like looking at the horses but it drives me insane with how much neighing goes on! On top of that is some horrible riding! Some of those poor horses mouths had to of been bleeding!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## khorses23 (Jan 22, 2015)

omg, i know exactly what movie your talking about! i was doing the same thing - super bored, looking for random movies on netflix, and i found it.. "A Gift Horse" -- it was HORRIBLE. like not just the riding, the acting, and like the events..it was just awful and not at all how horse people and the horse world it. i was surprised i made it through watching the whole thing, but i wanted to see how much worse it could get haha! 

another really bad horse movie to watch is "Saving Winston". saw it a few years ago. kind of skipped through the whole thing and laughed at everything. also, most of it just consisted of like landscape pictures or something between scenes if i remember correctly, i just remember thinking "whats up with all the trees?!"

whats the movie with the blind horse? 

when i was little i used to love the saddle club! it was before i started riding and everything just looked like so much fun - cool setting, best friends who all love horses, they would go out and do fun things, and idk, the whole thing just seemed so appealing. i went back and watched it last year, i was like wth was i thinking when i was younger?! the riding was awful, the acting was..omg.. and it was just all things that NEVER actually happen.

i do love the heartland series - drama, horses, good actors, and some of the actors actually ride and own horses so most of it is very real things that could happen, though some events and stuff still annoy me. 

i love National Velvet too!!
another one i really liked was "Black Beauty" - havent seen it in many years though so dont know how i would feel about it now, if i remember correctly, it was so sad though. 
theres another older horse movie that i really enjoyed too, cant remember the name though - ill have to look later as i know i have it somewhere in all my old vhs tapes!


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## Jan1975 (Sep 7, 2015)

My favorite horse movie as a kid was The Man From Snowy River. I made my son watch it when he was home sick a couple weeks ago and I still thought it was good.


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## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

I rarely watch horse movies because of the inaccuracies in them. 

I did see War Horse in the theatre which was fantastic and went with my sister to see the film. Wish I hadn't, so much was wrong with it all.

When the horse was galloping through the trenches was incorrect as trenches were never straight, they were curved all along and as for when he was caught in the Barbwire, I am afraid that my sister and I laughed out loud it was so bad. 

I was very disappointed. Who would have thought that horse puppets were portrayed far better than in a film.


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## Horsef (May 1, 2014)

I watched a series which deals with transporting valuable goods.

The "good" in that episode was a famouse race horse off to the biggest race in season.

Eventually, the whole caravan gets ambushed and who should save the horse? A meek IT nerd who has never ridden a horse before.

And how does he save him? By hopping on bareback and in head collar, gallops down the road, jumps over a fence into a forrest and carries on galloping through the branches and downhill. Let me reiterate, a top racing horse being ridden by a total newb, bareback and bit less.

It was glorious!


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## Textan49 (Feb 13, 2015)

Acadianartist said:


> Now, Heartland I cannot deal with (sorry farmpony). Sure the horses are nice to look at, but the humans and all their drama!


 I did make it through Heartland. Nice scenery and some nice horses, and I felt that Shaun Johnston's portrayal of "Jack" was excellent. Way too much drama with the rest of the characters though IMO.


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## cbar (Nov 27, 2015)

I think I tried to watch The Gift Horse. What a joke....lol. I got about 20 minutes in and turned it off. Those are 20 minutes of my life I'll never get back. 

I find that so many of the horse shoes and movies are such crap. Heartland is OK, but it still has moments that are super cheesy. 

My favorite horse shows would be documentaries that showcase real-life stuff.


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## horseluvr2524 (Sep 17, 2013)

Haha! See, horse people don't like horse movies.

Non-horsey Friend: "You want to go see the new horse movie? You like horses, I bet you'll love this movie."

Horse person: "Um, actually, I can't. I've got a lot of things planned for that day."

NHF: "Like what?"

HP: "You know, errands, laundry, mucking out..."


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## farmpony84 (Apr 21, 2008)

Acadianartist said:


> Now, Heartland I cannot deal with (sorry farmpony). Sure the horses are nice to look at, but the humans and all their drama!


How Rude!!!

I'm actually sucked in by the Amy and Ty romance but of course... I am a sap


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## Samson5261 (Jul 25, 2013)

Has anyone ever watched the eagle? It has Channing Tatum in it and is actually a good movie but they switch horses and its way obvious to me but it amazed me at how many people never noticed! I mean they went from riding a dark horse to riding a grey!&#55357;&#56882; How do you not notice that! But I pay more attention to the horses in movies that I do really anything else. Lol 

I think switching out horses is what bugs me the most about some movies. I know they have to switch but some movies its so obvious they switch! It drives me crazy. Lol
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## farmpony84 (Apr 21, 2008)

Heartland switches horses. I can tell by the facial markings but I don't let it bother me.


