I needed a horse movie that I could watch over and over again in the motor home…can you guess which one we bought last night? Do you have a go-to horse movie you love to re-watch?
I always loved The Black Stallion. Even watching it now as an adult I am impressed with how non-verbal the entire beginning is. I love it because it makes the horse/human interaction even more personal.
I try to go to every horsey movie that comes out…even if it is a movie like Hidalgo where I have to poke my husband to get him to stop picking on the movie (he wasn’t a fan of Hidalgo).
I am hoping that when I check the comments on here I will have a complete list of the best horse movies so I can make it my mission to watch them all.
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I have to say I love Hildalgo and I also like the Horse Whisper
The Miracle of the White Stallions…..an older Disney movie about the rescue of the Lipizzaners during WWII.
Not much better than The Man From Snowy River and the return to Snowy River. And if you can find it. ..Phar Lap. All three star Australian actor Tom Burleson, who is a horseman as well as an actor.
Oh and Champions which stars John Hurt. ..a steeplechase jockey who battles cancer.
The Black Stallion is my all time favorite! I remember taking my young daughter to see it when it first came out! ( I am OLD!) It was a special trip for both of us, and we have seen it many times since then. I also have it on DVD, Hardcover book, and Kindle edition. Also an old one I fondly remember is “My friend Flicka”. Read the book long before I saw the movie!
Phar Lap has always been one of my favorites ! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phar_Lap_%28film%29
How funny my girls (9 and 2) and I just finished Spirit for the first time, picked up my phone to check Facebook and this post was the first one that popped up in my feed!
Dreamer with Kurt Russell but I also like Secretariat
Long shot ( i think) is the name of one of our favorites, which has the blind dressage horse. Amazing. Will always love Spirit- music and non verbal expressions just a wonderful film.
Older movies, The Black Stallion, Black Beauty, newer movies Secretariat and War Horse and I did like Hidalgo a lot too.
does anyone remember Christoclobito? I prob. spelled it wrong, but it was a disney movie about a gaited palomino…..
WARHORSE and Spirit are my ultimate favorites!!!!
Black Beauty is my favorite, when I was little I would watch it over and over again. The black horse is so beautiful and the music is amazing. I even have the sound track, which is hard to find. I also have a friend that has a mare that looks just like Black Beauty:)
My favorite has already been named (The Black Stallion), but growing up I loved a few live action Disney horse movies: Tonka and Appaloosa come to mind and neither have been mentioned yet.
And Misty of Chincoteague.
yes Ayley”L” LOved Tonka and of course Misty of Chincoteague, even went there as an adult lol. Several others used to be on but have no idea what they were named. and of course Fury!
Yes, Fury! You must be my age! That was my favorite show! Pete, Joey, Packy, Jim…
I’d forgotten about Tonka Wakan! An oldie but definitely a goodie.
I loved the Disney movie, run Appaloosa run.
My all time favourite movie is “wild hearts can’t be broken”
The man from Snowy River and The Black Stallion tie for me
Movies about horses: i liked Secretariat a lot; Horse Whisperer (with Robert Redford and Scarlett Johannsen) was OK; the animated Disney movies about horses never really worked for me; but in the live action Disney movies, it is fun to think about how they trained some of the horses (and other animals) to do some of the tasks shown.
Phar Lap was good too.
I found Sea Biscuit the movie to be nowhere NEAR as great as the truly awesome book (by Laura Hillenbrand), especially regarding the amazing trainer and horse relationship. The movie made this a joke by comparison, as if Chris Cooper the actor who played the trainer, never even read the book… On the positive side, the movie portrays the life of jockeys and their relationship to their horses, owners, as well as to each other during that era, really well.
The book Sea Biscuit is one that I read over and over–it is such an amazing and important portrait of a true American (equine) Hero. I was in tears on nearly every page!
Seabiscuit!! Because it is a true story of an incredible racehorse. Also Secretariat, same reason
Secretariat (2010) and Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken haven’t been mentioned yet.
This Way of Life – http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Way_of_Life
I have to agree with you, Stacy, the first Black Stallion movie, for sure, but I watch them all. Read all the horsey books I can, too. One good book, from when I was in school was FROG. Loved that, I don’t know if it is in print any more tho.
Some of my favs: silvester, wild hearts can’t be broken, the man from snowy river, black beauty.
My Friend Flicka, War Horse,Black Beauty, and Seabiscuit.
I all the ones mentioned, and yes, even Hidalgo, but my all round favorite is The Miracle of the White Stallions!
