Spin off from International Velvet:what errors have you seen in horse related movies?

[Pat9]

SharonA, the horse in the Carol Burnett episode actually urinated - the wrangler stepped on camera with a bucket, and the flood obviously made its way to the front of the set, where Carol was standing. I did not consider that to be part of the “non-relieving” category, as it was live comedy, not an edited production.

It is, however, seriously hilarious. And while we’re in the variety show department, I remember Red Skelton in one of his Christmas episodes as Freddy the Freeloader (the street person in today’s parlance) who had only a blanket over his shoulders against the wintry cold. He saw a carriage horse (or meybe it had a sleigh) standing in the weather, and carefully draped his blanket over the horse’s back. Whoever wrote that scene was truly gifted, and obviously Red knew horses well enough to be able to put the blanket on without ruffling the hair or appearing frightened of the horse. Okay, back to the movies!

[downen]

My favorite head-slapper was from the animated movie, Spirit, which was viewed about a trilion times by my daughter, and she still pulls it out at age 15! Anyway, I remember them making a big deal out of the fact they studied horses’ motion, etc. to get everything accurate. Then they have a scene of Spirit drinking from a pond and he was lapping the water up with his tongue like a dog! :lol:

[BarbaricYawp]

[QUOTE=Laurierace;7884808]
The entire movie Dreamer? [/QUOTE]

And the entire movie “Fine Step”

[oliverreed]

[QUOTE=BarbaricYawp;7886964]
And the entire movie “Fine Step”[/QUOTE]

Really? I haven’t seen it.

[secuono]

I can’t stand the noises they add for any and every single animal, even fish and lizards chat up a storm!
=/

[Field_of_Dreams_Mini]

In the movie Black Beauty, the foal in the beginning is definitely a filly…

[Real_Rush]

Geez, there’s so many… What immediately comes to mind is the mare Bess that joined the brumbies in “The Man From Snowy River” was actually a gelding. Historical or fantasy movies/TV shows, and using completely modern tack. (including martingale stoppers on reins) On a season one episode of “Elementary” they said that horses inherited hair whorls, and was able to prove that some foal was by a different stallion because the whorl on his forehead went in a different direction. Um, yeah…

And I can not agree more with everyone who has mentioned the noises. For the love of God, Hollywood, please quit making horses make so much NOISE!!!

[Wellspotted]

No horse or any other livestock ever relieves itself on camera.

Only in parades!

I was watching one Thanksgiving Day parade last week and the announcers kept wondering why all the horse people rode or drove their horses/donkeys/mules around the big parade logo someone had painted on the street. They did assume the horses might spook at it, but neither of them mentioned that the horses might poop on it and the riders/drivers were steering around it out of respect!

In the movie Black Beauty, the foal in the beginning is definitely a filly…

I’m glad I’m not the only one who noticed that!

I did like some of the horsey “acting” in Sue Birtwick’s Pride and Prejudice. The way Darcy’s horse walked off in the Meryton scene wringing his tail as if giving his opinion of Wickham, and the earlier scene when Elizabeth sees Darcy and Bingley galloping their horses across the fields and she turns and “canters” a la National Velvet down the lane, passing a mare and foal grazing. I loved the message of that, that young gentlemen were free to gallop and travel and have adventures while young gentlewomen were expected to grow up, stay at home and have the children.

[poltroon]

Also, movie horses sure do rear a lot.

[dressagetraks]

I remember watching some show on TV years ago. This particular episode (not the whole series) was horsey. It involved a mystery at the racetrack that the cop/hero got to solve, with bad guys duly caught at the end.

But some of the scenes had me laughing out loud. One I remember was when the owner’s/trainer’s daughter was riding her horse, who was THE racehorse, the big one who was going to win the big race, get them needed money, save the day, etc., etc. The daughter was giving him a workout on the track, and then suddenly, she veered off into a little arena with jumps (next to the track) and started jumping him. The owner/trainer had kittens and lectured her on not obeying instructions for the workout and risking their valuable, race-fit TB on something he wasn’t prepared/trained for and that was totally irrelevant to the race (though it was in an arena right next to the racetrack). The daughter said something to the effect of, “I’m sorry. I just feel so free when I’m on him that I couldn’t help it.” I’d love to hear an exercise rider try that line with any TB trainer.

There was also, later in the ep, the requisite, “Horse has been poisoned right before the big race and is so sick that he might die, but while everyone else gave up on him, the daughter stayed there telling him how much she loved him, and her love got him back on his feet in the morning” moment.

And then, they still had time to get to the paddock for the race. He won, of course.

