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It depicts unthinkable equine carnage, but no horses were harmed in the making of War Horse.
When a horse goes off to war in the movies, he first heads to the makeup department, particularly if a distinctive white cross marking on the forehead and four white stockings on the legs are signature elements of that equine star’s appearance, as was the case with the role of Joey in the DreamWorks’ film adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s novel War Horse. “We had an equine makeup unit that made up all the horses each morning and then took it off each evening,” says Bobby Lovgren, the horse master and head trainer on the Steven Spielberg movie, which hits theaters Christmas Day, 2011. “They really had a lot of work and responsibility.”
And how. The screenplay revolves around a horse enlisted to fight for the British cavalry in World War I who gets caught in crossfire — along with scores of his equine counterparts — and serves both sides of the war before ending up in no man’s land. With equine action so central to the plot, the horses on set kept the makeup artists hopping.
The movie had more than makeup to get right, and Lovgren had a lot of help in those regards. An animal safety representative from American Humane Association (AHA) and a crew veterinarian were on the film the entire time. “We had so many horses [on set] some days. We had big cavalry charges. It was nice having American Humane [Association] and the vet all the time. It’s nice to be covered that way.”
AHA couldn’t agree more, and the organization had an unusually big stake in this film. “I think what’s important about War Horse is that it really depicts the brutal devastation of horses during World War I,” says Karen Rosa, senior vice-president of AHA’s Film & TV Unit, which safeguards animals in film and television. “The story is of a time when we were literally transitioning from horse warfare to mechanized warfare. The horse was really no match for the machine guns and barbed wire. That is why it was so devastating.”
For a frame of reference, Rosa gives some figures: “Around 8 million horses died during that war — that is close to the entire equine population of the United States today.” (According to a 2005 study by the American Horse Council, there are approximately 9.2 million horses in the country.) “It was very important for us that the story be told well and that it be told humanely, which it is. This is a depiction of the harm that came to horses during World War I, but in the making of the film, it’s movie magic rather than real harm.”
War Horse has additional historical significance for AHA. “The government came to American Humane Association in 1916 and asked us, as an organization, to literally become the Red Cross for horses on the battlefield,” Rosa says. “That was the formation of our Red Star [Animal] Emergency Services program, which continues today, to go into disaster areas and rescue animals. We were there on the battlefield as an organization, so the story [of War Horse] is part of our history, as well as a part of our current film work today.”
With guidelines that specify everything from the depth of soft ground that horses can be asked to lie down on to working conditions like prescribed rest breaks, AHA closely monitors the equine contingent of animal actors. “As powerful as they are, horses are still very fragile,” notes Rosa. “We have asked a lot of them historically. When they use horses [in films], they often use them in multiples ... in battle scenes, historical dramas. It’s more than any other species, quite frankly.”
Throughout the entire production of War Horse, AHA had a certified animal safety rep on set who had an extensive background in horses. “What we loved about this entire production was the level of collaboration between American Humane Association, the trainers involved, and the production company, particularly Mr. Spielberg,” says Rosa. “When there’s that level of care and concern, our job is easier for sure, even though there were complex scenes that had to be depicted.”
In the end, Rosa says, the movie “is a stunning account of the bond between human beings and horses. That’s what is so heartfelt about it and I think [the movie] will really capture the attention of the public.”
For more on the work of American Humane Association in film and television, visit www.americanhumanefilmtv.org.
Read the C&I feature on War Horse in the January 2012 issue.
