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Don’t forget to check out 30 great horse books and 30 great horse songs.

30 of the Best Horse Movies

Sylvester In search of a hefty paycheck, cowgirl Melissa Gilbert enlists a former cavalryman to help her win a prestigious three-day event with her favorite bronco.

Spirit:  Stallion of the Cimarron As a wild stallion travels across the frontiers of the Old West, he befriends a young human and finds true love with a mare.

The Silver Stallion: King of the Wild Brumbies Russell Crowe plays a part in this movie about an Australian wild horse and the impact he has on a rural family.

Seabiscuit Based on the book by Laura Hillenbrand, this true story tells of the undersized Depression-era racehorse whose victories lifted not only the spirits of the team behind it but also those of the nation as well.

National Velvet Liz Taylor, as Velvet Brown, lives the dream we all had as children—win a horse in a lottery and turn him into a champion. In this case, young Velvet disguises herself as a boy and wins England’s famous Grand National steeplechase on her beloved Pie.

The Man From Snowy River An entertaining and visually stunning Australian western about a born horseman who single-handedly rounds up a herd of wild horses and pursues a rich rancher’s daughter.

War Horse This war drama directed and produced by the legendary Steven Spielberg follows Joey, an Irish Hunter horse raised by a British teenager as he is sold to the British Army. Along the way, Joey encounters various people throughout Europe before and during World War I.

International Velvet This is a sequel of sorts to “National Velvet.” A family tragedy brings Velvet’s niece, Sarah, to England. Sarah joins forces with a descendant of the great Pie and eventually makes the British three-day event team where she finds Olympic glory and true love.

The Horsemasters In this horse movie, enthusiastic equestrians work long and hard to earn British Horse Society certification.

Hildalgo Set in 1890, this is the story of a Pony Express courier (Viggo Mortensen) who travels to Arabia to compete with his horse, Hidalgo, in a dangerous race for a big prize.

The Electric Horseman In his pre-whispering days, Robert Redford starred in this story about a former rodeo cowboy who abandons the Las Vegas stage and takes off into the desert astride a former Derby winner.

A Day at the Races The Marx Brothers go to the races. Enough said.

Champions This testament to the strength of the human spirit is based on the life of English steeplechase jockey Bob Champion who was stricken with cancer at the age of 31 but never wavered in his dream of winning the Grand National.

The Black Stallion Returns In this sequel to “The Black Stallion,” Alec Ramsey travels to the Middle East to rescue his kidnapped horse.

Black Beauty Several versions have been created based on Anna Sewell’s classic horse book. In this movie, Beauty tells his own story about leaving his wonderful first home and being passed through indifferent and abusive owners before finally being reunited with the boy he loved.

The Story of Seabiscuit The 1949 film version of the unlikely champion, complete with a perfect Hollywood ending. Seabiscuit, a colt no one believes in, rises from the claiming ranks to become one of most successful racehorses of the 1930s.

Secretariat This Disney film tells the story of Secretariat, largely considered to be the greatest racehorse of all time. Diane Lane stars as his owner, Penny Chenery, as she makes history with “Big Red.”

Shergar A true tale about the Irish Thoroughbred who was kidnapped by the IRA and never seen again.

Phar Lap This movie chronicles the life of the much-loved Australian racehorse Phar Lap, who raced to stardom in the 1930s, and the gentle groom who loved him. Despite having to carry increasing amounts of weight, the horse is unbeatable.  Phar Lap’s tale ends tragically when he dies under mysterious circumstances soon after winning his most important race—the Agua Caliente Handicap in Mexico.

Miracle of the White Stallions During World War II, the Lipizzan Stallions of the famous Spanish Riding School were in danger of being destroyed. They are rescued by General George Patton and the U.S. Army.

Let It Ride A cab driver learns about a horse race that’s going to be fixed. Succumbing to the temptation, he wins big, then bets it all on a horse named Hot to Trot.

Into the West Two gypsy boys growing up in poverty in Dublin, Ireland, are led on an adventure into the Connemara by a mysterious white horse.

The Horse Whisperer This romance movie centers on the relationship between a workaholic mother, an injured daughter, a frightened horse and the “horse whisperer” who touches their lives.

The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit A businessman uses a show horse ridden by his daughter as a advertising promotion for a stomach-ailment remedy.

Flicka Starring country singing legend Tim McGraw, this is a story of how a young girl claims a wild horse as her own. Such gallantry proves to the girl’s father (McGraw) that she is capable of one day taking over the family ranch.

Dreamer Cale Crane (played by young Dakota Fanning) catalyzes the rescue and rehabilitation of Sonador, a racehorse with a broken leg.

Ride Like a Girl This biological sports drama is based on the true story of Michelle Payne, who became the first female jockey to win the legendary Melbourne Cup in 2015.

