Petrine Day Mitchum

This outstanding study looks at the many ways in which horses have been used in motion pictures over the art form's century-and-a-half history.

In fact, a trotting horse named Abe Edgington, was featured in an 1878 series of precisely-timed still photographs to win a bet for his owner, former California governor Leland P. Stanford. The This outstanding study looks at the many ways in which horses have been used in motion pictures over the art form's century-and-a-half history.

In fact, a trotting horse named Abe Edgington, was featured in an 1878 series of precisely-timed still photographs (reprinted in the introduction) to win a bet for his owner, former California governor Leland P. Stanford. The bet was not for speed, because Abe Edgington was alone on the track. It was to prove that, during a precise point during the trotting gait, all four feet of the horse would be off the ground at once. This series of still photos, combined with others of horses moving at different gaits, gave impetus to the idea of the "moving picture", which burst out of the gate, so to speak, within the next 20 years. And the dust hasn't settled yet.

Authors Petrine Day Mitchum and Audrey Pavia, have accumulated hundreds of high-quality photos and an even greater number of anecdotes and nuggets of historical information on big and small screen horses, and rather than taking a straight historical line from Abe Edgington to the horselike aliens in the movie Avatar, they've broken the content into the different film genres in which equine actors helped transport audiences into and through the adventure.

From the early silents, through the heyday of the Western, with side trips through historical costume dramas, racetrack action, kids' movies, and slapstick comedy, the individual equine performers get to shine here. Insider information explains how many onscreen stunts are prepared, how the horses are trained, what sleight-of-hand is used to perfect the illusions, and how the humane treatment of animal performers evolved over the years from something not even considered to being taken just as seriously as the safety of their human co-stars.

This is also a beautifully designed book, balancing text and photos on quality glossy stock, with a large-scale format that lets the artwork really shine. The only quibble one might have is with the paperback format, because this is a book any horse afficionado will want to keep in their permanent library.… (more)

A beautiful book with gorgeous photographs of one of God's greatest creatures - the horse. The book covers horses throughout the history of film from the first movie cowboy, Jack Cowboy and his horse Chapo, through Fred Thomson's Silver King (although no one seems to know what happened to this magnificent horse), William S. Hart's Fritz and of course Tom Mix's Tony, Gene Autry's Champion, and Roy Rogers' Trigger. Newer films are covered as well including The Black Stallion, Phar Lap, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and so on. Where films obtained horses from was covered as well as training methods. Lee Marvin's leaning against the wall horse, Smokey, was drugged to get the effect. TV horses are covered as well including Hoppy's Topper and Mister Ed. This book is a must for any horse lover. The author did a good job researching all the horses, their names, where they came from, and in most instances, what happened to them. The photographs are beautiful.… (more)