horse-work in the film

Maldelothiel · Senior Member

horse-work in the film

hobbit · Guru

I hope the actors would actully get to ride the horses!

Fivefootnowt · Veteran Member

Lucky actors. Did you see some of the gorgeous horses used in Lord of the Rings. The beautiful grey ridden by Gandalf (I think Shadowflax was his character name !!!!). He looked a bit like an Andalusian to me.

Rosie M · Senior Member

Yer the horses in LOTR were amazing!!!!! I loved the one Gandalf rode, Shadowfax.

Maldelothiel · Senior Member

There were two horses used for the role of Shadowfax, Blanco and Demero. One was an Andalusian, and the other was and Andalusian cross.

And then there was Florian as Asfaloth. And all the others.

It'd actually be really cool to be a riding double and get to work with all those amazing horses...and some really great trainers, too.

Fivefootnowt · Veteran Member

On the LOTR DVDs there are some clips of Viggo Mortensen just riding around on one of the stunning horses in his spare time between filming ..... sigh. Would have paid to work on the movie !!!!!

Shadowflax was an Andalusian .... yeah, good guess on my part. Did you know that they put fake manes, tails and even feathers (and make up) on the film horses sometimes.

I think a Haflinger was used for the hobbit pony, wasn't it ???

Rosie M · Senior Member

REALLY? they put make-up on the horses?!

Umm which one was Haflinger?

Maldelothiel · Senior Member

Do you mean the horse that played Bill the Pony??

Just_like_Maria · Senior Member

What if we don't know how to trot or canter? Will we get taught???

Maldelothiel · Senior Member

Well in some films, like The Lord of the Rings, the principal actors that had a lot of on-screen riding (ie. Karl Urban as Éomer, Bernard Hill as King Theoden, Orlando Bloom as Legolas, etc.) had riding lessons, and they were able to do the majority of their riding work.

However, in many films riding doubles are used. Going to the Lord of the Rings examples, as many people have seen those films, Liv Tyler had Jane Abbott as a riding double for many scenes (ie. the chase to the Ford), as did Ian McKellan as Gandalf, mainly because of the nature of the riding they had to do, which involved quite a bit galloping and stuntwork.

Ellissa · Guru

id wanna do my own work but i dont know how!

i want to learn though

but i would need a lot of practice and lessons

but i would need a stunt double majorly!

Fivefootnowt · Veteran Member

Maldelothiel wrote:

Do you mean the horse that played Bill the Pony??

Yep, Bill the Pony. He looked like a Haflinger (might be spelling that wrong) I think they are native to Norway or somewhere.

Fivefootnowt · Veteran Member

I didn't think Liv Tyler did that amazing galloping chase !!!!!!!! Who is Jane Abbott???

-- Edited by Fivefootnowt at 19:50, 2005-11-17

Maldelothiel · Senior Member

Jane Abbott is an eventer from NZ. She now works with a company called New Zealand Movie Horses, and they do performances and stuff. But she did the work for those chase scenes. The close-ups were done with a barrel-rig horse.

Actually, Bill the Pony was played by two horses, Shane, a quarter horse, and Rastus, a Shetland pony. You know those scenes in the mountains? Well...those were actually done by a panto-pony, meaning that it was two people in a horse suit. Sounds funny, I know, but the terrain was very rough and they couldn't get the ponies up.

Ellissa · Guru

wow

u guys sure do kno alot bout it

Maldelothiel · Senior Member

I think it's interesting.

And I'm doing a project on horse-work in films and television for the Equestrian 4-H Club I'm secretary of.

Ellissa · Guru

wow koolies

Maldelothiel · Senior Member

Yeah, fun stuff.

Ellissa · Guru

lol

well i m a memba of the macquarie conservatorium in Dubbo

gosh that sounds pretty pathetic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Maldelothiel · Senior Member

Pardon me but...what is the Macquarie Conservatorium...

Ellissa · Guru

macquarie is tha area

and a conservatorium is where u go 2 learn music

lol

Kiwi Chick · Senior Member

coolier

Ellissa · Guru

u got it

lol

Maldelothiel · Senior Member

Ah, I see. Cool bananas.

Ellissa · Guru

i like bananas

lots of potassium!!!!!!

Danny · Senior Member

u no people who eat bananas are more likely to get bitten by mosquitoes than people who dont

Kate12whisper13 · Guru

One scene I would love to do is falling off Periwinkle! If they make it really fun it could be really fun to act out! OWWW! I fell off Periwinkle! Next time I fall of a horse I'm going to say that! My instructor will be like 'WHAT!?'

Maldelothiel · Senior Member

You have to be sooo careful though. I just slipped off a horse once when I was riding bareback, I didn't go flying through the air and we weren't even going fast, but I broke my hand anyway.

Kate12whisper13 · Guru

Ow! But they could do a scene where Maria hops onto Periwinkle and falls off the other side because she doesn't hold on properly and she falls onto a mat! That would be fun but Periwinkle would have to be trained well!

Maldelothiel · Senior Member

Ah well, they train those film horses well.