Posted on 04/27/2005 6:44:00 AM PDT by blogbat
Animal neglect true reason for death of horse on movie set
CNN reports,
The horse was killed Monday during filming at the Hansen Dam Equestrian Center in the San Fernando Valley.
According to the City of Los Angeles' Department of Animal Services, which conducted an investigation, the horse was running when it stepped on its own lead rope and broke its neck. Animal Services is ruling the death an accident.
As someone who has owned and worked with horses his entire life I must tell you this case is most likely not an accident, but rather the result of cruel and tragic negligence.
Unless this horse untied his own lead rope and ran off, the handlers of this horse broke one of the cardinal rules of horsemanship and one of the first things you teach anyone working around horses: do not allow the animal to wander freely with the lead rope still attached because if he steps on it while either walking or running there is a good chance he will panic or trip and break his neck.
The City of Los Angeles’ Department of Animal Services should be ashamed of their shallow, perfunctory investigation. Any such agency worth its name would have cited the handlers for not taking the very simple steps known to avoid something this avoidable. The ineptitude of both parties is beyond me.
20th Century Fox should likewise be ashamed and should fire the parties involved. The Department of Animal Dis-Services should also fire anyone involved in the decision to label this an accident. If neither of those two will do that then obviously we need to find some political accountability somewhere.
The movie being made was a remake of the 1943 classic, “My Friend Flicka”. Friend indeed.
"Well, if he has rodeo horses, broncs probably for a job like this, this is probably not the first severe injury he's had. His horses burn out, get injured and are shipped off for dog food doing their day job."
This rodeo horse supplier sounds like he's thinking "lawsuit" by yelling how his horse was mistreated. These movie people have deep pockets, doncha know.
Maybe... ;~D I'm not sure he wasn't sent home along with the decision to use different horses... all we really know is that he 'went' home. I'm sure he was compensated.
I just didn't think the other poster had accurately described the horse suppliers mood over this loss. Rodeo horses like these are, unfortunately for them, not pets, they are a commodity, bought, sold, used, and used up.
No - that's the same horse.
So it would seem. I had to re-read both stories several time to reach that same conclusion. It's still a sad state of affairs.
It is my opinion that directors couldn't care less about how dangerous a stunt is, as long as they get their "shot".
Case in point: the film "Twilight Zone: the Movie," in which actor Vince Morrow and two child actors were killed when the helicopter used in the film crashed on the set.
So what's a couple of horses? < /sarcasm >
o it would seem. I had to re-read both stories several time to reach that same conclusion.
"I just didn't think the other poster had accurately described the horse suppliers mood over this loss. Rodeo horses like these are, unfortunately for them, not pets, they are a commodity, bought, sold, used, and used up."
Bears repeating and exactly right.
I checked out the other thread, was there more than one horse hurt? I never could figure it out. Even so, I'm still not gonna get my knickers in a twist over this, considering how many horses die and/or euthanized in the horseracing industry. I bet it's quite a few more than what dies in the movie making industry. The animal rights activists anger is misplaced.
I dont know the film Flicka' so I dont know what scene they are trying to recreate and I'm an English rider so I guess we look at things a bit differently. (Admittedly, "I don't know nothin' about western riding.") But whatever happened to the ole' lasso?
I was just looking at the photo posted by Miss Target and I thought, that doesn't look like any rodeo I've ever seen. Since when do they use nice nylon halters? ;) At any rate, accidents do happen, tragic ones at that, you'd just think that next time they'd consider the break-a-way halter and, you know, imo wild mustangs don't belong on a Hollywood set.
You need a lot of experience to handle those rescues, something tells me that whoever was in charge might not have been up for the job.
I never thought I'd sound like PETA and maybe my love for horses exceeds my objectivity.
