Frustrating Movie Moments For Horse People

[Alagirl]

@shiloh

Old Westerns - where the horses are all galloping along a zillion miles an hour and either get shot or whatever and they do flips before they go down. Why does that bother me? Because of how they made it happen - they used to tie wire to the horses’ legs and that was attached to a log or something rooted in the ground, they would make the horses run and when they hit the end of the wire - kerflip. Many horses died as a result of this. Did you also know that in the original Ben Hur over 150 horses died as a result of the stunts that were used? And there is an actual film from the 20s where they made the poor horse jump off a cliff and filmed him falling to his death. Awful…

The original Ben Hur was also a movie form the silent era, not the other one with Charlton Heston.

[Belowthesalt]

LOL. Last night I was watching an old '50s era tv western. The lead was a pretty good rider, and alway rode a chestnut with a full blaze and two stockings, a pretty good looking QH type. So our hero rides out of town to deal with something…and returns on a Roman nosed sorrel with NO white markings. But a short time later when he prepares to leave for whatever, the flashy horse with all the chrome is tied outside his office. Continuity, man! Not every chestnut/sorrel looks like the other.
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[saultgirl]

All of War Horse. Honestly it was such a distraction to me, the way they animated the horse, that I couldn’t keep my focus on the story.

I always commented about the tv/movies “see horse, must hear horse” and now I own a “movie star”… any interaction with her requires a whinny, nicker, or snort on her part. (Maybe she thinks I won’t believe she’s a horse otherwise??) :lol:

[KittyinAus]

Blue Fire Lady, Australian movie from 1977. Quite sure that they had good intentions when they made this but missed the mark. My favourite bit was trying to count how many different horses played the part of Blue Fire Lady.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077250/

[Wirt]

It is reported that at least twelve cgi horses were killed during the filming of the latest remake of Ben Hur.

[PonyPenny]

@mscapen

The very high stepping “Spanish” horses in Sergion Leone’s movies… I do not expect they had those deep in the middle of no where in the Wild West maybe somewhat likely when scene’s are in Mexico or there abouts but in other area’s highly unlikely .
Also that cute horse in The Game of Throne that shows up all over the land… I “call” him Joe and always tell my Beau: " hey Joe just flew across the land" Beau hated this inititialy but now gets into the game. He is a lovely horse and I can imagine that he makes a great ride. He is the one ridden by John Snow and a slew of other’s: the one with the roman nose… I want that horse for my Beau when he retires from the series.
Any horse you all find to be quite good actors ? I am thinking of one scene but it is vague where you really get the feel the horse knows he is acting and his effort is really good… I cannot remember the movie though.

They were called Spaghetti westerns and they were filmed in Spain and Italy. Young Clint Eastwood was perfect in them. I love all of them. Just like Hildago. The acting and horse scenes were pretty far fetched, but Viggo was in it and that was enough for me.

[shiloh]

@Bluey

I am not sure you got that right?

What they used to trip horses was called a running W.

The running W is what the bad, cheap movie trainers used because they didn’t have to pay for the more expensive well trained horses.
They were looked down by the good movie animal trainers for that.

Yes, I have that right. I had just forgotten the exact name of the piece of equipment. And it was not nearly so nice as you describe. I have never heard of any “carefully prepared sandpile.” Maybe they did that later, but in 20s and 30s and even into the 40s horses were considered expendable. The Humane Society did not have people posted at filmings until the 50s, If I remember correctly. And maybe in the movie making you participated in things did work out and no-one was injured but in other, places, other times - consider this - they weren’t.

[copper1]

Barn floors strewed with straw , horse is sick, laying n the middle of the floor or stall with open door or no door at all and it is moaning and groaning covered with a bed blanket which doesn’t slide off. Heroine sleeps with the horse who miraculously recovers while she sleeps. there was a movie called, I think, theDark Horse about a blind dressage horse. REally bad!

