Horse Whisperers: Fact or Fiction?
Hello, horse fans and mystery fans!
On this episode of Horse Mysteries, Lezah asks the controversial question: Horse Whisperers: Fact or Fiction?
Let’s examine those gifted individuals and their almost magical abilities to bend horses to their will.
Or do they? Is it a real skill or a crass, commercial trick to fleece a gullible horse world?
Listen in to this week’s episode and tell us what you think about “horse whisperers”!
Thanks for listening.
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It was fascinating to hear about the history of horse whisperers. The phrase was big in the 1990s when I read the book and saw the movie adaptation of The Horse Whisperer (1998). I remember at the time some horse experts were critical about the scene where the trainer has the traumatized horse hobbled and down on the ground and has the traumatized girl sit on it so they both get over their fears. It worried me less in the novel since you only see it in your imagination, unlike with the film where you see it enacted with a real horse. But you have to give both book and movie credit for their literal and metaphorical message of “getting back on the horse that threw you” (and got hit by a semi). The girl’s name is Grace and her mount’s name is Pilgrim, names which, if you ask me, are a little on the (horse’s) nose.
The best part of the movie is the relationship between the characters played by Robert Redford, the then fourteen-year-old Scarlett Johansson and the horse. The screenplay watered down the romance between the trainer and the girl’s mother – probably to keep Redford’s character more noble and reflective of the wholesome values of ranch life in rural America! But as Jimmy Carter would say, they lusted in their hearts. Back then, movies like The Prince of Tides (1991) and The Bridges of Madison County (1995) were saying it was okay to have a restorative extra-marital affair (especially if the characters are played by big award-winning stars.) At the time, the casting in The Horse Whisperer seemed a little familiar to me and clearly stacked with Oscar bait. As the down-to-earth rugged romantic hero, you have Robert Redford (Out of Africa, 1985.) As his upper class married paramour, you have Kristin Scott Thomas (The English Patient, 1996.) Who better to cheat on than Sam Neill (The Piano, 1993)? Who better to have as your sister-in-law than Dianne Wiest (Hannah and Her Sisters, 1986)?