The Old Gray Mare

I was impressed with the filming of War Horse



Posted: Saturday, January 14, 2012

by The Old Gray Mare
www.DressYourHorse.com

I was impressed with the filming of War Horse, both the quality and realism of the horses used and the scenes of the horror of war.

Had this been an ordinary war movie, I seriously doubt that I would have viewed it. There have been amazingly realistic war movies made, none of which I have seen. This movie was different. It depicted the horses’ roles in warfare as war copyright War Horse 5played out. Both man and beast suffered greatly to be sure. Part of me wanted to see the movie, and part of me certainly did not.

I have now watched the movie in the theater and found it touching. Perhaps a mite farfetched regarding some of the horse behaviors, the soft side of me believes there are horses now and in the past that may have been as clever and knowing as War Horse. Likewise, I think that no horse could survive such a run in with wire and, yet, some animals have an innate desire to survive. For me, War Horse was a piece of the past played out in vivid detail by man and beast, part of history, with a voice given to the horse.

Because I can understand this story and want to believe in some goodness of men, despite the warfare, I did like this movie. I wanted to know more about how it was made, about the trainer, about the horses, and how they carried out some of the horrific scenes.

This is what my research has come up with so far.

More than 100 horses were used in War Horse under the direction and training of Bobby Lovgren who, incidentally, also worked on Seabiscuit (filmed in 2003).

The hero of War Horse and the main character is Joey. A total of 14 horses played Joey who is depicted from birth until he is found again in his adulthood. Lovgren’s own horse, Finder, played some of the roles.

copyright War Horse 1  copyright War Horse 2 copyright War Horse 3The 2-3-year-old horse undergoing training by his young owner is Andy, the primary ridden War Horse is Civilon.

During the three-months of film shooting, the horses were housed in mobile stables. From my horse show days, I can imagine that three months of temporary housing for that many horses must have become a challenge.

Lovgren says of Finder, “He has a lot of personality and attitude. The more people there are, the more he shows off and plays. He enjoys being in front of the camera."

The trainer explained that he does not permit horse treats during filming because it presents a distraction to the horses. "Just someone walking by at the wrong time with an apple becomes a safety problem. My biggest reward for my horses when they do something good is I leave them alone."

He says some of the horses required feed schedule changes so that they were willing and able to shoot night scenes.

Finder, an 11-year-old stallion, was in most of the important film parts. He was in the most intense scene of the film – where horse meets barbed wire. Lovgren was right beside him during this scene. For the wire, the prop was wire made of copyright War Horse 4rubber. Clever use of camera angles made for the realism. Frankly, I thought much of it might have been computer generated.

Of Finder, Lovgren says, “Finder is my wild child, I guess. Really the only thing he doesn't do very well is stand still."

The horses and actors and filming convinced me that this was a very serious war film, full of charm and bonding as well as war and brutality. These battles were a very real part of our history. Let us never forget the price humans and beasts have paid for waging of war.

When all is said and done, I believe War Horse is a wonderful, realistic movie.

People that have never considered the value horses played in our history would be advised to see War Horse. War would have been vastly different without the backs of horses. Many a noble steed gave up his life for men’s battle cries.

War Horse is now playing. I hope you’ll make the decision to see it – if for no other reason than to support a well-made, thoroughly well done horse movie.

copyright The Old Gray Mare of DressYourHorse.comThe Old Gray Mare writes for www.DressYourHorse.com and her Blog sites.
Heidi Rucki brings expertise as a horsewoman, dog lover and stained glass/mosaic artist. She is an accomplished freelance writer in the horse industry. Writing online as The Old Gray Mare, many of her current articles can be found on www.DressYourHorse.com. In the past, Rucki wrote for numerous horse organizations including The Connecticut Horse Council. She took early retirement from Phoenix Home Life where she wrote mutual fund prospectuses and was responsible for their submissions to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Old Gray Mare writes to share knowledge and her love of horses for everyone but especially for novice and new horse owners. Besides her two main websites, she has recently published three new blog sites. Of those, her favorite is www.BeautyOfHorses.com.
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)
» left by Dawn Novotny
 121 days 7 hours ago.
19 fans.
Thank you for posting this well written review of WarHorse. I have added it to my must see movie list.

Best, dawn
» left by The Old Gray Mare 121 days 6 hours ago.
53 fans. Follow The Old Gray Mare on twitter!
Thank you so much Dawn. It might have been shortened a bit, but as a horse lover, I enjoyed the introduction to Joey (horse) from his beginning, his training, and even some of the hokey stuff. It all came together to personalize the horse and main human characters.
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