[Bluey]

@shiloh

Yes, I have that right. I had just forgotten the exact name of the piece of equipment. And it was not nearly so nice as you describe. I have never heard of any “carefully prepared sandpile.” Maybe they did that later, but in 20s and 30s and even into the 40s horses were considered expendable. The Humane Society did not have people posted at filmings until the 50s, If I remember correctly. And maybe in the movie making you participated in things did work out and no-one was injured but in other, places, other times - consider this - they weren’t.

For what I heard, the amish use the running W to train their horses even today.

Many trainers use/used that to start colts, especially driving horses.
It was used while driving them, if they were runaways, to control them.
To teach them they could not run away without being dropped.

I assume that is like any other such, depends on how it is used if it is acceptable or not.
There probably are all kinds of things that are done not quite as told.

When you bring up animal rights extremist as your source?
Well, those themselves are not who I would be looking for credible sources.

Remember, those that have animals in their lives are for animal welfare.
Animal rights extremists are only for animal welfare when it suit them for their ultimate goal to eliminate all uses of animal by humans, including the horses we here care for.
They basically are for killing all animals we humans have in our lives, so humans won’t have any to use.
“One generation and no more domestic animals and none too soon for me”, as their president used to say.
You are on your own when you believe their propaganda.

[Lyssabd]

My least favorite is when riders in movies mount their horses only to immediately gallop off. I actually watched a young girl at a farm I boarded at jump on her pony one day, and immediately kick her off into the field for a gallop. When I stopped her, she said: “Oh, I watched a movie last night and it looked fun!” Needless to say, she got a firm talking to after that one!

My other pet peeve is when an injured horse is lying down for an endless amount of time because they’re injured… “Oh, Red has been so sick for weeks now, he hasn’t been able to get up at all…” can’t think of a specific example but I know they’re out there.

[pasolover2]

In the early era of movie making, silent era and up to the forties horses and other animals were considered expendable I guess you could say. NPR had an interview with Robert Mitchums daughter about Hollywood horses and a book she was helping to co-write about Hollywood horses. You can read about it at http://www.npr.org/2016/03/21/471283…iegoers-hearts.

If you scroll down you will find the part on the early horses and how they were treated as to falling, etc.

[Sandysmom]

Bluey and Shiloh are both right about the running W. Used properly it can be a useful tool to install a fool proof whoa. But it is something only an experienced person should use and only with help. It was used more when horses were the primary source of transportation and safety was paramount. I once had an old book on driving that described how to use a running w. The author recommended using it in a plowed field to minimize the possibility of injury.

Shiloh is also right. In the early days of movie making, animal welfare wasn’t a concern. The running w was used to cause falls and injuries and fatalities occurred. When the movie industry became more concerned about animal welfare, they began to train horses to fall.

[Bluey]

@Sandysmom

Bluey and Shiloh are both right about the running W. Used properly it can be a useful tool to install a fool proof whoa. But it is something only an experienced person should use and only with help. It was used more when horses were the primary source of transportation and safety was paramount. I once had an old book on driving that described how to use a running w. The author recommended using it in a plowed field to minimize the possibility of injury.

Shiloh is also right. In the early days of movie making, animal welfare wasn’t a concern. The running w was used to cause falls and injuries and fatalities occurred. When the movie industry became more concerned about animal welfare, they began to train horses to fall.

That is why I explained that they didn’t use any gimmicks or short cuts was a requirement if we were to lease horses to any movie company.
You can’t count those doing that always know what they are doing or are not up to contradicting their boss if it demands it, unless they have the force of our contract behind it.
Why we also made a point to take the horses there and retrieve them daily, bar the rare exceptions for night shooting.
This way we had a very good idea of what was going on.

We have to remember there are abusers in any we may do, thankfully few and that most try to do right.

[shiloh]

@Bluey

When you bring up animal rights extremist as your source?
Well, those themselves are not who I would be looking for credible sources.

