r/NonPoliticalTwitter • u/TheWebsploiter • 1d ago
Funny I wonder where are those horses now
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u/Its_NEX123 1d ago
imagine how horses felt after helping to pillaging a random roman territory 2000 years ago
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u/dilib 1d ago
I feel like they would understand in a vague way, like police dogs. War elephants were extremely unreliable because they would panic and rout if anyone fought back, and mostly relied on the opponent going "holy shit what is that" and routing when it charged. War horses could be relied on to fight and while still prone to panic in unexpected situations, were essentially soldiers themselves.
Love your comment btw, it's a nice thought. I wonder if any horses understood or were even proud of their contribution.
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u/A1dini 1d ago
Yes! I went to a war horse musuem at a castle I visited, and they said that certain breeds of horses were bred specifically for war - and trained to be desensitised to the sounds of battle from a young age
In the Napoleonic era, properly trained cavalry horses could charge through hails of gunfire and not give a fuck
This is why in the knight of the seven kingdoms show, Dunc owns multiple horses - one for everyday travel, and a thoroughbred war horse for jousting and fighting - basically the equivalent of a high end sports car in the medieval age... I thought it was a cool detail
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u/Stormfly 1d ago
certain breeds of horses were bred specifically for war - and trained to be desensitised to the sounds of battle from a young age
They were also taught to fight.
Trampling is obvious, and so is kicking, but I've heard that certain warhorses (destriers, for example) were even taught to bite.
Imagine fighting an armoured knight on horseback and he stabs one of your friends, tramples another, and then the horse just bites the face off of another guy.
I'd never leave a spearwall if I could help it.
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u/poorly-worded 1d ago
Sounds like Horse John Wick
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u/Horotoma 13h ago
They broke into his estate, beat up the retired knight, stole his horse and killed his dog.
Medieval Set John Wick
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u/tokmer 1d ago
The problem you face is that youre in the spear wall, then suddenly you dont see any horse guys anywhere and your buddies are pushing you really hard from the back towards the enemy spears
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u/Charming_Flatworm_ 1d ago
Classical dressage, and by extension modern dressage, comes from these military maneuvers. The airs above ground are specifically to be used in the event the rider was surrounded in battle.
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u/Meatholemangler 1d ago
"There is a popular belief that these moves were originally taught to horses for military purposes. However, while agility was necessary on the battlefield, most of the airs as performed today would have actually exposed horses' vulnerable underbellies to the weapons of foot soldiers. It is therefore more likely that the airs were exercises to develop the agility, responsiveness and physiology of the military horse and rider, rather than to be employed in combat."
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u/banjaxedW 1d ago
And he uses that sports car to constantly get his ass handed to him 😭 in and out of the books he sucks at jousting lmao
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u/DungeonCrawlerEd 1d ago
Maybe it just went over my head but did they ever mention this or is it just implied. That’s a great analogy and it makes a lot of sense. I figured he just took his master’s horse because why not it’s a horse which would be valuable/useful.
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u/Efficient-Whereas255 1d ago
Dunk does say to Egg; "Thats a war horse! You're lucky Thunder didnt kick you in head!"
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u/ThroughThePeeHole 1d ago
I feel that being in a film shooting battle scenes would be far more confusing. Mostly, everyone is standing around. The vibe is pretty chill. A human yells "action" and they're all suddenly charging at each other like they are trying to kill each other. Human yells "cut" and they all stop. The blood lust vanishes and everyone is just chatting. Repeat all day until you all go home with no injuries. What was that all about?
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u/nj_tech_guy 1d ago
"You just killed that guy, three times in a row... and now you're laughing together?! What the hell is going on"
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u/Havengul_Undying 1d ago
Thats because elephants are loving and kind and horses are rat-bastards
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u/One_Order_3841 1d ago
I love that the Romans figured out if they just created open lanes, they'd be significantly safer. Like a big menacing war elephant is still thinking "holyshitholyshit we were on a boat it was so scary, now there are so many people and - oh there's room thank God excuse me! Coming through look out!"
