Pick apart a fictional horse thread- Start with The Hell Bitch.

[Long_Spot]

[QUOTE=Calhoun;5229702]
I was in college and raced home every evening to watch the mini-series. It was one of the first movies that motivated me to read the book . . . which was excellent.

In Return to Lonesome Dove, didn’t the Hell Bitch kill Newt (I think that was his name) Rick Schroder? I believe the horse started bucking and the saddle horn hit him in the heart.

I need to DVR the series and watch this winter when it’s too cold to ride.[/QUOTE]

Yep, I believe in the book she reared up and flipped over on him, and you are correct, he took the horn to the heart.

Almost as shocking as Pea Eye marrying Lorrie-darlin.

[awqawq]

Well, I definately have another book on my reading list now. lol I was thinking that I would have to go back and re-read the original like Cos but I never even thought about the sequel. I’ve watched all three movies but it just completely slipped my mind(guess I didn’t enjoy them as much?) to see if the library had the books.

[SmartAlex]

[QUOTE=Long Spot;5229743]
Almost as shocking as Pea Eye marrying Lorrie-darlin.[/QUOTE]

That never had a chance of making sense after the mini-series was made. Casting killed the story line. :yes:

[SmartAlex]

[QUOTE=BabyGoose;5229731]
Wasn’t the black stallion a thoroughbred in the book? Guess I have to go dig it out…[/QUOTE]

No… at least half desert bred Arabian. His sire, Ziyadah was a smallish chestnut purebred. I don’t remember any mention of his dam.

[dressagetraks]

His dam was Jinah al Tayer or something like that. Mentioned in the Black Stallion Mystery. She was pure Arabian, I think. Where his 17-hand size came from was never quite explained.

And the Jockey Club just accepted all of this background, both for his racing and for his progeny. Because they are so adaptable to change and open-minded, you know. :rolleyes:

[SmartAlex]

[QUOTE=dressagetraks;5230304]
And the Jockey Club just accepted all of this background, both for his racing and for his progeny. Because they are so adaptable to change and open-minded, you know. :rolleyes:[/QUOTE]

Riiiiiggghht… registered him on performance. Good thing he wasn’t a funny color, or it would have been totally unbelievable.

[Galloway]

[QUOTE=awqawq;5229795]
Well, I definately have another book on my reading list now. lol I was thinking that I would have to go back and re-read the original like Cos but I never even thought about the sequel. I’ve watched all three movies but it just completely slipped my mind(guess I didn’t enjoy them as much?) to see if the library had the books.[/QUOTE]

Fortunately (or unfortunely), “Return to Lonesome Dove” wasn’t written by McMurtry, it was a cooked up for TV production. I think the sequel was “Streets of Laredo” and there were two prequels, “Dead Man’s Walk” and “Comanche Moon”.

Call and The Hell Bitch are two of my all-time favorite characters, couldn’t tell you why, just always loved them.
I don’t think McMurtry would have had the Hell Bitch kill Newt, more likely Newt would get lost in a snow storm and kill her to stay warm and have a bit of pot roast. (…and I thought they smelled bad from the outside!!)

McMurtry wasn’t sqeamish about the realities of frontier life.

[JollyBadger]

I love the story too much to let myself get too bothered about the Hell Bitch’s gender identity issues. . .just figured maybe she’s a mare with a large, triangular-ish udder flopping around down there. . .which would explain her being so moody.:winkgrin:

My boyfriend and I have been watching the old episodes of the TV series on DVD - the one that followed Newt’s “adventures” in Montana.

Aside from the fact that the series shouldn’t even exist (since Newt was supposed to have died right after Call left, courtesy of Hell Bitch), there are so many inconsistencies in the characters and the series that we’ve kind of given up watching it.

I did find humor in the fact that they named the hotel in Montana the Lonesome Dove hotel as a “gift” to Newt. Uhhh. . .great. . .name the hotel after the place where his mom was a prostitute. . .fond memories, you betcha!:lol:

Not to mention that several episodes have stolen scenes or ideas from classic westerns to the point where it’s just ridiculous. I’m still waiting for Newt to paint the town red and rename it Hell. . .:winkgrin:

But, for those who loved the original miniseries, I thought this was a perfectly put together tribute. . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHiAZ5P48dw

[MistyBlue]

Ah, that could be what I was remembering about gaited horses in Lonesome Dove. Haven’t read the book in a few years and remembered pacing horses.

