Should i work with horses in films? How?

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DancingJester

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Okay so I LOVE the film industry but when I was leaving school I couldn’t decide between working with film (whether it be acting, set design, direction ext) or horses. I ended up choosing horses. I’m almost level 3 qualified in equine studies. I was planning on going into the racing industry (still am sort of) until someone said what about training or riding horses in films, or for shows/tv. I always loved the idea but I just considered it to be more of a superficial thought (like a 5 year old saying she wants to be a pop star) but now I’m thinking well why not, I would love racing but the money is so bad I do worry sometimes that I’ll just end up doing something else.
I was thinking about trick riding lessons but other than that I have no idea where to start, so does anybody know how? Or do you think I should just go with racing?
 
If you love it you should do it of course, but with the full knowledge that, IMO, you will be no 'better off' in this sector of the industry than any other. You will be cold and bored most of the time, it is very cutthroat and mostly mucking out etc. at the lower levels (ETA: not that you get to a point and get to swan about never mucking out!). You will be treated like dirt by most people. You have a lot of learning and practise to do, factor this in to how you want to live regarding how much money and time you have. If you want to go it alone you will have to spend ££££££££s on animals and equipment and making your name, with no garantees. Exactly the same as any other equestrian discipline IMO!
 
Someone I know rides horses in films & tv shows. He's been in First Knight, Robin Hood etc & he earns very good money. You'd be surprised what counts as a stunt. It doesn't have to be falling off it can be a simple jump over logs. He's done quite a few fall offs though. They get paid specific amounts for each thing they do.

Obviously you can't make a living doing it because there aren't enough films being made to keep you permanently employed so you need something to do when you're not filming. This guy breaks in horses, specifically race horses & when a film offer comes in he's off doing that & then goes back to the breaking yard.

He has loads of experience with horses, as to qualifications I don't think he has any? :)
 
Not an expert but I considered this myself after doing some freelance work for a company that provides horses for film/tv work.

Are you female? I only ask as I was told by my client that actual ridden roles for women are few are far between because generally these types of productions are set in an era when ladies didn't ride all that much, and even in the battle scenes when everyone is clad up in amour a lot of the directors still wont have women in those roles.

Even so, I had a blimming fantastic time working with horses that were being used for a medieval display, I've got some photos laying about somewhere...
 
Have a look on Facebook for Dolbardarn Film Horses. They were looking for new staff recently, not sure if they still are.

ETA: They were still looking for a new trainee as of 17/01/2014 according to their Facebook page :)
 
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Charem said:
Not an expert but I considered this myself after doing some freelance work for a company that provides horses for film/tv work.

Are you female? I only ask as I was told by my client that actual ridden roles for women are few are far between because generally these types of productions are set in an era when ladies didn't ride all that much, and even in the battle scenes when everyone is clad up in amour a lot of the directors still wont have women in those roles.
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This is also true, and why I, as a middle-aged-verging-on-"elderly" female person do not often place my buttocks on a horse in front of a camera, but it is still possible to train the horses and have them ready and able to do what is required for any given scene, not to mention all the other behind the scenes work that is part and parcel of working with film horses.
 
Cortez said:
This is also true, and why I, as a middle-aged-verging-on-"elderly" female person do not often place my buttocks on a horse in front of a camera, but it is still possible to train the horses and have them ready and able to do what is required for any given scene, not to mention all the other behind the scenes work that is part and parcel of working with film horses.
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It was actually that bit that appealed to me the most, I'm camera shy at the best of times!

As you mentioned on the other thread, there is a real art to training a horse to look all fiery and impressive and yet can and has to be ridden by an almost complete novice in an extremely heavy suit of armour (and there's me thinking they'd have super light weight ones instead!).
 
Charem said:
It was actually that bit that appealed to me the most, I'm camera shy at the best of times!

As you mentioned on the other thread, there is a real art to training a horse to look all fiery and impressive and yet can and has to be ridden by an almost complete novice in an extremely heavy suit of armour (and there's me thinking they'd have super light weight ones instead!).
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They are super light weight; no actor is going to heave around 40kgs of real armour, believe me....
 
We were doing live jousts so had the proper heavy ones - I'm guessing for safety reasons or do they make light weight ones for jousting too? I tried on some of it at the end and my god was it heavy.
 
Charem said:
We were doing live jousts so had the proper heavy ones - I'm guessing for safety reasons or do they make light weight ones for jousting too? I tried on some of it at the end and my god was it heavy.
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For proper full-contact jousting you need proper heavy armour, just as the original knights did, otherwise you can potentially hurt yourself very badly. Jousting is very dangerous and people have been killed recently.
 
Hi,

Try here- http://www.stevedentstunts.com/ he does most major film and tv work in the UK including all the big Hollywood blockbusters ie Cinderella, Robin Hood, etc I've helped supply horses and riders this summer for various projects. It's long days but good fun and the horses are STUNNING. I know he will take people for short term jobs and work experience so if you want to get in to it that would be the best way. It is better paid for on set days than any other grooming job, but hours are long. If I wasn't set in my own yard I would def do it as have loved doing it! FYI it's true about the female rider thing, but if your organised and good at your job you can earn just as much behind the scenes.
 
I'm not sure why people always say racing is badly paid, well so is working in a supermarket, as many do, and yet both have career structures, and the management roles are better paid, good staff are hard to come by, and you will be promoted young if you show talent and work hard, you have to be with a good employer.
 
Racing is one of the best paid jobs in the Equestrian sphere, I have worked with Steve Dent and it was fun but I don't think you can make much a career of it unless you are well connected or very good and dedicated. You would almost certainly need another job to run alongside it unless for you work directly for him or someone similar and then I doubt the money would be better than racing inbetween film shoots.
 
Laafet- agreed, that's why I always think those who broaden their horizons and get in to co ordination of stunt work do better with Steve and there's plenty of chances for a really interesting job. Normal day to day yard pay is average but it gets very quickly topped up on set, I know a few people working in the business and all started off with just horse work but have widened their skill set and now do all sorts of roles in film and TV. Horses being a small part of it. Your def better off doing that, they tend to have earnt enough to be able to take breaks between projects but are always in high demand.
 
A girl in our Pony Club went to train as a stunt person, although horses were her first love. So she had to learn to do all sorts of other things, like fencing, swimming anything "all action." I think she came back to PC Camp one year to do a demonstration of her horse work.
 
My daughter has done work with a well known stunt team, both on the yard and at some shows. However, the hours are long, the pay awful.
She absolutely loved it, but realised she could earn more in a day even working part time, than she would with them.
If you can get the training to do stunts, yes you can get film work which is well paid, but it's sporadic,and often the stunt riders were on the yard working along with the other grooms! Which, obviously, isn't well that paid.
The chance to train the horses didn't come up as she wasn't there that long, although other staff have been able to move on, and trained their own animals.
 
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