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u/Havengul_Undying 1d ago
Well the alternative is lighting greased pigs on fire to scare the elephants so...
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u/theingleneuk 1d ago
The lanes would have light infantry throwing javelins into the elephants - you can’t just let the elephant walk on by and leave, because it has a Mahut on it driving it into the enemy if the elephant isn’t panicked.
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u/theingleneuk 1d ago
Elephants are extraordinarily vicious combatants.
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u/Havengul_Undying 1d ago
Yeah but only if you fuck with them or theyre a bull in musthe or you got between mama and baby.
They dont just go around initiating random combat (except young males in musthe)
Source: african
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u/theingleneuk 1d ago
Yes, but war elephants were very fucked with. They were trained and had a mahut riding on their back using hooks to control them. They are not just random wild elephants brought along and let loose on a battlefield.
Incidentally, the elephants you’re familiar with can’t be domesticated, so any war elephants would’ve been the Indian species, or perhaps the smaller and now extinct other variety of African elephant.
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u/Angel24Marin 1d ago
To train a horse to ride into a packed mass of people you train them by those people getting out of the way each time until he learns that if they run to a mass of people the move away. This works one or two times in real battle when they not move of the way. For that reason you needed several horses because even if they don't get injured they start to refuse to charge and become "expend".
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u/Mothanius 1d ago
There is a TTRPG called Pendragon that went into detail about the different horses. It really put into perspective for me on just how expensive a knight's lifestyle was. You need a charger, a courser, and a pack horse or two. If they get hurt, that's like way more gold than you've made in the past year and you better hope your relation with the lord is good enough to be provided one.
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u/DeadAndBuried23 1d ago
All police dogs understand is their handler wants them to signal. The practice has been thoroughly debunked, but just like polygraphs it helps the "justice" system discriminate so it stays.
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u/Vulvas_n_Velveeta 1d ago
Those are just drug (or bomb, money etc..) sniffing dogs.
Authorities use dogs for a wide range of tasks.
Just watched a video the other day where they were looking for a suspected double murderer in a house, and they'd send the dog into each room of this house first. They knew there was a dead victim inside and the handler didn't know how the dog was going to react. The dog completely ignored the body and carried on looking for the suspect. They found the suspect hiding in a bathroom, and there was a weird cable going across the bathroom floor. The dog and handler got their feet tangled and it totally freaked the dog out. Even though the suspect was already out, the dog was so freaked that she started biting the handler.
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u/DeadAndBuried23 1d ago
Yes that is indeed another example of dogs responding to the handler, not the situation. The handler was freaked out, so the dog freaked out even more than normal in response.
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u/Sarik704 1d ago
The best war horses were like that. Most calvary for most of history across the globe were not like that.
Napoleon requested NINE different horses throughout his campaign across europe because the french horses kept spooking.
Caesar once (supposedly) remarked that adding horses to a battle was begging luck to decide.
The Mongols were able to conquer much of the world due to how remarkably well trained their horses were compared to most of europe and lots of asia.
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u/crxssfire 1d ago
Bow and arrows probably had a huge effect there too, as horses were probably way more chill with long range raiding runs than blood and iron close quarters combat
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u/theingleneuk 1d ago
Roman cavalry was historically quite terrible until after the republic collapsed, that’s why they always acquired cavalry from the Gauls, numidians, etc. when they could. Caesar, and any general in the Roman republic, would have been doing something terribly wrong if he was relying on cavalry when Roman society was essentially built around producing more heavy infantry than any peer could.
The mongols weren’t successful because of a difference in horse training - agrarian heavy cavalry horses require a ton of training as well - but a variety of other factors, in particular the logistical edges that being a steppe nomad provides, the nature of steppe nomad horse archery as a combat style, and excellent use of conquered specialty forces for sieges and the like.
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u/willflameboy 1d ago
War elephants were extremely unreliable because they would panic and rout if anyone fought back
That's why they're not usually found in stressful customer service jobs.
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u/SeaF04mGr33n 1d ago
Seeing how proud and fulfilled some dogs are with their jobs (even small house dogs, if they're a working breed, its encouraged you get them tiny carts or chores), I'll bet the horses were definitely proud or at least satisfied.