The Black Stallion…he was 17hh because in movies and books almost ALL main character horses are huge. And black. Or white. Sometimes a dilute. Rarely a common color.

There’ll probably never be a story about the dumpy plain faded bay short crossbreed. :lol:

And The Black had to be accepted into the JC or there isn’t any story. Little did the author know how fun the JC is with registering horses. :winkgrin: “Oh, it’s tall and black, was in a shipwreck, saved a boy’s life and is really fast. SURE it can race!”

They never did have a chapter on how The Black dealt with getting his lip tattoo. :eek:

[Mara]

[QUOTE=MistyBlue;5230732]
Ah, that could be what I was remembering about gaited horses in Lonesome Dove. Haven’t read the book in a few years and remembered pacing horses.

The Black Stallion…he was 17hh because in movies and books almost ALL main character horses are huge. And black. Or white. Sometimes a dilute. Rarely a common color.

There’ll probably never be a story about the dumpy plain faded bay short crossbreed. :lol:

And The Black had to be accepted into the JC or there isn’t any story. Little did the author know how fun the JC is with registering horses. :winkgrin: “Oh, it’s tall and black, was in a shipwreck, saved a boy’s life and is really fast. SURE it can race!”

They never did have a chapter on how The Black dealt with getting his lip tattoo. :eek:[/QUOTE]

Oh, and never mind The Black siring a top-performing record-setting Standardbred trotter. (Is harness horse breeding as closely regulated as Thoroughbred? I don’t know much about them).
You’d think all disciplines would have been beating down the doors of Hopeful Farm to get a breeding to The Black, who managed dual breeding and racing careers till he was ten or eleven. Hey, why not have him sire gold medalists in the Olympic equestrian sports? :lol:

Regardless, I love The Black Stallion series. The only one I didn’t care for was “The Black Stallion and The Girl”, because I hated a perfectly good horse story getting ruined by yucky romance. :lol: Of course years later I found out why Farley wrote it - to honor his late daughter.

[pAin_t_Misbehavin]

[QUOTE=Galloway;5230496]
Fortunately (or unfortunely), “Return to Lonesome Dove” wasn’t written by McMurtry, it was a cooked up for TV production. I think the sequel was “Streets of Laredo” and there were two prequels, “Dead Man’s Walk” and “Comanche Moon”.

Call and The Hell Bitch are two of my all-time favorite characters, couldn’t tell you why, just always loved them.
I don’t think McMurtry would have had the Hell Bitch kill Newt[.][/QUOTE]

He did, though.:yes:

It happened between the end of Lonesome Dove and the beginning of Streets of Laredo IIRC. When McMurtry picks up the story in the later book, he just mentions that the Hell Bitch killed Newt shortly after Call left her to him. It’s only a sentence, so that’s probably why you missed it.

I’m sure McMurtry did it, and not the TV screenwriters, because I never saw Return to Lonesome Dove. I’ve read all four books, though.

[511]

[QUOTE=SmartAlex;5230332]
Good thing he wasn’t a funny color, or it would have been totally unbelievable. ;)[/QUOTE]

That is the subject of the next ‘pick apart a fictional horse’ thread and you might as well start start preparing now.

[511]

[QUOTE=SmartAlex;5230332]
Good thing he wasn’t a funny color, or it would have been totally unbelievable. ;)[/QUOTE]

That is the subject of the next ‘pick apart a fictional horse’ thread and you might as well start start preparing now.

@MistyBlue;5230732

They never did have a chapter on how The Black dealt with getting his lip tattoo. :eek:

He fell off a boat didn’t he? Obviously the horse was a sailor in a previous life and they just fed him grog until he thought a tattoo seemed like a good idea.