Casey’s Shadow A young boy and his Quarter Horse-training father raise and train a foal that takes them all the way to the All American Quarter Horse Futurity.

The Black Stallion Based on the Walter Farley children’s book of the same name, The Black Stallion is a film about a young boy who, after surviving a shipwreck, is stranded on an island with a mysterious black horse. The pair form a powerful bond that helps them, once rescued, to race against and beat the fastest horses in the country.

All the Pretty Horses A coming-of-age tale based on the novel by Cormac McCarthy. Young Texas rancher John Grady Cole, played by Matt Damon, gets more adventure than he can handle when he heads to Mexico after the death of his father.

Want to find out more about horse movies? Here are more resources on horses in film:

“Out of the Wild” to Bring Mark Rashid’s Horsemanship to the Big Screen For the horse trainer known for his respect and consideration of the horse, Mark Rashid’s journey of seeing his first novel, “Out of the Wild,” transformed into a feature film has been a lot like his horsemanship. Continue Reading >>

5 Classic Must-See Horse Movies Let’s step back into the past and revisit horse movies from the 1940s-1960s that still portray timeless messages and provide inspiration for contemporary horse enthusiasts. Continue Reading >>

Rider Insider: The Best Horse Movies We’re recruiting your help in updating this list. Are there any classics that we missed? Are there some newer titles that deserve recognition? Continue Reading >>

Horse Movies Given Center Stage at the Equus Film Festival The inaugural New York City Equus Film Festival took place in Harlem, showcasing 119 films that were narrowed down from the 149 that were entered. Continue Reading >>

From Derby Dream to Silver Screen “50 to 1,” the new major motion picture about Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird, opens in theaters March 21, 2014 in New Mexico and will then expand across the country. Continue Reading >>

Friesians in Film The Friesian’s magnetic beauty is a perfect fit for the silver screen, and many movie and TV-show directors seek out these horses for their commanding presence. Continue Reading >>

Movie Review: Moondance Alexander Horse lovers are so desperate for films that accurately portray their lifestyle that they anxiously await the release of every horse flick. Often they are disappointed, as will probably be the case with Moondance Alexander. Continue Reading >>

Training Horses for the Silver Screen As a lifelong horse-crazy person, I feel qualified to be a critic of riders in TV shows, movies and advertisements, and I always wonder about the training that happens behind the scenes. Continue Reading >>

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The post 30 Best Horse Movies appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.

Towslee’s horse-crazy life started with backyard horses in Washington state.

“We always had horses from the time I can remember,” she says. “I was riding from before I could walk.”

She competed in hunter/jumper events until her junior year in high school, then convinced a racehorse breeder that she knew how to break colts.

“I lied and said I’d done it before, and fumbled my way through it, breaking a set of colts for her,” Towslee recalls. “Her husband trained racehorses, and I ended up going to the racetrack after that and grooming horses. Later that year, I started galloping them.”

Big Screen Serendipity

She spent the next decade as a gallop girl and assistant trainer at racetracks around the country. While in New Mexico outriding and galloping horses on tracks, breaking horses, and running a training stable, Towslee stumbled upon stunt horse training. Or, rather, it stumbled into her.

“I got into it completely by accident,” she says. “A friend of ours had been working on a movie job, and they needed some horses that looked like racehorses but were broke. All of my outriding horses were old racehorses, so they could still gallop around, but you’d say whoa and they’d put on the brakes. They were perfect because it was a racehorse-based teen drama, Wildfire. I started wrangling and renting horses to them and doing stunts.”

Wildfire ended after four seasons, and Towslee moved on to managing a breeding farm. She turned down a couple of stunt horse trainer jobs because she felt obligated to the breeding farm owners.

Then The Lone Ranger (released in 2013, starring Johnny Depp) came calling.

“I thought if I didn’t make the jump in careers then, I probably never would,” she recalls. “So, I went ahead and took a leap. I [left] my job and my house at the same time. I bought a travel trailer and went to work on movies, and I’ve been doing it ever since.”

The Highs and the Lows

As a stunt horse trainer on the set of The Lone Ranger, Towslee worked with Bobby Lovgren, one of the most well-known movie horse trainers.

“There was a lot of liberty trick horse work,” says Towslee. “The movie had some complex stunt sequences that had to be worked out, and the director wanted as little computer-generated stuff as possible. The Lone Ranger’s horse, Silver, had to be on rooftops and jump from building to building. Silver [also] had to be in a tree over the Colorado river, so they built us one. Bobby had trained the horse to stand on a rail, so it looked like he was standing on a branch. Silver had to jump up into a train car and run through it while the Lone Ranger was shooting, so they built us a train car that was big enough.

