Dreamer Boycott

[ShyDancer]

Putting the underbelly of the racing industry back in the barn for a moment, maybe this movie will inspire people to have a new found respect and affection for horses.

Hopefully ?

[Sannois]

I dont have a negative opinion of racing. Theres good and bad in all aspects of the horse world. but, like any true horse lover, the sight and sound of the gorgeous animals thundering down the track is just an incredible thing. Makes me cry every time. in a good way! I own an ottb. who raced till he was 4.
I fail to see what boycotting a movie like this will do for anyone. I agree about spending some time on the back side of the track. I know some racing folks, and there horses are doted on and cared for as well as we care for ours. I know theres the bad side, there is in Jumpers Hunters eventing Dressage, WP you name it. I happen to love Kirt Russell. I think it will be fun. I try not to over analyze entertainment. its just that!

[Sannois]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Dreamer is supposed to be a mare right? Its kinda funny then that on all the movie posters and ads the horse with Dakota Fanning is most obviously a gelding </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Ugh They do that kind of crap in movies all the time.. Makes me crazy! Guess they figure the average joe doesnt know the difference between a mare and a gelding!

[SweatySaddlepad]

[quote]quote:
Originally posted by pacificsolo:

quote:
I have yet to see a single movie with equines in it be even slightly accurate


OK...I know it's a little known film, but go rent "Something to Talk About" with Julia Roberts....it really is the closest to accurate I have seen....and a fun film, to boot


pacificsolo - that is my favorite movie ever! sad eh? But i love dennis quaid, julia roberts...oh wait, pretty much everyone in the movie.

it was extremely accurate i thought. and there were a decent amt of pro riders doing stunt riding, if i recall correctly. i think i'll watch it tomorrow (hangs head - i own it on tape)

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/danipoo512/my_photos





Okay gotta say I own this movie I do LOVE it BUT...................It cracks me up with some of the obvious things

First off Julia get dressed in her house and this includes putting her chaps on?

Said chaps stay on throughout her day yet you never see her ON a horse until the very end when she's riding double with her daughter and NO chaps?

Last but huge Robert Duvall does do jumpers in real life so of course he did his own riding however he's obviously not at Grand Prix level so when they show the big Grand Prix and Robert riding, the fences are at the most a very small 3ft . All I want to know is where can I compete in a 3 ft 100,000 Grand Prix? Sign me up!

Misty OMG you are right! They never show horses pooping!

I think the majority of people see movies as a release, real life is hard to take for some, most don't want to know REAL life. Real life rent "Born into Brothels" catch "Shelter Dogs" on HBO, all too real!

[souvenir]

Hey sweaty, I DID catch a horse pooping in Racing Stripes. The white mare and the pony, toward the end of the movie, were running to the track and as the mare turned the corner, she began to poop, right before the scene cut. It was a clandestine poop, but by golly it was the real thing!
I caught it and said, "ah, that mare's pooping!" of course, to the chagrin of the other movie patrons. They probably thought I was a flake. Cracked me up!

[DeLapp512]

yeah...so nothing was on tv last night, so i put it in. i caught a decent amt. of goofs...but compared to other horsey movies....

i caught that when the little girl goes to sleep in opossums stall, that when mom goes to get her, they leave the blanket on the ground, they don't latch the door, and the horse has a halter on, and none of the other horses do.

and i LOFF the fact that in the grand prix, they show *some* big jumps, and then when they show robert duvall jumping *i'd doubt they were even 3ft*, they made baby grand prix standards to make it look like he was jumping big...it made me laugh in a big way.

but i'll take that barn any day!

i was still impressed that the little girl could ride, though at the end, she obviously wasn't jumping big, maybe 2 feet, it looked like she did that herself, which is pretty impressive for a movie i think.

maybe since a few people have seen dreamer, and it sounds good, i'll go see it sometime next week...hmmm.

[carolprudm]

If you want to see a funny, though totally unrealiltic(What horse movie isn't?) horse movie try to locate a copy of "The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit"

[carolprudm]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Susan P:
Let's not forget the classic Black Beauty, though not a racehorse movie it does reveal the beauty while exposing how humans are so cruel to horses. &lt;SNIP&gt;
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>
That is quite a broad generality. Some people are cruel, more are ignorant but most people, given the chance will be kind. Call me Pollyanna if you wish.
On a side note, it is easy to condem the TB racing industry for disposing of unprofitable horses but I was checking out the CBER website and few of the horses are TB's.

