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June 19th, 2010 by KittyKitty

One of the best known movie horses was actually a non-existent one! ‘ A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!’ is Richard III’s cry when he desperately needs a horse to escape from those who would kill him on Bosworth Field.Quite different, however, from the evil Richard and his non-existent horse are the three we meet in these movies. The sheer expendibility of both man and horse in Richard III’s time would have certainly made modern inventions like horse insurance beyond the financial reach even of the highest nobility!

The Black Stallion
This award winning film was produced in 1979 – some 400 years after Shakespeare.How Alec and a high-spirited Arabian stallion interact provide the narrative of this film. Among some of the memorable sequences are those where Alec is rescued by the horse after nearly drowning following a shipwreck and the period on a desert island where they learn to trust each other. Soon this trust is so complete that they can’t exist without each other. The deep attachment that’s possible between a human and a horse is beautifully portrayed. I’ll refrain from telling you what happens because maybe you haven’t seen it yet. Possibly ‘the greatest children’s movie ever made’ was the opinion of one critic.However, you can still enjoy the film even though you are not a child.

Black Beauty
What! Another black horse!. A film with the title ‘Piebald Beauty’ doesn’t sound as dramatic. Anyway, whereas we see the Black Stallion from the outside as observers, Black Beauty is herself the narrator in this 1994 production. One of the problems is that the voice shows no signs of reflecting an equine outlook. This isn’t a complaint about the nature of the voice; if it sounded like a horse, any cinema would soon lose its audience. No, it’s what the horse says and how it’s said that grates. Regrettably the horse comes over as an especially priggish and self-righteous human. Making a horse think and speak as though it were a human is not at all convincing. If you can ignore what a critic called ’soppiness’, you can certainly enjoy the great scenes of Montana and of Black Beauty’s athleticism.

The Horse Whisperer
This film was issued 4 years later, in 1998. Grace and her precious horse, Pilgrim, recover from a terrible accident in this film. Annie, Grace’s mother, wants to find a way to bring about the recovery of Grace and Pilgrim so she takes them to Montana where Tom, known for his understanding of animals, lives in open country. His ability to get emotionally close is not, however, confined to horses; it extends to troubled females. Before long he has both Pilgrim and Annie eating out of his hand. The film is not, though, only about the recovery of Grace and Pilgrim and the love that dawns between Annie and Tom; it’s also about the differences between city life (Annie came from a hectic metropolitan life in Manhattan) and country life. On the one hand is Tom, the plain horse whisperer, on the other is the suave lawyer; Annie must choose one of them. Will she make the right choice?!

It’s not only the horses that are moving – whether galloping, cantering, or trotting – it’s also some of the more emotional scenes. Though you may consider some of the ‘moving’ moments mawkish and laughable, you will find many of the purely visual scenes to be extremely delightful. It is not only a rider that these horses carry; they are also the vehicle for a message. Whether the horse carries – or is saddled with – this message, and what the message is can be decided only by you. Your local DVD supplier has the answer; put in an order now to find out!

This article has been published for the millions of horse enthusiasts all over the world by Animal Friends Equine Insurance – the UK’s only not-for-profit horse insurance provider. You can buy horse rider insurance today online or by phone, and all net profits go towards helping animals in crisis around the globe. You can read more about the many charities helped by Animal Friends on the charity support pages of their ethical pet insurance website.