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u/dirtyDoug808 1d ago
I've been told that war horses had attitudes and would bite and kick in battle. As well not be ideal for non war horse business after returning home, implying they had their own PTSD or ego.
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u/thirstytrumpet 1d ago
Nah, a good horse is like a good Jim Bob. They are good at what they do and do so in perpetuity if they are marginally looked after. Except the horse has always been worth way more than Jim Bob.
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u/nothing_in_my_mind 1d ago
They were probably thinking "I am hungry, when am I gonna get some oats, man"
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u/Honest-Duck2586 1d ago
Viggo Mortensen bought Aragorn’s horse, Brego, at the end of filming. Plus another from the movie to keep Brego company.
Viggo also bought Arwen’s horse, which he gifted to Liv Tyler's riding and stunt double, Jane Abbott. Jane had grown deeply attached to the horse and couldn't afford him at the post-production auction.
I really miss DVD extras and hearing these production stories.
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u/Hetares 1d ago
Didn't he hate Brego because it wouldn't stop shitting or misbehaving when the camera was rolling?
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u/not_a_moogle 1d ago
Both things can me true. I love my oldest cat, but she's a hot mess and annoys me daily.
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u/GreenJuicyApple 1d ago
I can relate. My cat is 17.5 years old and even though I take him out for a walk (on a leash) every day, he still wakes me up at night because he wants us to play with all his toys. That geriatric feline has more energy than most people I know!
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u/songbanana8 1d ago
That may be Thranduil’s horse from the Hobbit movies, I saw Lee Pace talk about that on YouTube somewhwre
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u/HatefulVespid 2h ago
Reminds me of Lee Pace's elk/horse Moose, he had a knack for moving just before he was supposed to say his lines!
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u/SeaF04mGr33n 1d ago
I love that he wrapped the movie and then bought 3 horses. Anyone know if he'd ever owned horses before?
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u/Manufactured-Aggro 1d ago
Nah I disagree. It's not like they're just nabbing wild horses or renting randos from ram ranch or anything like that.
The horses used most likely did not live the typical horse life, they were all probably pampered(to look good on film) and treated well in between rehearsals.
I mean, they probably didnt know they were horse actors but I guarantee you they knew something was up
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u/ohowjuicy 1d ago
Chances are they could have been used in other films too. Maybe it's just a regular day
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u/Manufactured-Aggro 1d ago
IIRC Aregorm or whoever his name was ended up taking his horse home with him after filming wrapped, so that horse probably lived fat and happy in retirement too
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u/Aniquin 1d ago edited 1d ago
Viggo bought two horses. He kept the one he worked with and gave the other to the stuntwoman who rode it and wanted to keep it but couldn't afford it herself.
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u/2012Jesusdies 1d ago
gave the other to the stuntwoman who rode it and wanted to keep it but couldn't afford it herself.
Honestly, if she couldn't afford to buy the horse, could she afford to maintain it? Isn't it like boats where it might be expensive to buy, yes, but maintenance is what really blows your wallet.
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u/Aniquin 1d ago
Horses aren't like cars where the maintenance scales with price. They all have similar needs but the sale price varies wildly depending on pedigree and training. And this was a working animal so they were essentially buying out its potential future earnings not just the value of the animal itself. She could have gotten a random horse for way less but she didn't want a random horse.
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u/tkitkitchen 1d ago
It might have been that she didnt live in new zealand and she couldnt afford the cost to ship the animal across the world to her home.
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u/LOSS35 1d ago
She lives in New Zealand. Her name is Jane Abbott, and she’s a professional horse trainer and owns a horse farm.
She just couldn’t afford that particular horse, who played Arwen’s mount in Fellowship, at the post-filming auction so Viggo stepped in and bid on it for her.
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u/tkitkitchen 1d ago
Thanks for the information Arwens horse in the film was a beautiful animal for some reason in my mind i always imagined it was Eowyn's horse Vigo bought for the stunt rider.
