Posted on 04/27/2005 12:26:01 AM PDT by LibWhacker
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - A mustang horse broke its neck and died during filming of the 20th Century Fox movie "Flicka," a remake of 1943 classic "My Friend Flicka."
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.
Animal Services spokeswoman Karen Knipscheer said that production was not shut down at the time of the accident, and filming resumed Tuesday. She said the production was informed that it could no longer use the horses involved in the incident, which were domestic rodeo horses. Knipscheer said their owner was shipping them home to Montana.
"We are terribly saddened by the events that occurred yesterday," Fox said in a statement Tuesday. "The production has taken every possible precaution and safety measure in shooting scenes where horses are involved."
The American Humane Assn. had four monitors on the set of "Flicka" when the accident occurred Monday.
"This is a tragedy," AHA spokeswoman Sara Spaulding said. "As an organization, we feel terrible that this horse died."
The organization said it is investigating the incident, as well as taking other measures.
"Horses are particularly at high risk when there is intense action, so we're looking at adding another level of supervision and looking at stricter guidelines," Spaulding said.
Monday's accident marked the second time a horse was injured during filming on "Flicka." The AHA said a horse broke its leg in an accident two weeks ago. The break was so bad that the horse had to be euthanized.
Representatives for Fox and Animal Services said that they had no knowledge of the previous incident and could not comment.
Animal accidents, while rarer than they once were, still occur. The AHA said a horse was accidentally impaled during filming of 2001's "American Outlaws," and a bull broke its neck during a cattle drive during 2003's "The Rundown."
The AHA said that with productions going overseas, animal accidents on studio films might increase.
"There is no oversight, so the animals and the actors are at risk," Spaulding said. "We're hearing reports that that's happening."
You think casting Michael Moore as the rider had anything to do with it?
"No animals were harmed during the filming of this movie, except for that one horse, and the animals that provided all the meat for our sandwiches, and the ones that provided all the leather items ie saddles, shoes, jackets etc, but that's all."
LOL . . . Broke his neck, broke his back, and all four legs, poor pony.
One night my wife asked me how they got the horses to fall down in the old westerns!!!!
Wait! this happened in La! Make mine California style. The lettuce and tomato are picked by illegals, and the onions can be smuggled up from Mexico.
Arkancide
Nobody is perfect. Just take the horse to a near by Sizzler and be done with it.
They used a rig called a "Running W", which consisted of wires running from the horse's forelegs through a ring on the girth to the rider's hands. When they got to the point that they wanted a fall, the riders would yank the wires and horsie go down! It was very brutal and resulted in many deaths and injuries for the horses; the resulting public outcry was instrumental in the creation of today's stricter standards for the treatment of animals in film work. Next time you see an old western with horse falls in it, look at the riders carefully. Raised arms a split second before the animals fall are a dead giveaway.
Trip wires were also used. It was brutal
Investigations? Monitors? They're frickin animals for crying out loud. I don't wish any harm on them, but damn... Do the actors have monitors? Hell they aren't as smart as the average horse.
BTW, I haven't been able to get this out of my head since I read this article: A horse is a corpse, of course of course...
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