[bjrudq]

all, right. i simply could NOT let this comment pass without notice:

"Have you ever met a live horse that didn't fart morning, noon and night?"

most assuredly, MY horses do NOT fart morning, noon, and night. they rarely fart.

in fact the only time they fart is when i am cleaning their hind feet.

[Auburn]

Robert Duvall does ride/jump, in "Something to Talk About".

Did you know that he hired show jumper rider, Dennnis Murphy, to be the riding technical advisor for the film? Dennis taught Julia ( who had never ridden a horse) how to sit on a horse. Also, he did the stunt riding for the character, "Hank", and provided some of his own horses, for use in the film. AUBURN

[Zig]

I went to see Dreamer last night -- the movie really wasnt about the horse but rather it was about strained relationships -- and the horse is what brought them together. It was an "OK" movie - certainly not an award winner but it was what it was -- entertainment.


The movie is not about educating people about the horrible things that happen in the horse world -- and I will remind you, that it isnt just racing (granted, I think they race too young etc -- but I also get my best horses off the track)-- case in point those people who drug there fancy show horses etc. That is a whole different topic to which there are many threads dedicated.


Now back to the movie:

As I would expect there were extreme inaccuracies -- i.e. when the horse took off with Dakota Fanning - it had a full set of shoes.. we all know that if a horse is on stall rest, its getting trimmed and if the coffin bone were broken - a farrier would not be tacking on shoes!

By the way, the x-rays that they showed in the movie appeared to be x-rays of the knee -- but that was only a glimpse -- I could be wrong.

I remember seeing some movie about a con and a race horse that was starved to the point of death and then became a top show jumper (someone please help me with the name -- the convict befriended the horse with peppermints) anyway -- the course they showed the horse jumping was a hunter course and the rider was wearing khaki breeches! Good lord... cant someone go advise these people who make movies about horses????

[eclipsefarm]

Skip over this if you don't want to hear any details about the movie... The few lines that particularly stayed with me were (not ver batim) when Sonya had just been claimed. Russell was explaining that the occurrence of that actually happening is rare, but trying to toughen his daughter up to the business end of racing. Fanning says, "She wasn't for sale." Russell: "Any Thoroughbred that's a racehorse in this world is for sale." Fanning: "She wasn't just a racehorse, she was OUR horse." Now that might sound completely sappy to some (horse)people, enough to dismiss it. Truth is, I loved those lines and there should be more owners that feel even a bit more like that.

[jenarby]

I second everything xcrider said.
I have racehorses. They eat better than I do. They are happy and in good flesh and are spoiled rotten. Trying to figure out where the OP get her facts. Come spend a day with me too. I'm on the farm but would gladly take you to the track. Yep, lots of good and bad in every equine industry.
Hey....ever check the slaughter stats? Can anyone chime in here that knows for sure? I think I remember reading that the majority of horses running through the killer sales were in fact, NOT horses off the track....but peoples' cast away riding horses......

I'm going to go see the movie. I think it looks cute. Personally I think it will only do more good like Seabiscuit did. If it brings more people through the doors at the track then it brings more revenue for the industry.

[classicsporthorses]

We (my daughter and I) just got back from seeing the movie. I think Zig's first comments hit the theme right on the mark. This is a movie about relationships-human to horse, father to son, father to daughter. This movie was about believing in yourself and reaching for the the brass ring b/c you may just catch it! The horse in many ways is just the medium.

We own TB's some raced, some did not and as others said, every industry has a good and bad side-horses, car racing, children's sports.

In some ways it is similar to the movie "Breaking Away". For those of you who may or may not know if it, The movie, like many was a coming of age film and about relationships and really is not about racing bicycles.


Films as well as print media and TV, even sadly our children's text books are rampant with inaccuracies. If there are gross inaccuracies it must be our job to correct those and educate people.

I have not been to the movies in a few years. Personally for me I am glad to have shared the time with my daughter for as that horse crossed the finish line we, along with others clapped and there were tears in eyes signifying a sense of joy and victory. For me, this afternoon was not just about a horse movie, it was about spending quality time with a person I really love.

Go see the movie.

[Duffy]

Rats. My daughter is spending the night with a friend (they'd better get to bed early - show tomorrow ) and they're going to see Dreamer tonite. So much for my excuse to see it! Although, I'm sure she won't mind seeing it again with her mom.

[SeaOat]

Saratoga: Yep, you and me both. The longer we're around the less rosey my glasses as opposed to when I first started seriously hanging around. I'm surprised when someone works on a track a few years, still on a thrill of it all ride and suddenly knows the industry so well as to defend it tooth & nail. What in hell good are their contributions going to be? Much needed are people who really get it, have been around and are not too burned out to care anymore.
Some movies are great fun regardless of accuracy & are in wide part still just entertainment, unless specified as having another agenda. This just looks like kiddie fluff to me using racing as a backdrop.