[cdalt]

In the Secretariat movie, the newborn foal portraying “Big Red” was definitely a bay - complete with black mane and tail! Guess they figured the audience wouldn’t notice.

[anon40672407]

I think it was in Seabiscuit, but am not sure. The scene where the jockey is dragged, he has the wrong foot on the stirrup. Now, for safety of the stunt people this makes sense, so I forgive it. But I do hate non-period and mismatched tack. Really, the wranglers should know better!

[clanter]

so I took my five year old daughter to the movies to see I believe it something like The Black Stallion … well one of the stand-ins for the “stallion” with a swish of its tail revealed it was a mare which my five year daughter in a pretty loud voice proclaimed the gender mix-up for all to hear.

but these days I have taken up watching the old Mr Ed series… some of things they had that horse doing were remarkable… as you watch him it is clear that his eyes are on his handler who is off camera… but still he did funny things

[Pat9]

A farrier I used for years was from Southern California and had shod Mr. Ed for years after his retirement. The first time he went there, they called him out of his paddock and stood him at the barn for shoeing - no halter, no nuthin. The farrier refused to touch him until there was a halter and a holder! The owner insisted, “He doesn’t need it!” The farrier - “Maybe he doesn’t need it, but I do.”

[roseymare]

The entire movie Lightening the White Stallion.

The horse switches were so bad even my non horsey high school friend noticed them!

[SharonA]

OHHHHHHH, Donwen! Don’t you be touching Spirit! That movie is sacred. Sacred, I tell you. Spirit was so heroic, defending his foal from the mountain lion, and warning his mother away when he was captured and she was so worried about him, and, and (sob) when he was being abused by the evil Army Captain with the snake eyes (Boo! Hiss!) and then he and the Native American man helped each other escape, and then he himself was so brave in thinking how to stop them from completing the train track, and he was running through the fire and was so scared and then was trapped, and then when he jumped the 40-foot gap between the canyon walls to get away from Snake Eye Captain, and… and… and… Well. I can’t go on; the emotion is too huge. But, bottom line: Spirit is sacred.

[danceronice]

[QUOTE=dressagetraks;7884865]
I noticed a new one (to me) recently. There are obviously multiple Travellers used in the movie Gettysburg.

Agree on the constant nickering.[/QUOTE]

Ehhhh…You may be mistaken. There are two gray horses in the movie, Traveller and Lucy Long (he even greets them both in the ‘morning’ scene), and I believe he’s just swapping between the two. Lee owned both horses and rode both, though Traveller’s the famous one who was used in his funeral and who was buried (eventually; long story about the skeleton) outside Lee Chapel. Lucy stayed with the family and lived 34 years.

My biggest movie peeve, like others, is all the freakin’ NOISE. Lucky is only chatty at dinner time and then if he thinks I’m late. Things like the Pie being the wrong color (like GreyTbred said, they even fudged that with the “pirate” thing) don’t bug me much-they needed a horse who could do what they needed for the movie and probably one easy to double. You’ll find more chestnuts with chrome than easy-to-match piebalds. Never mind ones who can jump and look like they’re’ doing more than five miles an hour. Distinctive markings aren’t very desirable. There’s one movie, I can’t remember which, where a horse in a bunch of riding scenes had a notable blaze and I kept seeing him turning up with different riders in different places.

ETA, on the subject of tack, man, watching “The Tudors”, they had a LOT of stainless-steel eggbutt snaffles in the sixteenth century…

[BeckyS]

Just saw one that made me think of this thread. I was watching Sleepy Hollow, and the headless horseman rides in a western saddle.

Who knew that Russian soldiers during the birth of our country had western saddles?

[arbiter]

Was re-watching the old Sharpe’s Rifles series (because the only thing cuter than a young Sean Bean is the horses) and was laughing over the second episode (Sharpe’s Eagle) in which an officer starts galloping over a bridge with a bay horse and ends with a chestnut, or maybe it’s the other way around. And in the later part of the series, the horses just look a little narrow and curvy-eared to be English or French. Then you learn that those episodes were shot in the Crimea.
Also, there’s a bay with a peculiar triangular star that switches sides, from the English to the French, with surprising regularity. No cavalryman wears spurs either, which is kind of funny.

[cuse]

Speaking of the Tudors (which I was also bingeing today), does it bother anyone else that all the women ride astride instead of side saddle? Pretty sure that was a no-no in 16th century England. Also, the jousting scenes use incorrect form - as I learned on Full Metal Jousting, you drop the lance just as you are about to hit your opponent, not as you set off.