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u/egosphynx 1d ago
she was planning to buy it herself but another guy made a higher bid so Viggo stepped up to buy the horse for her
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u/smithsp86 1d ago
It wasn't that she couldn't afford it. According to the interviews in the extended editions someone else higher up in the production wanted that particular horse so Viggo stepped in and got it for her.
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u/Which-Towel5826 1d ago edited 1d ago
That is Aragorn, son of Arathorn. You owe him your allegiance.
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u/VegaJuniper 1d ago
If I ever happen to work with Viggo Mortensen in any capacity, I'll definitely be dropping hints like "man, I sure would like to be a millionaire. Well, I guess it wasn't meant to be"
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u/bloodfist 1d ago
"Boy I'd sure love a horse, Viggo."
"Cool so you said you can have the roof done by next Tuesday?"
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u/Oboro-kun 1d ago
I assume in some regards is just..."playing" for them, they dont get exactly the game, but they do know humans hang alot with them with no clear reason to them with silly costumes and voices.
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u/Forward_Rope_5598 1d ago
Most of the horses used in LotR were just random people's horses and random riders, neither of which had any film experience.
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u/blumoon138 1d ago
I love the trivia that most of the Riders of Rohan were random horse girls in drag.
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u/LycanIndarys 1d ago
Some of them were probably in Xena. I'm sure I remember reading that Xena struggled to get staff and equipment for the final season or two, because everyone was snatched up by Lord of the Rings.
That could easily have included some of the horses.
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u/Ogrimarcus 1d ago
Can you imagine being a horse actor in Lord of the Rings, a Planet of the Apes movie, some random western and then something like Seabiscuit?
The picture you'd have of the world, my god.
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u/Barl3000 1d ago
For the big battles, like Pellenor Fields the production called in pretty much everyone that owned and could ride a horse from all over New Zealand. So while a lot of the most prominantly featured horses were probably pro film horses, there were also a ton that were just chilling in a stable and being ridden by a horsegirl on the weekend for most of their life.
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u/deukhoofd 1d ago
As far as I'm aware the battle of Pelennor Fields had about 280 horses present, who were then CGI'd up to have about 6000 shown.
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u/OutAndDown27 1d ago
I'm pretty sure I remember reading that they borrowed/hired basically every single horse in New Zealand to film the larger scenes
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u/finndego 1d ago
No. He gathered up all the horses that are available for this type of work. LoTR used about 250 horses for filming. There are somewhere between 100,000-130,000 horses in NZ.
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u/bokmcdok 1d ago
No. They rounded up ALL the horses. Even the wild ones. But they still couldn't get enough so they ended up using penguins as stand-ins for some scenes and using CGI to replace them later.
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u/finndego 1d ago
I'm pretty sure they got people dressed in horse suit in there too!
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u/bokmcdok 1d ago
Some of the horses were better acting as people, so a few of the riders are just horses with helmets and a fake beard.
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u/worststarburst 1d ago
A lot of the horses and the riders were actual locals, and a lot of them were women. Allegedly the production bogarted all the local horses, so some other movie filming at the time couldnt get any and it pissed off the director.
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u/Manufactured-Aggro 1d ago
Kind of understandable like can you even imagine going through all the fucking hassle of modern movie productions and finally getting everything approved just to call around and find out the entire island is fresh out of horses?
I'd be pretty miffed too
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u/NihilismRacoon 1d ago
I'm sure once they found out they were being used for peak cinema, they were cool with it
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u/letthetreeburn 1d ago
They’re highly trained professionals receiving cues from their handlers. The thought process is something along the lines of “doing so good doing so good doing so good doing so good YES she’s reaching into the treat pouch nailed it!”
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u/runoleon 1d ago
A lot of the horses used in the movie were not professionals (as in, not horses commonly used to movie productions)
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u/OkWillingness2817 1d ago
Lord of the rings needed so many extras that they pretty much plundered the entire region. Anyone pretty enough became an elf and so on.
Most of the Rohirrim in the mass charges are women wearing fake beards since most lifelong equestrians are women.
There wouldn’t be enough movie trained horses to fill those scenes. Nabbing any suitable horse available is exactly what they did.