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## Acadianartist (Apr 21, 2015)

farmpony84 said:


> How Rude!!!
> 
> I'm actually sucked in by the Amy and Ty romance but of course... I am a sap


LOL... sorry, that show has too many humans, not enough horses. I'm with cbar - I'd rather watch documentaries. 

I still say there should be a horse channel. There could be a dressage show, a Western pleasure show, an English hunter/jumper show, nature episodes about wild horses, a show about baby horses being born (eek!), a show about breeds... I could go on forever. The only problem with such a channel is that I'd have trouble getting anything else done.


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## egrogan (Jun 1, 2011)

^^We actually do have a few horse channels (I have satellite via Dish). There are two horse racing channels (TVG1&2) and they show other horse sports and documentaries in the evening when there's no racing. The RFD channel shows a lot of trainer shows (i.e., Julie Goodnight). And within the past couple of months, there is an actual channel called "Horse TV" which shows some competitions (seems to be mainly show jumping and reining), some documentaries, some kids shows, and some "horse lifestyle" shows (like a show about ridiculously nice barns)-but since they're new, they basically repeat all the same stuff every day.

I really don't watch tv that much  but I do know all the horsey options!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## tinaev (Dec 2, 2012)

farmpony84 said:


> Heartland switches horses. I can tell by the facial markings but I don't let it bother me.


I've wondered that for a while. I have watched all of the episodes through season 9 and I can never quite put my finger on the differences but sometimes they do just look different!


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## aclassicalpaint (Feb 11, 2015)

The new Flicka is horrible. Have any of you seen it? They call Flicka a Mustang when she looks very Arab-y lol. Besides, I believe I saw she had gelding parts at one point :lol: 

All of them tend to be very corny and inaccurate. Maybe because riding and being around horses is very relaxing and low key, so the directors try to make it more "Hollywood."


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## Rainaisabelle (Jan 2, 2015)

All the flickas after the first one got really weird


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## JCnGrace (Apr 28, 2013)

One of the things that always gets me is when they show a herd of wild horses running and all those wild horses are shod.


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## Cordillera Cowboy (Jun 6, 2014)

JCnGrace said:


> One of the things that always gets me is when they show a herd of wild horses running and all those wild horses are shod.


And well groomed to boot!


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## Cordillera Cowboy (Jun 6, 2014)

I prefer shows or stories abut people who use horses, rather than those about horses. The ones about horses tend to be much too corny and mushy for my taste.


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## Mulefeather (Feb 22, 2014)

I can't watch the horse movies on Netflix - I think the only horsey things I've enjoyed were documentaries, - "The White Stallions", "Buck" and "Unbranded". Though when we watched Unbranded, I probably made my boyfriend roll his eyes about a hundred times because I couldn't stop yelling at the screen (WHY ARE YOU DOING THAT. DON'T GO THERE! TIE HIM UP, DUMMY! ARGH, WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?!). But, I loved Donquita the donkey, and she made me giggle like a little kid every time they showed her. 

I hate horse movies for their boring, predictable stories more than anything- Girl meets abused horse, has Magical Connection(TM), saves the farm, wins some big thing, blah blah whatever. Very little in the way of reality, or changing from the formulaic storylines. 

Loved Black Beauty, Pit Pony wasn't bad, Seabiscuit is awesome, and I still liked Hidalgo even if parts of it were corny and the "story" behind it wasn't really true.


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## Smilie (Oct 4, 2010)

Far as horse movies, I'm very picky as to which ones I watch, and rather watch various horse training type DVDS
However, a few that I found not to be bad, are Pharlap, Champions, SeaBiscuit, and War horse
I avoid like a plague, those boy or girl, tames '(put in color ),wild stallion, and those teeny bopper love stories, centered around a horse

Yes, I see inaccuracies in movies, regarding horses, as when they use two entirely different breeds for the same horse, in the Mask of Zorro, shoes on wild broncs, trying to be ridden for the first time, and with those horses made to buck, using a bucking strap,hate the way horses are jerked on,. in those old westerns, ect, so I critique those facts, watching a movie with hubby, while he, as a gun collector,and history war nut, points out incorrect firearms, tanks, weapons, used in any war movie!


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## Smilie (Oct 4, 2010)

Cordillera Cowboy said:


> I prefer shows or stories abut people who use horses, rather than those about horses. The ones about horses tend to be much too corny and mushy for my taste.



