TV/Movie Horse Errors

[dressagetraks]

But entertainment and accuracy are not mutually exclusive. You actually can have both. Not on a graduate course level, but at least a little bit.

When I was taking my WEG vacation in 2010, I didn’t have tickets to all days for events due to finances. So I was looking for something interesting but cheap to do locally one day, and the internet informed me of the reenactment of the Battle of Perryville. I love history, and their website said that there would also be a cavalry demonstration before the battle. Sold. Well worth an hour or so drive from Lexington.

Great day, neat history, and amazingly fair prices (burgers at the burger stand were about $2. Fresh off the example of WEG concessions, I had to credit them with not jacking prices for the event). But before the cavalry demonstration, I got to the designated field early to get a good view. One guy was already there with his horse, obviously to police traffic a bit and make sure we all respected the ropes as we started to gather, but he got to chit chatting with the early birds. He was pointing out various pieces of tack and uniform and such, and then he got off on a tangent of how Civil War reenactors watch movies and TV shows. They apparently are quite nitpicky themselves as a group. Drives them nuts when tack from two different centuries is on the horse.

Here’s the guy who was patrolling the line and talked to us early birds for a good 30 minutes before the action started.

[starhorse]

The OutKast “Hey Ya!” music video wearing Charles Owen helmets when clearly their head profile would look better in a GPA.!

Screenshot_20210703-200818|690x345

[skydy]

It’s called research, and most movie and T.V. producers are quite capable of hiring it out. Some just can’t be bothered.

[Old_Mac_Donald]

@marymane

there’s never a scene where the characters, having been in the saddle for a while, dismount only to almost collapse and move stiffly, complaining the entire time about being sore all over

John Howard’s character (not the Australian ex PM) in Bush Christmas (remake) with Nicole Kidman. He whinged piteously!

[sprite]

Why are the horses always Fresians?

[moonlitoaksranch]

When and where did you grow up? I would have had the tar beat out of me by the old Wyoming cowboy that ran our boarding barn. I grew up out west and never, never, saw anyone do it. Even at shows. I worked on ranches and never saw it happen. There were halters on hand. I always heard it was bad/wrong/you’ll go to hell/ break the horse’s teeth/get infested with rabid bats/all your hair would fall out, etc…

Ground tying is a lovely skill to teach a horse, as are hobbles, but no one wanted their bridle broken, injury to their horse’s mouth, or a horse panicking from the pain if they pulled back.

[moonlitoaksranch]

I always laugh at much perfect open space everyone has in the tv pretend land. No views of ugly neighbor yards or weird suburban developments sprouting like weeds to destroy the lovely view. Nope, the ranches on tv always seem to own about a million acres so you never see a neighbor’s house. There is also never a mention of how much of a ranch’s land is actually from a government lease that they are borrowing from us the public.

[SuzieQNutter]

@moonlitoaksranch

When and where did you grow up? I would have had the tar beat out of me by the old Wyoming cowboy that ran our boarding barn. I grew up out west and never, never, saw anyone do it. Even at shows. I worked on ranches and never saw it happen. There were halters on hand. I always heard it was bad/wrong/you’ll go to hell/ break the horse’s teeth/get infested with rabid bats/all your hair would fall out, etc…

Ground tying is a lovely skill to teach a horse, as are hobbles, but no one wanted their bridle broken, injury to their horse’s mouth, or a horse panicking from the pain if they pulled back.

English riders are taught not to tie with their reins as we have a set of reins that are joined. The horse can get their foot caught in the loop so you don’t ground tie and what I was told as a youngster that especially you don’t tie with a curb bit as it is also called a jawbreaker and the horse will keep pulling until it breaks it’s jaw.

Western riders use split reins so the horse reins don’t have a loop. I don’t know what western riders are taught.

[moonlitoaksranch]

Is Sandysmom Australian? I suppose that could be why. Your bridles are different, too, aren’t they? The western looking ones have a noseband and a different way the throat latch is connected, right?

[SuzieQNutter]

No WEG in Australia as far as I know and I think ours used a drop nose band.

[Sandysmom]

I grew up in south Arkansas right on the Texas border. Not uncommon at all here. When the big ranch across the road is working cattle, there horses are tied by the reins to the trailer or fence. They know not to pull back. Maybe Wyoming horses aren’t as broke as Texas horses.

[Peggy]

My trainer was a consultant on a movie filmed at our barn. She was also a stunt double and animal trainer—it was a pretty low budget affair. She was able to fix some of the stupid, but not all of it.

They used horses from our barn and from another barn to play the same horse. Sometimes they matched. Sometimes they didn’t. They covered part of this horse’s blaze and said that no one would be able to tell. Um. No.

Included the second photo bc it shows just how low budget this thing was—that’s a member of the crew that we somehow coerced into holding a horse.

[shiloh]

Yeah and no-body is ever going to see the huge dyed mark down the horse’s face. Yeah, that blended in. Not.

[skydy]

When I was on West Coast in the U.S.back in the day (I have no idea what the latest thing is now) romal reins https://capriolas.com/shop/california-style/ were the thing and hobbles were used, or at least carried in the show ring.

[moonlitoaksranch]

I always wonder how barnsour our horses would be if we rode them like they do in the movies.

I also think it’s funny that wild horses all rear and strike out every single time. The BLM Mustangs you meet are shy, like deer, unless you corner them. If you’re stupid enough to do that, you’re more likely to get a quick strike out from a back leg as they flee or they crash into a fence injuring themselves. No stand up on hind legs, expose your belly, and paw real pretty for the camera type behaviors.

I wonder how many times they have to yell “Cut!” because a horse pooped during a scene? Maybe they just cut out the raised tail, lol.

The kids seem to like that British show with the CA sisters that move to an island. It’s not as bad as some.

There are a few horse movies that were made by Mormons, or some other religious group. They were so sickly sweet, I just about choked. I’d do anything for the offspring, but nope, not that. And that’s from someone who goes to mass regularly, lol!

[ParadoxFarm]

Okay, one more Heartland observation. I’ll preface this by saying I still like the hokey show. I hate when they show a scene of someone jumping a course, like at a show, and when they zoom in, the rider is clearly trotting. Drives me nuts.

[Sandysmom]

Yellowstone. Lots of people rave about that series but I couldn’t get past the stupid and implausible, not just the horse scenes but the overall ranch scenes.

[moonlitoaksranch]

LOL! Maybe we just don’t trust the buggers as much.

Having a horse pull back on a halter is very rare, but still bad if it happens. Also, the horse can doze off, feel a fly bite them, and swing their heads around suddenly, forgetting they’re tied. I’ve seen that happen. With a halter, no big deal. With a bridle, it could hurt and cause a reaction in a sleepy horse.

[Spudsmyguy]

This happened a lot of years ago but I remember that at the one big AA show in this area (Evergreen Classic), someone there tied this horse by the reins. The horse pulled back and ended up severing its tongue! I don’t know what happened to that horse but it couldn’t have been good.

[OTTBs]

Not sure if this is the same thing you are seeing, but it sure looks like Georgie is posting the canter at times. Or the shot only shows her posting, then when it zooms out to show the horse the horse is cantering.

I’m not crazy about the slo-mo and odd camera angles while someone is jumping a course.