Horse Movies Galore

Posted by Laura Thompson Sep 11, 2009

I don't know about you, but I worked my way through every horse movie I could find growing up. In fact, my heart still skips a beat when I see a new movie on television or in the theaters that focuses on horses, even from a peripheral perspective.

What are your favorite horse movies? Here are some of mine:

1. Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken

Gabrielle Anwar stars as Sonora Webster in this 1991 horse movie about the woman with the high-diving horse. She proves that neither poverty nor blindness can deter her from reaching her goals, and although it is based on a true story, the movie is highly fictionalized.

2. Dark Horse

One of the best horse movies of the nineties, Dark Horse stars Ed Begley, Jr., and Ari Meyers as father and daughter. Allison Mills gets into trouble with boys and alcohol, and as a result is sentenced to provide community service at a horse ranch. She falls in love with one of the horses and learns about love when disaster strikes.

3. My Friend Flicka

My favorite horse movies are those that were filmed before 1070. My Friend Flicka (and its sequel, Thunderhead: Son of Flicka) tells the story of Ken McLaughlin (Roddy McDowell) and his supposedly untrainable horse, a mare named Flicka. This 1953 classic was remade in 2006 with a female main character instead of a boy.

4. National Velvet

Velvet Brown (Elizabeth Taylor) steals the hearts of everyone who watches this 1941 horse movie about a young girl who wants to take the horse she won in a raffle to the Grand National race. With the help of a traveling trainer, Mi Taylor (Mickey Rooney).

5. The Man From Snowy River

A beautiful setting in the mountains of Australia combined with a breathtaking score and gorgeous horses almost eliminate the need for actors in this 1982 horse movie. However, Kirk Douglas and Tom Burlinson do an amazing job.

Other favorite horse movies:

• The Horse in the Grey Flannel Suit
• The Black Stallion
• Black Beauty
• Primo Baby
• Lightening, the White Stallion
• Phar-Lap

What are some of your favorite horse movies?