You need to watch a few that are actually good, based on real horses!
I found Champions awesome, where the jockey overcame treatment fro testicular cancer that had spread, and brought the horse, Adaniti, back from soundness issues, to win the Grand National
Pharlap was also good, and based on that famous Australian race horse, who died mysteriously in the US, assumed poisoned by the mob

WaR hORSE, was also quite good, for a fictional horse story, and did show some of the horrors that horses used in World War 1 faced He was also not a stallion, but a gelding, that went through several ownerships, before being re-found by the boy/young man , who himself served in that war

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldaniti

https://www.google.ca/webhp?sourcei...enCA402CA416&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=phar+lap


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## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

Never heard of the Gift Horse
Some of the racehorse movies have been pretty good
I hated National Velvet because it was so far removed from the book its was a total let down, Elizabeth Taylor was nothing at all like Velvet Brown and the horse was nothing like the horse in the book
The last Black Beauty was closer to the book
Flicka was another let down, the trilogy of books by Mary O'Hara are worth reading, the films are an insult to them


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## KigerQueen (Jun 16, 2013)

the best most accurate horse movie/series i have ever seen was Cloud XD! cant get anymore real than a horse documentary. and surprisingly it was filled with plenty of drama 0.0. i mean cloud was raising his rivals son and his rival raising his first son. cant get any more drama than that XD!


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## Gossalyn (Sep 12, 2013)

the best Netflix horse movie (and by best I mean worst) is a Pony Tale. It is the cheesiest, most ridiculous of the entire category - and that's saying A LOT..... (spoiler alert, she hits her head and thinks her horse can talk). 

I almost am glad I watched it just to understand how bad it gets (and because it's so easy to make fun of). 
(in case you are curious):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWrKah7mstU

That said - one day I came to my barn (I ride in Los Angeles) and my trainer was in the ring w/ a girl and a camera guy. I asked the assistant trainer what was going on, and she said the girl was an actress and needed to 'show she could ride' for a role. So she paid to ride the school horses while this guy filmed her. Me and the assistant trainer watched in awe as she trotted, cantered, and went over 2' ft jumps with almost no seat, hands flying everywhere, omg... She was lucky the horse was a good steady eddie school horse and tolerated her. I will give her points for bravery and managing to holding on, but that was NOT riding...


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## SomethingSpecial (Aug 14, 2015)

Gossalyn said:


> I almost am glad I watched it just to understand how bad it gets (and because it's so easy to make fun of).
> (in case you are curious):
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWrKah7mstU



....I think that has to be one of worst things i've ever seen.....


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## LilyandPistol (Dec 2, 2014)

horseluvr2524 said:


> I almost never watch TV, but this was a boring afternoon.
> 
> So... I was browsing through netflix for something to watch. After being frustrated by what seems to be a lack of good quality shows/movies and horrified by shows revolving around drugs and other rather unsavory topics, I clicked on a random horse movie.
> 
> ...


I think I know the movie you mean. I hated it too.


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## LilyandPistol (Dec 2, 2014)

SomethingSpecial said:


> ....I think that has to be one of worst things i've ever seen.....


Looks like it was filmed with an iPhone doesn't it?


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## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

I did some stunt work for a children's TV series about smugglers. I had to gallop down a steep hill riding one pony leading another with barrels of supposed booze strapped to her sides, if I charged down the hill once I did it a dozen times! 
The barrels kept hitting my leg and I kept the pace to three quarter speed but the director wanted faster. He got it but there were few brakes at the bottom so we went through the camera crew flat out! That was considered good enough.


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## LilyandPistol (Dec 2, 2014)

Things that were annoying about A Gift Horse:
-How the heck did a horse get a sprain somewhere in its leg from pulling the reins too hard? 
-I'm a western rider and I can STILL tell you that girl had TERRIBLE saddle posture and position.
- I think I remember her attempting to post, and being out of time.......
-everything


What I would like is a movie where an old dude who thinks he knows everything is taught by a young teenage girl how to ride, and gets thrown off every time he does something stupid and jerky.

... I'm sure that sounded a little personal lolol

Kidding aside, Flicka 1 was the only movie of its own corny kind that I LOVE. Because I could relate to it.

I did like Secreteriat and Seabiscuit and War Horse, and might've liked Ruffian if I had the guts to watch it knowing how it ends... Oh, and Storm Rider is good enough too.


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## LilyandPistol (Dec 2, 2014)

Something else I noticed... She sprained her horse's "ankle". 
Last time I checked "ankle" was not among the many things listed on those "parts of a horse" charts....