Remember, those that have animals in their lives are for animal welfare.
Animal rights extremists are only for animal welfare when it suit them for their ultimate goal to eliminate all uses of animal by humans, including the horses we here care for.
They basically are for killing all animals we humans have in our lives, so humans won’t have any to use.
“One generation and no more domestic animals and none too soon for me”, as their president used to say.
You are on your own when you believe their propaganda.

I never mentioned any animal rights extremists.

[shiloh]

My favorite thing that just makes me laugh my head off is when the young girl in the movie declares “Why, this horse is a champion Thoroughbred!” or “He’s going to win the big race tomorrow - just you wait!” (you know - the one that takes 15 minutes to complete bwahaha) and the horse is some poor tired old Quarter horse or some such who looks like he just wants to be left alone to eat his hay in peace and sleep away the day. lol

[Alagirl]

@pasolover2

In the early era of movie making, silent era and up to the forties horses and other animals were considered expendable I guess you could say. NPR had an interview with Robert Mitchums daughter about Hollywood horses and a book she was helping to co-write about Hollywood horses. You can read about it at http://www.npr.org/2016/03/21/471283…iegoers-hearts.

If you scroll down you will find the part on the early horses and how they were treated as to falling, etc.

In all fairness though, everybody but the biggest stars were expandable, ad even those were not irreplaceable.
I remember watching a documentary about film making, guys went into a freezing river. At the end of the scene there were ropes strung across the river fr them to hold on to. The ‘stunt coordinator’ had requested that the ropes were to be stiffened loops, so they could hang on easily, after being in the frigid waters.
the director neglected that request: all four men drowned, as they good not grab the single strands of rope.

[Bluey]

@shiloh

I never mentioned any animal rights extremists.

The HSUS are an animal rights extremist group.

They split from the real humane association formed half a century before the split in the 1950’s to fight only to eliminate any use of animals by humans.
The old association was formed to help animals and children, “those that can’t speak for themselves” and was a welfare group, not extremists against using animals, why some split and formed the HSUS.

You may google and, once you get past the few pages of the HSUS propaganda, you can find the real story behind all that from unbiased sources.

The group that formed to help movie animals was started before the HSUS split, was a different group than the HSUS, that formed later.
The HSUS likes to take credit for what the other group did.

As you can see with Sea World and the Barney and Bailey circus, the HSUS is not for the welfare of animals, not to make how we care for them better, but to ultimately eliminate any we use animals for.
Those were just easy targets for them, as are zoos, carriage horses, you name it, they will be trying to stop any we do with animals.
Read their internet presence, how they are working to eliminate also all we do with horses, important for us here.

The whole world has been making things better for humans and so their animals.
We have come a long way, we still have long to go, it is an ongoing process, no question there.

[pasolover2]

@Alagirl

In all fairness though, everybody but the biggest stars were expandable, ad even those were not irreplaceable.
I remember watching a documentary about film making, guys went into a freezing river. At the end of the scene there were ropes strung across the river fr them to hold on to. The ‘stunt coordinator’ had requested that the ropes were to be stiffened loops, so they could hang on easily, after being in the frigid waters.
the director neglected that request: all four men drowned, as they good not grab the single strands of rope.

You are right, I read a piece on early stunt people and the things they were expected to do or did were hair raising. Like Harold Lloyd who did his own stunts during the silent era and a fake front with window came down where he was standing hoping the timing and his position was just right for it to land with him standing where the window was.

[Belowthesalt]

@SharonA

Any movie that involves jumping down onto the horse’s back from up high (ie, jumping off a cliff while being pursued by bad guys, and landing on your horse waiting patiently below).

!
But they did it right in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade! (The horse moved and young Indy hit the ground.LOL)

[skydy]

The Lone Ranger, fording a raging river on his noble steed “Silver” complete with parade tack, including a huge silver appointed breast collar, whom emerge from the white water of the river on the other side with saddle and bridle in place, but sans breast collar.

I am also disappointed when they switch horses and think no one will notice.

I was always amused by the cowboys in the Old West “spaghetti westerns” riding Andalusian horses. The passion! The drama! The incredibly improbable horses!