Horse Treats

By, Meredith Rogers

Whether it’s the summer blockbuster season or it’s too chilly to spend much time outside, who doesn’t like a good movie? Since horses are our favorite topic, here’s some cinematic equine trivia. There are no spoilers here, so read on and then go watch!

The Horse in Motion (1878): You’ve probably seen this galloping horse (above). It was the first motion picture ever and was created by stringing together a series of still photos in 1880 when the photographer, Eadweard Muybridge projected the images onto a zoopraxiscope disc. It was produced to settle a bet by former California Governor, Leland Stanford, about whether or not all four hooves left the ground when a horse galloped. Here’s an interesting article about it and the photographer, with a backstage video when they filled it: https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-was-the-first-movie-ever-made/.

The Derby (1895): One of the first movies about horses and one of the first movies in the UK. It is actually a silent black-and-white documentary featuring the end of the May 1895 Epsom Derby. It’s more just a video of the horses at the finish, some police officers running onto the field, and audience members moving around. You can see it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iS98WZH4A18

The Black Stallion (1979): Based on the 1941 children’s novel by Walter Farley, this movie is about a shipwrecked boy and a black Arabian stallion. It is definitely one of the best horse movies of all time. Kelly Reno, the actor who played the boy, was 12 years of age at the time and while he knew how to ride, he didn’t know how to swim. He took on the role because he wanted to learn. The film was shot all over the world, including Toronto, Sardinia, and Rome. It grossed $38 million, which is pretty good considering it cost $4 million to make.

National Velvet (1944): A true equestrian classic, it is the story of a girl who falls in love with a horse and together they do amazing things. It’s based on a 1935 book by Enid Bagnold. Elizabeth Taylor was only 12 years-old when she played lead character, Velvet Brown. Although she rode quite well and did most of the riding scenes herself, she fell during the shooting of one scene and broke her back. She recovered enough to finish the film but it was an injury that plagued her later in life. Mickey Rooney also starred in the film but he only had one month to shoot all his scenes because he had to report to basic training during WWII.

War Horse (2011): This is the story of Joey, a horse who grows up to become a cavalry mount for the British Army in WWI. It was based on the 1982 book by Michael Morpugo, and became an amazing stage play in 2007 that used life-size horse puppets instead of live animals. Directed by Steven Spielberg, the movie was filmed over a period of 63 days in England, and used a total of 300 horses and 5800 extras, including the author and his wife. Most of the props used in the film were real; the swords used against the Germans in the cavalry charge were the last swords issued to the British cavalry in real life.

Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002): This children’s animated film is based on a real stallion, Donner, a Kiger Mustang that Dreamworks purchased to teach its animators how horses move and behave. He was fully domesticated even though the movie is about a wild stallion. It is unique for a children’s move in that the horses don’t talk and only use whinnies and body language to tell the story. Interestingly, the first draft of the script did have the horses speak but the producer wanted it to be more realistic, so he requested a rewrite. Matt Damon was reportedly paid $2.3 million to narrate the story. There’s a paint mare in the movie named Rain, who was given honorary registration papers (#100,000) by the American Paint Horse Association, because as they said, she “exemplified the breed standards people have come to recognize in a Paint Horse.”