[HairOfTheDog]

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.

Have you go a personal beef with these people? It's true that horses generally should not be turned loose dragging a leadrope, but I think you have let your anger at these film-makers get the best of your perspective on this. Film-making has often been hard on horses, and I am actually more than happy to see oversight by humane advocates... But accidents will always still happen to people and horses in active pursuits.

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[tuffydoodle]

Thanks, Hair, I didn't know how to ping the whole club.

[blogbat]

No, I really had no prior opinion about the studio and the idea of a Flicka remake sounds delightful. But I have to call a spade a spade. As a horse owner this is how I see it.

[N. Beaujon]

Rule #1 in horsemanship is never let the lead rope drag. (That's right next to "never walk behind a horse", of course. ;)) But I run into amateurs all the time who want to handle my horses and everytime I have to give them the old don't let the lead rope drag, use TWO hands lecture. This tragedy is the scenario I always explain when trying to impart in them the importance of never letting the lead hit the ground. It is so heartbreaking to hear this happened to this horse. Obviously there was carelessness involved, that's why the owner took ALL his horses off of the set.

The price we pay for letting nitwits handle our horses are tragedies such as this. Ignorance or carelessness caused this and it's the horse who had to suffer.