The 5 Best Equine Sports Movies of All Time

Horses in movies are mostly confined to westerns or a young girl's dream of owning a horse one day. If we think about horses in sport movies almost everyone will think horse racing. What about the other sports that horses participate in? Are there movies about rodeos where the horse is the star? What about show jumping and the Olympics?

Yes there are many other horse sport movies and I would like to list 5 of my all time favorites. Here they are in no particular order.

Into the West
A movie set in Ireland in the 1980's. The movie is about a gypsy family that is forced to live in the city. Along comes a "mystery" horse and the youngest son becomes attached the the horse. He hides the horse in their apartment. When the horse is taken away from them by the police, the horse jumps a car to escape. The horse is caught and one of the policemen sells the horse to a man who puts the horse to work in the horse show jumping world. The horse becomes famous and the son sees the horse on TV and vows to the the horse back. The last part of the movie is the adventure of the 2 sons that get the horse back and go "Into the West" as their getaway. The movie shows some great jumping scenes and also has some gypsy legends.

Run Appaloosa, Run
This movie is based on the cross country race that the Nez Perce Indian tribe annually run. The race involves crossing rivers, riding down steep embankments and other dangerous obstacles. The movie is set in the 1960's and at the time women were not allowed in the race. They were allowed to train the horses but tribal rules prevent them from riding in the race. The story follows a women that trains a horse for the race and when the rider becomes injured she ends up riding in the race. This is an old Disney movie that originally aired on TV back in the 1960's.

Phar Lap
Of course I had to add a horse racing story or two and in this case, three. Two of them are based on true stories while the third one just wishful thinking. First of the true stories is Phar Lap. It is my favorite because of the in-depth struggle of a unknown jockey, trainer and horse to not only for them all to become world famous but also have a tragic end. The story starts out in Australia were Phar Lap was bred, trained and first raced. It then follows the horse to the USA where there is speculation that the horse is a threat to organized crime. It is one of the few horse-racing stories that hints of the criminal element in horse-racing. Most movies either ignore it or gloss it over.

Seabiscuit
This movie is one of the more recent entries into the horse racing movie world. It has a strong cast of well known actors. I find most horse movies usually have only one well known star and a few cameo appearances to get some box office sales. The story is about Seabiscuit, the horse that won the hearts of America during the depression. It follows the horse's racing career from when he was 3 to when he retired. It is the type of movie you get so involved with that you want to look up what happened after the movie leaves off at.

The Black Stallion
This movie is not your regular horse racing movie, even though it ends with a horse race. The first part of the movie takes place on an island where an Arabian stallion and a small boy are stranded after a shipwreck at sea. After they bond and the boy rides the horse all over the island they are rescued and taken back to where the boy lives with his mother. The horse escapes the suburbs and heads to the rural countryside where a retired jockey takes the horse and boy in to help them learn more about riding and horse care. The boy gets the bright idea to enter the horse in a race. At this point the movie takes on the fantasy part because horse racing is limited strictly to registered horses with known bloodlines and line of ownership. Even though there are horse races for Appaloosas, Arabians, Quarter Horses and other breeds they must all be registered. Ok so back to the movie. The retired jockey gets the horse in a race and with the boy on board the horse wins. The movie is so successful it spawns 2 spin offs.

If you are in the mood to watch a sports movie, make it a horse sports movie night.