So I was watching a Western movie last night. It is a genre that I really enjoy. Those cowboys were my heroes when I was a kid.
The chase scenes in westerns are exciting. It was a very long time before I realized that movie horses were bullet proof. Yup, they are easily three times a bigger target than a man and rarely do they get shot.
The bullets were a blarin’ , the riders were a bouncin’ up and down and the horses never got a scrape! Gosh, they must be bullet proof. When you think about it, many horses must have been injured or killed if those chase scenes were ,at all, accurate in real life. A true “bad guy” (the guys who wore black hats, except for Hopalong Cassidy and Adam Cartwright.) would take the option of shooting a large target like a horse. PETA was nowhere to be seen in them days.
I have fun watching actors change horses in mid scene. Silverado was a fun western to notice this about. At one angle, the hero is racing up a hill on a black horse and as he rides down the other side…presto, it’s a brown horse with a white stripe on its face. Amazing!
Guess you know what interested me most while I watched?
The old Roman movies were also cool and, the horses were spear proof even then. My favorite game was to watch the horses. When the impaled men fell from these magnificent beasts, I’d decide which animal that I’d jump onto and ride off with, if given the chance.
Even TV westerns were full of horsey stunt doubles. I got so used to watching these horses that I’d notice them in every western of the time period. Especially, Nick Barkley’s horse Cocoa. That horse had a brown mane and black body with a very unique blaze of white on his face. He made appearances in John Wayne movies too.
Luckily Lassie had long hair. She was always portrayed by a male dog. I was on Grandpa’s farm enough to know the difference. They couldn’t fool me.
Did you know that Moose, (of Fraiser fame known as Eddie),had his son take over his role? As Moose got older, Enzo took his place. Heck,I knew Eddie was different!
In closing, I must get a really big irritation off of my chest.
Have you ever watched the cartoon called Back in the Barnyard? All of the cattle have udders! Most of the cattle are males.
If cartoons decide to be anatomically specific, get it right, will ya! Poor kids are confused enough about nature these days…
Sillyfrog's Blog 
This year, when we learned about the Civil War, some of us weren’t very shocked by the extreme numbers of death. I guess we were already pretty numb because we’d covered a lot of other wars before. But then our teacher said about one million ponies and mules (he said ponies on purpose) were killed, 1500 in Gettysburg. To just about all the girls, the Civil War became so much more drastic. >.<
War is never pretty…
Have a smiling GREAT day! Don’t get a belly ache from all that junk food!
I ‘ve always loved westerns too. I’ve also had some of the same thoughts while watching these movies from an era gone by. I can only hope that the Bulls which underwent the udder transplants are ok Back at The Barnyard When No One’s Watching.
Are you sure we aren’t twins separated at birth? LOL