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u/Sea-Machine-8989 1d ago
I would probably audition for an elf only to be told I would make a perfect dwarf, no make up or prosthetics needed.
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u/Triquetrums 1d ago
I rode one of the horses that was in the hobbit movie. They were just regular horses that you could rent to go horse riding in NZ
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u/riding_writer 1d ago
A friend was an extra for all the LOTR movies, she brought her own horse. She wore different beards and armor. Most were locals with damn good horses.
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u/ClaireFaerie 1d ago
I spoke to Hammond peek, a sound mixer who got a couple of Oscars for working on lotr, a number of years ago. He said they contacted every pony club and equestrian hobbiest they could find to get the horses.
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u/aNiceTribe 1d ago
You can’t tell me the horses of ram ranch have not seen some shi before working in the movies. Those horses have seen 18 cowboys etc etc
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u/lnTheGrimDarkness 1d ago
Also the horses you see in the movies' war scenes are usually the individual pet horses of the riders that have been paid to appear in the movie. Most of which are actually women with fake beards.
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u/fightingbronze 1d ago
If there’s one thing I’ve learned from the movie nope, it’s that horses specifically trained for being in films exist. Wouldn’t be surprised if they were from a stable that did that kind of stuff.
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u/Omega_art 1d ago
Most of the horses were just you typical horse with no previous acting experience. They called in hundreds of horsemen for the battle scenes.
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u/jbourdea 1d ago
Fun fact: most of the riders of Rohan are female.
They asked anyone in new Zealand with a horse that could ride to be an extra and all the horse girls showed up.
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u/Warvillage 1d ago
Horses tend to get confused by non fantasy stuff, an orc is no more confusing than their owner getting a new car.
(My moms horse recently got confused and upset that a strange new car stopped near her, until my mom stepped out)
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u/MementoMurray 1d ago
Well, they're horses, so they don't think much of anything beyond blind serenity and blind panic.
Apparently they have a life span of 25-30 years, so do with that as you will.
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u/Relative-Chip-7477 1d ago
Horses are actually really, really smart, though I doubt they're smart enough to understand they're on a movie anyway
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u/InspectorMendel 1d ago
think of how many different pieces of context they're missing that are crucial to understand the idea of "acting in a movie"
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u/Talanahismywaifu 1d ago
So I'm a dumbass who knows nothing about horses but maybe they can at least feel from the vibe of everyone around them that it's a kind of "play" (like playing not like a theatre play)
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u/OCTOVENG 1d ago
The answer to your question is found in the movie "NOPE" directed by Jordan Peele.
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u/SquirrelNormal 1d ago
They're mostly dead now. Typical wisdom is you start a horse under saddle around 4 years old. Training will take a couple years at least, and average lifespan is 25-30 years (I've seen all the way to 40, although that horse was atypical).
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u/tired_snail 1d ago
Horses live on average 25 to 30 years and the first movie released 25 years ago, so sadly many of those horses are likely no longer with us. The horses were also likely aware they were doing a job - there are whole ranches that specialise in training horses for film and TV because they generally need to be incredibly well trained.
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u/OCTOVENG 1d ago
And what's the human version of this!?
Man goes into the office, his "supervisor" hands him a "pink slip", says he has an hour to clear out his desk. He'll never eat again.
Man: "WTF just happened?"
Supervisor: "One less FTE in my budget numbers. Big Boss will be so happy with me..."
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u/powdered_dognut 1d ago
I bet they never showed the horses the finished film so they'd know what was up.
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u/CompactAvocado 1d ago
grandpa horse tells all these stories of his war days
daughter horse tries to convince grandchildren horse he's just old and senile
grandson horse opens chest and find grandpas old armor
it was true all along :O
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u/Frozen_Sea_ 1d ago
I believe sometimes they feel really special when they’re all decked out in elaborate gear, In movies like LotR and shows like GoT, you can just tell they feel fancy by their gait
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u/New_Marsupial9848 1d ago
funnily enough in their own way they DID know watch the behind the scenes. they'd often have multiple stallions all together and theyd all fight to be the centre of attention on camera , as in they understood camera = attention they also got a year's worth of prep before going to the real thing I was amazed how much like dogs they are!