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## Smilie (Oct 4, 2010)

Foxhunter said:


> I rarely watch horse movies because of the inaccuracies in them.
> 
> I did see War Horse in the theatre which was fantastic and went with my sister to see the film. Wish I hadn't, so much was wrong with it all.
> 
> ...


 Yes, of course , still some inaccuracies that a horse person would notice, and anyone who has ever had a horse go through barbwire, knows the horse would have been shredded , beyond survival
Still, compared to those Black stallion 'love movies', much more realistic!


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## Samson5261 (Jul 25, 2013)

@Smilie have you ever watched The Colt before? Not sure how realistic it is a mare giving birth during the civil war but over all I liked the movie. It follows two groups of soldiers during the war and I found it was not a bad movie for not being a big name movie.


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## Smilie (Oct 4, 2010)

With any movie, there is a big deal of difference between a documentary, and some Hollywood production, so I take that into consideration, even with horse movies.
I can sit and watch medical shows, often with the same jaundiced eye!
Movies are there to entertain, anD as long as they don't make horses other then what they are, I allow some lack of reality , knowing it is a movie, and not a documentary!

Thus, I realize those horses used, are 'actor's, have doubles , just like their human counterparts
It is also why, Steve McQueen, who actually was a race car driver, before becoming an actor, made sure the camera caught his face in that car chase in Bullett. He wanted to make sure that viewers knew he was driving, and not a double!
Having had a horse used in a movie and also read about horses in general, used in movies, I know that one horse might be taught several of the stunts it that film, credited to that horse hero, while another learns other tricks, so I am not too hard on that fact, when it is obvious more than one horse is being used
Also, I rather have some trick photography used, then, like in the early movie day, when horses , instead of being taught to fall, had trip wires used, with many of those horses being crippled or killed
Horses were actually still killed, in that film of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, in that leap off that cliff
We have quite a few westerns filmed in the area west of Calgary. The year our horse was used, a team of horses were drowned, crossing a river, making that movie, when the dam higher up, released a large volume of water suddenly
So, for me, War Horse had a plot that was sort of believable, while Stories of the Black stallion, with an unknown wild stallion, tamed by only a boy, who would rather be with that boy then a herd of mares, who comes as an unknown to that race, against odds, and wins.

You can tell a human actor to try and make a certain scene look 'real' , but with a horse, that is not possible, so it leaves a wider range where flaws can be noted, depending on the skill of those making that picture!


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## avjudge (Feb 1, 2011)

JCnGrace said:


> _One of the things that always gets me is when they show a herd of wild horses running and all those wild horses are shod._





Cordillera Cowboy said:


> And well groomed to boot!


Well, to be fair, Hollywood does the exact same thing with people. 

I was just watching a TV episode (Star Trek:TNG - one of its poorer eps) where a bunch of people who'd lived a no-technology farming life on a planet for 250 years were beamed to the Enterprise - and all I could think was how much makeup their ancestors must have packed from Earth to shovel it on the way the female guest star looked!

And the chicken I noticed on camera was pure white and sparkling clean.

It's only natural horses would be treated the same!

Anne


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## KigerQueen (Jun 16, 2013)

now another horse movie i liked was cutting horse. though it was more about drama and less about horse.


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## Lhorse113388 (Mar 30, 2016)

It kills me watching some off the movies out there I'm looking for one good one to waste my night on any ideas ???


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## Horsef (May 1, 2014)

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Lhorse113388 said:


> It kills me watching some off the movies out there I'm looking for one good one to waste my night on any ideas ???


"Jappeloup" - a true story about a french jumper who won at the Olympics despite being a smallish horse. It's an excellent movie and very realistic to boot.


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## bsms (Dec 31, 2010)

I like old westerns. Some of the actors were good riders, and some were not. In "The Virginian", the lady who played Elizabeth in the latter part of the series learned to ride when her parents bought her a horse. They skipped buying the saddle, IIRC, so she just fell off until she stopped falling off. In the opening credits, they show her riding and looking like she is going to say, "They PAY me to do this?" - and on a relaxed horse. Some of the other actors looked like bags of potatoes bouncing on the back of an upset horse.

The guy who played Trampas had worked on ranches during summers growing up. He apparently was quite good.

Ronald Reagan was a very good rider. He used his own horse in one film, and the director was upset because the horse 'ran too fast'.

Another guy who grew up on a ranch was told once that when he stopped, he needed to jerk the horse's face around - "to show some ACTION". He refused, saying he didn't want everyone he knew ridiculing him for being a hamfisted idiot. When the movie came out, he got calls from friends mocking him. Turned out the director had another actor mount the horse, and jerk its face around while filming it up close, then spliced it in to the original guy stopping the horse. The magic of Hollywood! :icon_rolleyes:


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