Join Pegasus Magazine on our trip to the set of the latest horse movie, War Horse, and find out what’s it’s like working with horses under the spotlight! Lights, camera, action!
Do the Horses have to Audition?
Directors and trainers will go horse hunting for equines to play the leads in their movies. Finding the right horse for the job is difficult. It has to be a horse that isn’t scared of loud noises, effects, or machinery. It has to be able to follow commands and portray emotions such as aggression and love. For example, the emotion “nervous” is portrayed on the screen as a horse with wide eyes looking around it for predators. “Playing dead” is also a necessary skill: it requires a horse to lie down in a position that is comfortable and stay there with their eyes either shut or fixed while actors and cameramen run around them. “We can teach the horse to raise his head a little bit... and groan,” Bobby Lovgren says. “It’s lucky when [you can get a horse] who can do that.”
Star Treatment
Horses are often treated as well as actors on the set of films. They get their makeup done to insure that they look exactly like the director wants. Paint is sometimes used to add markings or marks to the horses, and any bulges or lumps caused by veins underneath the coat are concealed with specialized ointments. The horses on the set of War Horse had to perform the same scene many times until they got it right. “If I find that a horse is not working very well for a scene – perhaps the director changed it or the horse isn’t get what I’m doing as a trainer – I have a double,” Head horse movie trainer Bobby Lovgren says. Over ten horses played the lead horse role of Joey, while Thornton, Joey’s equine friend, was played by about four horses. An estimated 150 different horses played cavalry mounts for war scenes.
Horses and Actors
To keep the horses safe during action scenes, rubber spongy soles are packed into their hooves to prevent the shock of impact when they get kicked. Some horses get their mouths taped shut as well, so they won’t bite other horses. When a is required to fall, the ground is dug up and refilled with cushion-like soil so that when the equine collapses, it will land on soft ground.
The actors in horse movies often are told to spend time grooming and stroking the horses off-set to develop a real-life connection with them and help the animal get used to someone who will be working with them often. Jeremy Irvine, who plays Albert in the movie, had to interact with Finder and learn the methods of training that the gelding was being taught so that he could give the horse commands during the filming.
The actors in horse movies often are told to spend time grooming and stroking the horses off-set to develop a real-life connection with them and help the animal get used to someone who will be working with them often. Jeremy Irvine, who plays Albert in the movie, had to interact with Finder and learn the methods of training that the gelding was being taught so that he could give the horse commands during the filming.
Training to Be a Movie Star
Finder, the chestnut thoroughbred gelding who was hired to play the main role of Joey in the film, has previous experience behind the camera. He has been taught many tricks, Lovegren tells us. “Moving from point A to point B, nodding their head yes or no, looking back, making them paw on either side, lying down, rearing, standing in front of a camera and coming to it, teaching the horse to follow an actor or go away from the actor. All of this is without any kind of restraint on them, with the trainer being 20 or 30 feet away, sometimes more.” With just the flick of his hand or the click of his tongue, Bobby can get Finder to do any of these tricks from his position behind the camera crew. So when you see Finder in the movie, looking off into the distance, he’s really looking at his trainer, waiting for his next cue.
War Horse's Journey
War Horse is a book written by Michael Morpurgo, and was then turned into a play where the horses were played by giant, wooden machines. Now, it is being transformed into a movie directed by Steven Speilberg.
This information is taken from the article Behind the Scenes: Horse Movies from the Summer 2012 issue.