Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Movie animals I wished I owned - Part 2

My mom grew up on horseback, was riding practically before she could walk, and horses were a big deal in our household. Whenever we watched Westerns -- which was constantly -- she was always pointing out the horses. Her parents worked in the movies, and she would tell us stories of how stunts were done, how horses were trained to fall on cue, etc. And more than anything I wanted horses of my own. A whole ranch, ideally. There was usually at least one horse per movie I wanted. Here are some of the standout ones I still love.

Antares, Aldebaran, Altair, and Rigel... the four horses Judah races in Ben-Hur. Of course, I also want Messala's four black horses, and his chariot. That chariot used to reside at Travel Town in LA. And when I was little, there was absolutely nothing I loved better than visiting it. The trains were great, but I wanted to see that chariot first. It was the coolest movie prop I've ever seen. When I went there a few years back, it was no longer there. Sniff. I believe they said it was moved to a museum (don't remember which one, however).

The Raisuli's dappled grey in The Wind and the Lion. Might just be my favorite horse of all time. It's certainly one of the most beautiful.

Kirk Douglas's fjord horse from The Vikings. This one goes with my love of all buckskin colored horses -- but he's just got a cooler mane! Hail Ragnar, and hail Ragnar's beard!

Kid Shelleen's horse from Cat Ballou, just because that is one cool horse.

The flying/swimming horses from Walt Disney's Fantasia, because who doesn't want a flying horse?

9 comments:

Unknown said...

lol, I love that you included the cartoon horses from Fantasia!

Abe Lucas said...

I know less about horses than I do about women, but I always admired the horses the Cartwrights rode on "Bonanza." Particularly Ben's and Little Joe's horses.

The Wind and the Lion...hmm..why do I love that movie so much...? ;)

Rachel Kovaciny said...

I always wanted to name a horse Antares. It's the coolest horse name ever. But if I got to choose, I'd get a black horse. I love black horses. And black cats, black dogs... hmm. But if I could have a movie horse, I'd take either Silver or Scout, the Lone Ranger and Tonto's horses. They both rock.

DKoren said...

Kate - Hee. Had to throw something fun in there!

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C.K. - Oh man, yes, the Bonanza horses are great. Ben's was always my favorite, but I loved the others too. Hee - on Wind and the Lion. Yeah, I wonder now why we'd both like that one so much. :-D

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Rachel - Yes, I definitely have a thing for black animals too. That's why my first fish was a black koi named Ramius, and my first cat I got on my own was a black cat named Sidney, and my first dog Brinja was black... The first horse I own might also end up being black too! Speaking of black horses, I forgot to mention Tornado in this list. I would love love love to own Tornado!!

Abe Lucas said...

FYI: Intrada has released the 1973 Jerry Goldsmith score to ONE LITTLE INDIAN in a limited edition of 3000 copies, and they're already down to less than 200!

http://www.intrada.com

DKoren said...

Hiya CK! Yep, I'd seen that one pop up on Intrada's site. Man, those 3000 went fast, didn't they? :-D But then, how often do we get "new" Jerry music?

araya said...

Hi ~

I love horses! I ride and have my own horse blog http://www.stabledays.typepad.com or stabledays blog. It is a fun horse blog for all ages and you can become a horse pal and write posts and other fun things! I would love it if you would put this on my blog!

Araya
Stable Days

Anonymous said...

i just came browsing via Patti's site and even though it's an older post i had to comment...love it! an ode to horses...and the Cat Ballou horse (in my mind) made that movie!!! ~victoria~

DKoren said...

Thanks for visiting, Bear's Mom! I agree, that horse in Cat Ballou definitely made that movie!