[Dusty]

I just got back from seeing the movie and loved it! Two of my students (who knew they were the last two of the day) showed for their "lessons" and informed me I was being hijacked to the movies to see it Zig was absolutely right...it's about mending emotional relationships through the physical mending of the horse.

It was never billed as a race horse documentary - you just need to take it for what it is.

[saratoga]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by SeaOat:
Saratoga: Yep, you and me both. The longer we're around the less rosey my glasses as opposed to when I first started seriously hanging around. I'm surprised when someone works on a track a few years, still on a thrill of it all ride and suddenly knows the industry so well as to defend it tooth & nail. What in hell good are their contributions going to be? Much needed are people who really get it, have been around and are not too burned out to care anymore. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yes, the people in the industry who defend it tooth and nail really bother me. It seems that if you criticize racing, you get the defenses of "bad things happen in other horse sports too and that's life", and "you don't know what you're talking about just trashing on us racing people." I truly, truly don't know how anyone could really love horses and stay on the track. I know everyone has a different sensitivity level though, so that must be a lot of it. Or being able to tune out the sad and sick stuff.

I think its great when people who care do stay in the industry, though I don't know how they do it, and I especially applaud all the groups like CANTER and all the owners and trainers who will try to find homes for their horses instead of running them into the ground or giving them to auction.

[TB or not TB?]

Actually, the OP is quite correct in saying that the racing industry is cruel and unusual, but I don't think she takes it far enough. You see, I used to event, but saw the error of my ways when some people from a nearby hunter barn stopped me and a few friends and explained how riding horses on trails was cruel, and that jumping objects like logs and water is unnatural and mean. This really opened my eyes and I began to realize how wrong the horse industry really is. Beneath the obvious faults, like forcing Thoroughbreds to run (I have not and will never meet a TB to whom running comes instinctually and soulfully), or using Arabs for endurance (hello, just because they are accustomed to travelling miles over fierce desert does not mean they can do it in a climate that isn't as perilous), or making WBs do dressage (we know that only Lippizaners have foals that perform movements like capriolles before they're handled), lies a frightening and horrific truth. Though it may come as a shock, we provide grain and hay for our horses to eat. Now, you may think you're keeping your horse alive, but in actuality you're abusing it. For you see, horses in the wild must forage for ALL their food, and by providing their diets, we're cruelly repressing our horse's natural instincts.

Therefore, I intend to boycott Field of Dreams. It shows a light, happy side of growing crops, in which the crops are all cut down to create a baseball field instead of contributing to deaths of countless animals through the ingestion of grain. Why not show a movie with the TRUTH about corn? Farmers die every year from old age and ACCIDENTS! A dire industry indeed. Plus, I know for a fact that Kevin Costner hasn't donated any money to help save wild horses, or even to the Union of Saving Poor Farmers Who Die From Old Age.

Thus it is with a heavy heart that I ask you all to join me in boycotting this terrible movie, for Field of Dreams can truly be considered a field of DEATH for our horses.

[Xctrygirl]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by SeaOat:
I'm surprised when someone works on a track a few years, still on a thrill of it all ride and suddenly knows the industry so well as to defend it tooth & nail. What in hell good are their contributions going to be? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thinly veiled or just plain refraining from putting my name in here? I will spare the BB from a long diatribe but I would question the value of your existence on the backside. Seems to me and from what I have had to live through and witness that you jump at any chance to stab someone in the back, you promote gossip and you don't bother to check facts.

For the record, my first racing job was in 1992. So please forgive me if my enthusiasm has lasted longer than it should have. And for the record, I defend all horse sports to all comers tooth and nail, not only racing.

I also seem to believe that the contributions I have made, and will make, might be of some value. At least to people who recognize what being selfless and caring for everyone, not just your friends, can reap in return.

Saratoga,
I intend to be one of those people you spoke of. I do care about the horses, the backside workers, and the sport of racing. It needs reforms for sure and it needs more people who believe in the good, more than the negative to help navigate its path through this century. I strive to work with and surround myself with people who think like this. Maybe then your glasses may glean a bit of their rosiness back. Hoping won't do it, nor will negative gossipmongers. Only positive people with vision can help racing return to what it once was, and has the potential to be again; a popular sport that attempts in good measure to support the welfare of the people and the animals as well as the bettors.

~Emily