All too often, wild horses and their behavioral ecology are not correctly represented in Hollywood films. And that's because producers and most writers are too far removed from the wilderness where they live, nor are they able to get close enough to grasp the nature of these enlightened beings.Here are a couple of articles that I have written after living among wild horses in the Soda Mountain wilderness of the Cascade-Siskiyou mountains on the Oregon-California border for the past 7-years at my ranch; Wild Horse Ranch:1) https://www.horsetalk.co.nz/2018/07/04/wild-horses-death-grief-insight/ 2) https://grazelife.com/blog/wild-horse-fire-brigade-lessons-in-rebalancing-north-american-ecosystems-by-rewilding-equids/ And an award-winning natural history documentary about wild horses titled: Fuel, Fire and Wild Horses: Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/327282987Cheers! William E. Simpson II - Naturalist / Rancher Wild Horse Ranch Bona-fides at: http://www.WHFB.us
Loved this movie a lot. Says a lot about how the roundups affect the mustangs when torn from their families. It was especially disturbing to see other mustangs being loaded into the semi trailer, it makes you think that the BLM is sending mustangs to slaughter. Especially when they are taken to holding facilities where the public is not allowed. What goes on there that they don't want you to know about? Are they being beneficial to the mustangs, or are they carrying out the horrible spayings on the mares, and if they die, who cares? Just dig a bigger hole. I don't trust the BLM in any way, and certainly don't believe that what they are doing is in the best interests of the mustangs.
This is literally a generic horse movie (ALL cliques included!) with the title "Black Beauty" slapped onto it. It's a disgrace to the book (And it's numerous actually faithful movie adaptions!), misleading (Lol seriously, why is it called "Black Beauty" what it is neither an adaption of the book nor a remake of any of the previous movie adaptions?) and hilariously inaccurate (It's literally "Super amazing teenage girl meets super amazing horse that only SHE can tame and understand! Realistic horsemanship need not apply!) in so many ways that it's not even worth watching, let alone re-watching.Disney must truly be desperate for Disney+ content if they actually went through the bother of acquiring the distribution rights to this "movie".
I own a wild-caught Mustang. She came from the Wheeler Pass, NV Horse Management Area (HMA). This is typical Disney. Making movies to pull on people's heartstrings, not to show truth. What this story fails to explain is that these wild horses multiply like rabbits. I did a lot a research trying to find out where our "Annie" came from, as I wondered if given the opportunity would she rather be out in the wild with the herd. That was until I saw pictures of an emergency roundup in 2015, then again in 2017, and I met the current lady responsible for creating a management plan for this HMA. The local people were calling the BLM nonstop back in 2015, because those horses had nothing to eat. They were starving. They were pulling down small brush trees, stomping them to get to the inside bark. I sat at my computer in tears looking at pics of starving horses and foals. You could count their ribs. During that first emergency roundup in 2015, the BLM had to put down 128 horses, because they were too far gone from starvation. At that point I realized I gave Annie a better home than she would have ever had in the wild. As with many things, we romanticize what it's really like, yet have no real idea. You can't try to move these horses to another area, because they find their way back. The BLM tries everything possible to watch these herds, but the numbers keep mounting for those they have tried saving from a cruel death -- starving to death, either by not enough food, or not enough water. They have created water stations for the herds who don't have close access to water. So, go and enjoy this fantasy movie, which Disney is famous for, but just enjoy it to enjoy it, because there is no truth -- because there is no easy answer how to control the population of these wild horses. And it doesn't help when people drop their horses off in the middle of nowhere, because they can't care for them anymore. Yes, horses have been rounded up with SHOES ON. If Disney wanted to do a movie, maybe they should have done one about over breeding domesticated horses, because there are many of them who go to meat auctions, just like some of the Mustangs do. There is more to this story than they are telling. And let's not forget, they didn't even use a Mustang for the real horse character. That tells you what their agenda is, because there are some fabulous Mustang trainers out there who really are trying to help the plight of these wild horses. Disney is just doing it for the box office $$$$$$ the movies bring in.