[2DogsFarm]

@MistyBlue;5230732

There’ll probably never be a story about the dumpy plain faded bay short crossbreed. :lol:

Seabiscuit?
Oh wait…that was Real Life

[MelanieC]

[QUOTE=Mara;5230895]
Regardless, I love The Black Stallion series. The only one I didn’t care for was “The Black Stallion and The Girl”, because I hated a perfectly good horse story getting ruined by yucky romance. :lol: Of course years later I found out why Farley wrote it - to honor his late daughter.[/QUOTE]

That one was silly, I agree. That said, for me the fatal flaw of the Black Stallion books (I read all of them) is that Alec is a boy, considering that 99.9% of horse-crazy kids are little girls.

[511]

Thing that the movie did right…
The first appaloosa horse that you saw was up in the northern country (Montana). I didn’t notice any in the scenes where they were in the south.

Atta boy to the stock manager for the movie. Someone seems to have done their research.

[Ajierene]

Someone I once worked for visited the, I believe, Waggoneer Ranch in Texas. It is famous for being the inspiration for some of Lonesome Dove or something…mind is fuzzy…anyway, he told me that if the horse didn’t throw a few buck in the morning and a few more during the day, it wasn’t considered ‘hardy enough/good enough’ to be a ranch horse.

He managed to get a mare from them - I forget how he conjoled them because apparently they never sold their mares, just turned them out into the broodmare band. Anyway, he could never ride her and did breed her three times (when I worked for him). She was a beautiful quarter horse, as were her get. The son, 3, was practically feral. The one daughter (2) was heading that way. The yearling filly was alright, but I kept my yearling filly with her and she got used to me messing with them both.

It was like they were cats - gone feral if you don’t mess with them. They had no excuse - the son had a halter on, but if you did not mess with him every day he would turn wild. So, yeah, I believed the Hell Bitch.

[MistyBlue]

He did, though.:yes:

It happened between the end of Lonesome Dove and the beginning of Streets of Laredo IIRC. When McMurtry picks up the story in the later book, he just mentions that the Hell Bitch killed Newt shortly after Call left her to him. It’s only a sentence, so that’s probably why you missed it.

Ugh, I remember the first time reading that book and it was just a one or two line mention of how Hell Bitch killed Newt and thinking, “WTF? That’s rotten!!!” :no: :eek: :no: I liked Newt.

Seabiscuit?
Oh wait…that was Real Life

LOL, I’m still surprised the movie didn’t recreate Seabiscuit as a Gypsy Vanner or something. :winkgrin:

However I did notice on the movie trailer for Secretariat that the horse did a massive color change from birth to adult. Apparently according to movie makers Secretariat was born a bay! His bay-ness must have shed out with his foal coat, leaving him the chestnut we all knew him by. :lol:

Seriously, do they think people watching movies are idiots?

many times I really dislike the movies as compared to the books. Mainly because movies tend to so overdo everything and Hollywood it until it’s nothing remotely like the descriptions in the books. And also because my imagination doesn’t always match up to the way the movie casts it. Some movies made from books I watch and think, “But that’s not what s/he is supposed to look like!” I know it’s just the way I personally pictured something though. It’s worse with horses, especially when the breed changes from scene to scene, LOL! (or markings)

[dressagetraks]

Oh, a long time ago, there was Seabiscuit, the Shirley Temple version. :sigh:

I’m not kidding. Look it up and watch it some time. Or don’t. Knowing that it paired the allegedly based on truth story of Seabiscuit with Shirley Temple as the human star tells you all you need to know.

:no:

[Galloway]

[QUOTE=pAin’t_Misbehavin’;5230937]
He did, though.:yes:

It happened between the end of Lonesome Dove and the beginning of Streets of Laredo IIRC. When McMurtry picks up the story in the later book, he just mentions that the Hell Bitch killed Newt shortly after Call left her to him. It’s only a sentence, so that’s probably why you missed it.

I’m sure McMurtry did it, and not the TV screenwriters, because I never saw Return to Lonesome Dove. I’ve read all four books, though.:)[/QUOTE]

Well, pooh. Getting old and getting my media mixed up, don’t remember that at all…
It must have been McMurtry, since Newt was in the second TV series… I didn’t watch it since it wasn’t from one of the books.
I always thought Call should have kept her…