9 of My Favourite Scenes with Horses

This post is inspired by Ruth, who posted her seven favourite scenes to do with horses earlier this week as part of a Horse-a-Thon, which I totally missed the deadline for. However, I couldn't let this opportunity slip. As you may know, I'm really a horse girl deep down. No, it wasn't one of those phases that every girl has. I couldn't help but love horses because, well, my family trained racehorses. I mean, I've been riding horses since before I was born (seriously). Here's a chance to put my two greatest loves together. Here are my favourite scenes that have horses in them - in no particular order:

The opening scene of The Fall.

The opening scene of Tarsem's wildly underseen and underrated beauty is pretty much the most amazing opening sequence I've ever seen. Okay, so there isn't a lot of horsey action for the large majority of the scene, but with that black and white and dripping slow motion, it manages to make the horses look even more amazing. Just watch it - I don't know how any words could possibly do it justice.

Bonnie Blue dies in Gone with the Wind.

Gone with the Wind is one of my most favourite films (and apparently I'm the only person on earth who still loves it), and it is also heavy on the horses. One of the most prominent scenes featuring a horse is when Scarlett and Rhett's daughter, Bonnie, decides to jump quite a high fence on her pony even though she's not so used to riding side saddle yet. Silly girl. I had the exact same thing happen to me (minus the side saddle) and I only ended up breaking both of my arms. And it was a bigger fence and a bigger horse. So I have to question the integrity of what happens to poor Bonnie...

Julie arrives late to her own party in Jezebel.

It is ironic that I'm following up Gone with the Wind with Bette Davis' little seen 1938 drama Jezebel, since they're extremely similar. Julie Marsden is just as hot-headed as Scarlett O'Hara: she arrives late to her own party because she "had trouble with the colt....So sorry, but you know, when a colt gets high-handed, teach him his manners right now or ruin him." Then she proceeds to join her party wearing her riding clothes and carrying around her whip. Too cool.

Justine's horse Abraham in Melancholia.

Justine's horse Abraham pops up quite a lot in Melancholia. He's seen in the opening sequence collapsing in slow motion, he wouldn't cross a bridge which leads Justine to hit him repetitively - in fact, he's so cool that he knew that Melancholia was coming. However, my favourite scene in the film is when Justine insists on going to see Abraham before her wedding reception, even though she's hours late. It may sound cheesy, but I wish I could do that in future, which is unfortunately not going to happen.

Schindler sees the Kraków Ghetto liquidation in Schindler's List.

If I had to choose my favourite scene of all-time, it would probably have to be the liquidation of the Kraków Ghetto in Schindler's List. Just the way it is put together by Steven Spielberg is so amazing that I cry every time I see it. In amongst all the horror, we see Oskar Schindler and his assistant Ingrid riding down to see what is going on. The look on Oskar's face is absolutely devastating. I actually think the horses add something to this scene, in a way, because even though the horse is moving around, you see that Oskar can't take his eyes off the horror and realises that he has to do something.

Maximus in Tangled.

Because Maximus is awesome. He's the best thing about Tangled.

Going to get help in True Grit.

Despite the fact that I love horses, I'm not a huge fan of westerns. In fact, True Grit is about one of the only ones I've seen. I know, I'm awful. Anyhow, True Grit is an immensely entertaining film, filled with lots of horsey adventures. The scene where Rooster and Mattie mount the extremely small Little Blackie in order to get Mattie help for her snake bite is particularly great. Sure, scenes of horses running against the sunset is totally clichéd, but it is so pretty. How Roger Deakins doesn't have an Oscar yet is beyond me.

The reunion scenes in War Horse.

Yeah, my beloved War Horse had to make it into this list, regardless. The whole movie could factor into this list, but I'm going to highlight the latter part of the film. I love it when Joey and Albert finally reunite. I even like the music that accompanies in it (even though it is a fraction to loud). I mean, I wish that was me. And then I love it when Albert and Joey return home. That final, glorious shot. Excuse me while I go and cry for the next hour...

That horse in The Wizard of Oz.

It changes colour! This was seriously the trippiest thing in my world when I was a little kid!

How about you? Got any favourite horsey adventures?