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The Tack Room - A City of Horses

You can take the girl out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the girl. I have brought the country to the city with a hot stable, the sweet smell of straw and molasses, and horse ownership in a concrete forest. This is horses in Sydney’s CBD, so welcome to The Tack Room...

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The Movie Horses

October 2nd 2006 14:35

Daredevil in Sleepy Hollow (1999)

Horses don’t make a fortune for themselves on the silver screen, but that isn’t to say that some of them are not stars. Great horse movies of our time and times gone have pushed good horses to great stardom, like The Black Stallion’s Cass Ole, and if you watch closely you might notice these same horses time and time again.

It was the Westerns that started the trend of re-using the same horses for different films, horses that bore a striking appearance on screen and were easy to handle. Some were good, and some were so special they were billed with as much intensity as their human counterparts. These days, horse movies are usually just movies with horses.

The charging black horse seen under Russell Crowe in early scenes of Gladiator is a commanding Andalusian from Seville in Spain who is one of

An impressive duo in Gladiator (2000)

the most revered and expensive equine stars of today’s film industry. George’s first major film role came as Daredevil, the imposing black beast of the Headless Horseman in Sleepy Hollow. Both of these roles required a horse with extravagant movement and terrific presence, and black horses continue to be great film horses. In most cases, the horse master on any film owns the animals he uses. It is in fact George’s stable mate who Crowe commandeers in a battle scene in the Coliseum, a grey Andalusian stallion named Jabonero who also belongs to Dent. Dent was the horse master for these two films, and for scores of films where horses have featured, among them Kingdom of Heaven and Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves.

And so the black horse rides again, this time in the remake of the children’s classic Black Beauty. The film’s 1994 version featured an American Quarter Horse called Doc’s Keepin Time, or Justin for short. Justin began his career as the lead in the TV series The Black Stallion before his role as Black Beauty in 1994. Tuned to film work by master Rex Peterson the two have commanded big performances on many films, including the role of Gulliver in The Horse Whisperer. And it was this film that bore one of the biggest equine stars in Hollywood, a chestnut Quarter Horse by the name of Hightower who starred as the deeply troubled but beautifully educated Pilgrim. Hightower possesses perhaps the most impressive résumé with leads in not only The Horse Whisperer but as ginger in Black Beauty, and as Julia Roberts’ mount in Runaway Bride. In fact Roberts was so taken by the horse during filming that when it came to the final shoot she demanded the horse be flown by FedEx across America rather than ride a substitute.

Mortensen (left) went through extensive riding lessons with trainer Rex Peterson (right) on the set of Hidalgo (2004)

Great horses are many, but a great film horse is few. The training and the stunt work required of an equine star demands a particular constitution and as with any screen star, good looks go a long way! The success of a film horse is largely the success of its handler, and there are some great names in film work - Rex Peterson, Corky Randall, and Australia’s own Heath Harris. Without a doubt the films named above would be nothing without their horses.

Image from Hidalgo Photo Credit: Richard Cartwright. Permission is hereby granted to reproduce this picture on the condition it is used in connection with direct publicity for the movie in which it appears and that it is accompanied by "© 2004 Buena Vista Pictures Distribution. All rights reserved."

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Comments

12 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by Sonya O

October 5th 2006 14:21

George from Sleepy Hollow is definately the best on-screen horse I've seen -. The horses used in Zorro are also pretty cool. I imagine these are also Spanish Andalusions?

I'm guessing these horses are being ridden by stunt men most of the time? How to you 'fed ex' a horse!

Comment by JessO

October 5th 2006 14:36

The Tack Room

The horses in The Mask of Zorro were actually Freisians, an English breed that are only black and only magnificent! There were four horses who played the part of Tornado, but the lead Freisian was a stallion by the name of Casey who reportedly left a sizeable impression on Antonio Banderas. Much of his riding is actually done by Banderas, including the near vertical rears that are the pair's trademark.

No Andalusians in this film. They were all Freisians, Morgans and Thoroughbred crosses!

Comment by Sonya O

October 5th 2006 14:40

wow Fresians, English horses, I would never have guessed. Anthony Banderas is totally cool!

Who owns these horses, private individuals who contract animals to films etc?

Comment by JessO

October 5th 2006 14:56

The Tack Room

From the 50s to the 70s when individual horses could be stars - think Trigger and Silver King - there were film horse 'barons' that kept talented horses on film ranches and contracted them out to production crews. One such baron was called Clarence "Fat" Jones who was basically an ambitious horse dealer and yet his barn in North Hollywood carried over 100 horses, mules, oxen, wagon, and countless movie star horses. For it's time, the Fat Jones stable was the most successful rental stable in the picture business.

Nowadays, the westerns are few and far between, and as I've written the same superstar horses are used again and again in varying roles. I suppose that is the consequence of air travel, fed-ex (!) and modern horse transport. Horses can be sent anywhere and quickly. And many of them would be owned by the masters of horse on that particular film, so in a way not much has changed - the super stars are still in the hands of a small few!

Comment by Anonymous

October 6th 2006 09:35

Speaking of horses in movies, in the submarine movie Crimson Tide Denzil Washington and Gene Hackman face off. Hackman says all the Lipizzaner horses are white, to which Washinton''s rejoinder is "yes but they are born white". Is this true? Are all white horses born black?

Comment by JessO

October 7th 2006 03:51

The Tack Room

Lipizzaner horses are similar to the French horses of the Camargue, they are born a very dark colour and by the age of eight have usually reached their mature colour, in this case white. Of course, there is no such thing as a white horse. Grey is the correct equine term!

Comment by Movie Queen

September 11th 2007 01:56

I rescue movie, and entertiners horses from all over, and we have them on my farm in Kentucky for all to see FREE-we run on donations and grants-sure need a few movie horses-any help out there.

Best,
Genie

Comment by Anonymous

December 22nd 2007 16:20

friesian isn't an english breed. it's from the netherlands from friesland.

xxx

Comment by Myta

May 8th 2008 01:43

Silver King, for those of you who don't know, was Disney's #1 horse in the 50s, most notably Silver, from the Lone Ranger, but he was also the white horse seen on occasional episodes of Zorro. The original Zorro's Tornado was played by a QH gelding named Diamond Deccorator. TJ was the main paint in Hidalgo, Kenny was the chestnut in the Lord of the Rings, and I believe Hightower was also the main horse in Dreamer, but I'm not sure on that one.

Comment by Anonymous

January 15th 2009 02:58

Anyone know if a Quarter Horse was used to play part of War Admiral in Seabiscuit and if so what its name is?

Comment by Anonymous

November 10th 2010 21:20

Hi, I'm wanting to work in the film industry with horses, I've had a number of jobs working with them in studs and racing yards, but yet to find a job adventureous enough to stay in, I see from your blogs that you know alot about the horses in this industry and wondering if you could help me, thanks very much.

Comment by Anonymous

September 18th 2011 09:37

To JessO. There are white horses. There is a prime example of a white horse in the 1994 adaptation of Black Beauty at the fair, where Beauty first sees Joe as a young adult. White horses have white hair and pink skin making them highly susceptible to sun burn. Most grey have a dark mottled nose with or without some pink.

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