“It was a process keeping things safe,” she adds. “You have to be pretty creative to figure out how you are going to get what they want to see on camera.”

The cast, crew, and of course the stunt horse trainers travelled to spectacular filming spots, including Canyon de Chelly, Monument Valley, and several locations in New Mexico.

But lest you think working as a movie stunt horse trainer is all teaching horses tricks in spectacular scenery, there are downsides to the work. Think white horses working in red sand.

“We had five white horses—I spent a lot of time washing [them],” Towslee laughs. “We were in Monument Valley in all that red sand, and there were windstorms. Our white horses turned pink, and when you’d wash them, they’d turn orange. And it was cold, so you couldn’t really give them good baths. It was just awful. I think they digitally fixed it; we couldn’t get them clean!

“We would be working all night and doing rain scenes, freezing our butts off,” she adds. “But you also get to do some really cool stuff as well and meet some really neat people.”

Horse wrangling work on A Million Ways to Die in the West and The Magnificent Seven, which included 140 cast horses, followed.

Stunt Horse Trainer Gangboss

Towslee’s first gig as wrangler gangboss came in the 2017 film, Hostiles. A gangboss runs the wrangler crew, trains the movie horses, gives the actors riding lessons, and handles the horses and actors on set.

“I would say the most important component to being a gangboss is communicating with the assistant director’s department, relaying that information to the wranglers, then getting them organized to achieve what the director wants to see,” says Towslee. “A lot of it is making sure everything’s safe for the horses around the cameras and making sure the actors are alright. Then we have other wranglers that are handling the background horses. Any time there’s a horse on set, we’re there.

“Quite often, we’re really close—if the camera sees half of the actor and half of the horse, we’re probably on our knees helping hold the horse still. It’s not always glamorous,” she adds with a laugh.

Towslee is one of just a handful of female stunt horse wrangler gangbosses in the industry.

“I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily a disadvantage being female, but there is [also] no advantage to it,” Towslee says. “And it does have its challenges. I’ve been very lucky that my boss, Clay Lilley, has always had my back. Some of the cowboys have been in the business longer than me, although they have been very supportive of me. I very much respect their opinions.”

It’s easy to respect anyone who has the skills to work at this level—in other words, an accomplished horseman. Galloping scores of racehorses and breaking and training horses for decades goes a long way toward helping one speak horse.

“You do have to know horses: how they’re going to react to a situation and whether they’re going to be bothered by it, or whether you can use a situation to get the desired action,” explains Towslee. “You must know what drives a horse.

“Another thing is being a person that really pays attention to what’s going on around you all the time and can spot things that are going to cause a problem,” she continues. “Movie sets are incredibly busy, and there’s a lot of moving parts. We have actors on horses in very tight situations sometimes. You need to always have your head on a swivel.”

Favorite Co-Stars

If pressed, Towslee will name Sam Elliott as her favorite actor to work with.

“I worked briefly with him years ago, and now for the past five months on the series 1883 [a prequel to the hit show Yellowstone]. What a wonderful man. He possesses a certain humility and grace.”

But any conversation inevitably turns back to her horses.

“Pistol, a Quarter Horse, is fantastically talented as a movie horse,” she says of a horse she recently worked with while filming a series. “He’s like a Border Collie, he’s so darn smart.”

King, a Friesian cross, is another favorite who has been in half a dozen movies and doubled the main horse on News of the World.

Some of the horses know they’re performing.

“[Some can be] a bit of a ham,” says Towslee. “You have some stunt horses that you use for years and years. They’ve done umpteen Indian raids and bank and stagecoach robberies, and they just keep going. It never shakes them up. They’re in a whole league of their own.”

However, the work isn’t all fast-paced cowboy shootouts.

“Your background horses are basically walking from A to B all day long or standing tied to a hitching rail,” she explains. “A movie set has all these moving parts that are often very close to horses, so they have to be super tolerant of stuff.”

Temperament is the No. 1 trait Towslee and her boss look for in potential movie horses.
“Sometimes you’ll get a horse who you think is going to be perfect for the movies, and as soon as they set foot on a movie set, they’re like, ‘Nope! Can’t do it!’” she says.

“There’s a different energy to a movie set, with so many people and equipment and cameras. You try and introduce the horses to it slowly, but only your very best ones ever end up with actors [riding] them. They’re really special, the ones that make good cast horses.”

Variety is the Spice

No day as a Hollywood stunt horse trainer is the same.

“That’s probably one of the things I like most about it,” says Towslee. “I’m not good at things that are incredibly repetitive. Every day is different; it keeps your mind busy. I really enjoy that, plus the fact that I get to work with animals every day.

“The funny thing is, way back when, I always thought, ‘Wouldn’t that be cool to work with movie horses?’ And just out of the blue, I’m doing that.”

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