It's worth it, though! Byrne waxes lyrical occasionally in the good old Irish romantic style, but the boy can write. Kerry MacFarlane (the narrator) is well-realized and his voice is authentic. I'd know him if I met him on the street tomorrow. His uncle Valentine is a hoot - a big blustering man with a heart of gold - his "Aunt Jenepher, who is so beautiful, and is blind" is adorable - his cousin Jenico is a charmer - all the local characters are well drawn too. Mustn't forget James Carabine, the half-Gypsy butler, who has a tale of his own (he was a bare knuckle boxing champion in the old days). The occasional creeps (like the visitation from somebody who may be the devil, or the dead gypsy) are excellent.
And Byrne knows horses inside and out. His account of the training days at the racing stable is detailed and solid.
"According to 20th Century Fox, the American Humane Society had been on the set throughout filming. The studio said the horse that died was "a domestic rodeo horse." No wild horses were used on the set, the studio added."
This quote is from the Fort Worth Star Telegram.
I didn't think you sounded like a Peta person, it was someone else on this thread that sounded like he was out for blood over this. You've sounded more level-headed, imo.
And they're using the nylon halters because they have gotten dirt cheap - much cheaper than leather. I can pick them up at the tack consignment shop out of a pile in a feed tub for 2-3 bucks.
It sounds like these weren't truly wild (really feral) horses but just your standard rodeo buck-jumper. They aren't broke to saddle!
Really, though, the bottom line is that I don't think you can apply pet or English Hunter standards to rodeo buck-jumpers. They are an expendable commodity, not a trained saddle horse. . . . as I said earlier, the cowboys are closer in thinking to the days when everybody had horses and they were just considered a mode of transport like a car. And there are beater/junker horses just like there are cars - drive 'em til they die in the driveway is the attitude. I don't agree with that attitude, not even about cars, but unless somebody hauls all the cowboys off for forcible re-education, that's the way it is.
I agree. It was the fellow who started this thread that sounded like he was foaming at the mouth and ready to crucify everybody involved over what sounds like a tragic accident. He argued for awhile, threw some insults around, and then disappeared. Don't believe he's really a horseman as he claims, because he didn't have any specific experiences or detail to offer and he disappeared just as the discussion got down to the nitty-gritty.
Maybe he'll come back and prove me wrong, though (pinged as a courtesy).
Oh dear... I think you've got my intention wrong. I don't defend the rodeo sport of "wild horse race" as good horsemanship, or kind treatment, or anything I would even like to watch. I just don't think they did anything ~criminal~. All my posts that speak to it being an accident are in that context. I'm with you, it's not a good way to treat a horse. But the poster of the thread was calling for heads to roll over it, and I didn't think it met that test. What they did was no different than what is legal to do in rodeo.
I don't think you are a PETA type for wanting to be a better, kinder horse person than that, for your own horse. I am too.
And you thought there was something wrong with your sense of humor.
; )
I can save you the cost of seeing the movie. According to the news article I read in my local paper, the spokesman of the humane society said this film WILL NOT get to use the disclaimer that "no animals were hurt during the filming of this movie".
Now before this word came down I heard they were going for this line - "Other than the one horse who broke its leg and had to be put down and the other horse who broke his neck, then no other animals were hurt during the filming of this movie - so far"/sarcasm
When the movie comes out, I will rent it and see if they include this footage or not and to see if I want to buy the movie.
By the way, how do you post an attachment? I have to show you guys this mpg my friend just sent me. No horses were harmed in the making of this very funny video. You'll love it.
You'd have to be able to upload it to someplace that would host it on the web... you can't upload and post attachments here, only links to it.
I just thought it kind of affected the authenticity. ;) Ya' know? I mean are they really filming these horses with nylon halters (I assume the story is slightly dated. Who the h*ll uses nylon halters in (what I assume is) a period piece?? Or even in a Hollywood movie. They cant be that cheap. Anyway....
I don't agree with that attitude, not even about cars, but unless somebody hauls all the cowboys off for forcible re-education, that's the way it is.
From what I've seen since I moved South, I'll go for that. ;) It's getting a lot better but some of these guys kill themselves, their horses and just CAN'T figure out why.
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