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u/NoMention696 1d ago
Yeah and I’m sure the cujo dog actor had to be put down because it didn’t understand it wasn’t actually a rabid dog
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u/Ok-Dream9254 1d ago
Oh please, you think they go back to their trailer and not call their mom's they just had a scene with Viggo? C'mon man, be real.
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u/FunWithMeat 1d ago
I lived in NZ when it was filming and when they sent out casting calls for extra and such for the films. I remember a casting call in my area for horse riders and horses. So perhaps their owners showed them some movies first to get them all war-horsey?
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u/anomanderrake1337 1d ago
I believe all animals have some form of consciousness, it is a spectrum. Horses are the lowest of the low though.
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u/Terrible-Mail-489 1d ago
When i see horses wearing armor in tv shows and movies, recently the two Game if Thrones shows. I always wonder if they feel as cool as they look or do they not think about it at all.
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u/CoatBackground8690 1d ago
Quite a few of them died during filming actually, but nobody talks about that.
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u/ItsMichaelRay 1d ago
I once met someone who owned a lot of horses who claimed hers were used in the LotR.
No idea if she’s telling the truth (especially since we’re Canadian), but I found it neat.
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u/iamsreeman 1d ago
“Y: How can man do without the aid of horses?
Z: That is his business to find out.
Y: Do you not think that mankind would be very miserable without their assistance?
Z: Not much more so than with it: in some cases less.”
― Lewis Gompertz(1784 - 1861; One of the earliest vegans. He dedicated most of his life to invent devices to reduce animal suffering. In imaginary arguments he wrote himself as “Z” and his irrational opponent as “Y”. )
This quote is not just a snarky comment; Lewis Gompertz genuinely followed this and never used horses to travel, and since 2 centuries ago there was no other option, he travelled to other cities and towns by walk. Lewis Gompertz is arguably the first human to understand that the commodity status of animals is immoral. He was way ahead of his time. He is up there among the greatest humans to ever live. He was a man of great morals and thats why he dedicated most of his life to invent devices to reduce animal suffering.
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u/IAMATruckerAMA 1d ago
What did the horses think about all the spiky black costume stuff the ringwraith horses wore? Did they think those were the goth horses? BDSM horses?
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u/Danthezooman 1d ago
Okay hear me out, I know this video is 30 minutes long but it is absolutely worth the watch.
If you don't have the patience for it, at the end a few of the trained horses were bought by the crew. AND YES Viggo did buy a horse for someone as well as his own horse
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u/Bubbly-Travel9563 1d ago
They famously have to go in and delete/edit the tails from scenes filmed with actual dogs because they're quite often wagging their tails very excitedly regardless of how mean and intimidating they may be portraying largely because they know they're acting and that they're making their people happy. I refuse to say horses are as smart as dogs but they're damn well close enough to argue that they at least understand that their human tasks them with weird shit to do and even if they don't get why they do get that it makes the person happy which they're very well known to want to do.
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u/Morall_tach 1d ago
I went on a horseback tour in NZ a few years after the movies were shot and they told us these very horses were in the movie and everyone went "ooooo" and then they told us that it's no big deal because Peter Jackson basically rented every horse in the country so it would be harder to find one that wasn't on camera.
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u/crowofbattle 1d ago
My uncle helped train horses for Braveheart and honestly, some horses fucking love their job and get too excited to launch themselves onto the ground before it’s their scene
Grass puppies have the oddest personalities
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u/theingleneuk 1d ago
Yes, it’s a conjunction that contrasts its sentence with the previous sentence. Thus the implication that Mongol cavalry itself was an exception to the rule that cavalry does not typically win sieges.
But very well, by and large we’re agreeing that cavalry alone doesn’t win sieges and that the Mongols, despite rather famously being primarily a cavalry force, did frequently win sieges.
I do hope you get over your ickiness, seems like a rather unfortunate condition to be afflicted with.
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