Running Free was always my favorite! Every time we would go to blockbuster i would make my mom let me rent it lol. I also loved Spirit and Hidalgo and all the black stallion movies, as well as The Horse in the Grey Flannel Suit.
I liked Hidalgo. I tend to be very picky about horse movies and how realistic they can be. I did not like War Horse for example. Black Beauty still gets me every time; I love it. The last Unicorn, does that count?
Why didn’t your husband like Hidalgo?
On that note, what are things you sometimes don’t like in horse movies? Bad riding? Unnecessary horse neighs?
I forgot about The Last Unicorn!
We saw Hidalgo in the theater so my mind is a bit fuzzy. I think I had to poke him when they were ‘sneaking’ somewhere and my husband laughs and says out loud, “Your riding the only Paint in the country!”…as the rider was putting on a mask, lol.
I am pretty forgiving with horse movies, preferring to focus on the ‘essence’ of the movie rather than the flaws. Having said that, as a horse person it is hard to not pick up on the mistakes. The most glaring one I saw recently was in War Horse, where the horse is loose in the paddock (beginning of movie) and he has no halter on. One cut, maybe 5 seconds, he DOES have a halter on. It didn’t make me think less of the movie…but even a non-horse person editing should have caught it. It would be like an actor having a coat on for 5 seconds…
Misty of Chincoteague and My Friend Flicka. I wore the vhs of both of those out when I was young.
One of my faves is Champions, with John Hurt. The true story of Bob Champion, a British steeple chase jockey who, in the late 1970s, was diagnosed with cancer. Rather than succumb to the disease, however, Bob stages a miraculous recovery and goes on to win the 1981 Grand National steeple chase on the horse Aldaniti. Aldaniti stars as himself.
the horse in the grey flannel suit, the horse with the flying tail and of course the miracle of the white stallions
Secretariat and The Horse Whisperer
Rustlers Rhapsody, a funny western spoof. You can’t have an amazing cowboy without his amazing horse. I was always in love with the beautiful trick “dancing” Wildfire and the beautiful tack.
Dreamer – but I love all the ones mentioned too 🙂
The man from snowy river! National velvet, flicka! I love them all and hard to pick a favorite. War horse was good too.
Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken! Of course, any movie with a horse in it is fantastic!! 🙂
Wild Hearts was my daughter’s favorite too!!
Phar Lap
(True story of Australian race horse)
International velvet! As a kid I loved how dedicated Sarah was to her horse (:
The old time original Flicka movies including Thunderhead Son of Flicka.
Yep now there’s two I haven’t seen since i was a kid.
Yes my favorite is National Velvet… closely followed by International velvet. But there is a good movie called The silver brumby,, also a nice film.. and I loved the man from snowy river.. yes ok i could also go on and on.. and the several versions of Black Beauty,, and the War Horse of course.
hey why do we horse people live and breathe horses then sit down at night and unwind with horse movies ???
Man from Snowy River, Spirit, National Velvet, The Black Stallion, Black Beauty…not really a favorite. If it had a horse, I watched it.
Seabiscuit. The little horse with the big heart.
I agree, Seabiscuit!!! or The Black Stallion
Hi Stacy,
Great to hear your favourtie horse movie. I loved the Black Stallion too. However, my all time favourite is National Velvet. As a little girl I so wanted to be Velvet Brown with my very own the Pie. 🙂
Oh, and the Cloud Mustang Stallion documentaries!
Spirit, yes the cartoon because any other movie it turns into “count how many different horses were used for that one horse” and it drives me fellow movie watchers nuts! At least I can keep myself quiet during this one, cartoons aren’t supposed to be super realistic.
I too love Spirit, and . Am currently trying to get my girls into it. 3 and 1 years old. Fave of all time, international velvet. I ride english these days and have drempt of eventing. Horse in the grey flannel suit, horse whisperer, I could go on and on. Also a documentary, wild horse wild ride, about the prison horse training projects. I think the program is amazing. Inmates giving back and learning skill, and horses findin. Homes.
Secretariat and seabiscuit toss up between them.
Phar Lap! But have your Kleenex ready!!
The Black Stallion. So beautiful how they can convey such story with little dialogue
Stacy,
Black Beauty (1994 version) is one of my favorite movies of all time, horsey and non! 🙂 I also love Spirit, Secretariat, Seabiscuit and The Horse Whisperer!
secretariat, without a doubt
I like spirit the music is beautiful
The Man From Snowy River, 1 & 2!
You bet! The best ever!
Yep!
1 was better than 2 but good choice
Good taste. Best movies of man/horse connection partnership I can think of!