A Gift Horse (2015) Reviews

• inspiring & heartwarming

  jessicastarweissman2015-12-05

  I don't understand why this movie is being hated on. I feel as though it was well-made, inspiring, and heartfelt. The story shows a very beautiful pony. I believe that it was probably a full-blooded Off the track Thoroughbred because it such a good mover. Also I would be scared to jump that high, and I don't think my Gypsy Vanner pony could jump that high. The riders are amazing, they will probably go on to the Olympics and etc. someday. If you think they aren't good, you probably have no idea about horses and I would like to see you do better!! they have amazing three-point positions over the jumps (aka cross rails, verticals, and oxers) The story made me cry, because one time my pony got colic so I could relate to Misty spraining her ankle. I think she got it because I kicked her too hard, just like how the little girl hurt her pony's foot by pulling on her rains. it is so hard to suffer the pain of knowing you have hurt you're horse.. luckily Misty recovered. btw my Gypsy Vanner pony is named Prince (aka show name Prince of Charming) and he is black and white. Anyway the story was realistic, and inspiring. Believe in your horse and u can soar just like me and Prince who are now showing in the 2'3" show jumping divisions :-)

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• Great Family Movie

  marybelk2017-01-22

  I don't understand why the reviews are so negative. This movie is a great movie to watch with your family. I watched it with my 9 and 12 year old daughters. It has a great message about faith, hope and perseverance. It is a shame that the other reviews are too focused on the horse riding portion of the movie. While that portion may not be accurate, the movie focuses on values families should have. It touches upon not giving up, , having faith and believing in yourself, the importance of family, the importance of listening to your children and not ignoring them, the act of kindness and treating people with respect. This movie is worth watching if you want a movie to watch with your kids that does not pertain vulgar language, inappropriate scenes and want something that offers a healthy message.

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• :(

  lgould-391162015-08-17

  I'll start out with the positive. They picked a beautiful farm, good looking horses, had a decent original score. The tack is immaculate and they chose proper riding attire. That's where it ends. Aside from the acting, storyline, and script being sub par for a kid's movie, the creators had no knowledge of anything in the horse world. These main characters have been riding "for a long time" yet the main character keeps holding her reins upside down. Neither of them can post to the trot. At least find a stunt double who can ride. The "trainer" puts the reins on the ground when rolling up one stirrup (good way to break a horse's jaw). Not to mention when they clean tack, they put the saddles flat on the counter to oil them - I would KILL someone if they placed my saddles down like that. The horse "sprains" the right ankle but they end up treating the left front with ice. The kid thinks the mare got hurt because she accidentally "pulled the reins too hard". The writers couldn't think of a more realistic cause for injury? At the end, the kid "wins" her class in the horse show with a chip to jump 1, a missed lead change, and trotting on course (automatic 55). She also whacks the horse on the shoulder repetitively like it's her first day. I guess the judge was blind.

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• terribe (couple spoilers)

  Lima62015-11-05

  So much wrong with this movie. The director obviously did no research on horses, training, jumping competitions etc. The scenes were terrible. There were supposed to be a couple humorous scenes, usually revolving around the black trainer. One scene, was supposed to show the humor of the fact that he talks incessantly and while talking with john schneiders character, he is talking and then looks to schneider only to see that he has gone and he was talking to himself. well, we have seen this one a lot of times, except in this one it was a far shot and you only get a fraction of a second where he turns towards where john used to be and he isn't there, but its just a fraction and you barely register that he is alone talking to himself. how can you screw up such a simple obvious joke? the directing and editing of this movie was appalling. Now, one of the main problems i have with this movie is one of its messages. throughout the movie, the supposed wonderful young angelic girl is still dealing with her mothers death and her father has a girl friend. basically right up to the end this "angel" treats the girl friend like crap. Now, the only point in which she starts to accept her is at the very end when she finds out that the girlfriend actually paid for john to keep the horse because he was going to get rid of it, and also that she bought all of these groceries for this kid who just wandered into the movie sometime in the middle and she became friends with him, and btw, they said nothing about him being poor, but apparently the girlfriend had to buy his family all this food, and because of that, this unpleasant girl finally decides to give her a break, in about the last minute of the movie. The reason that irks me is that apparently you only accept somneone if they pour money into things that you approve of. The father should have sat her down and stopped coddling her. because apparently its fine for her to treat the girlfriend like crap until the girlfriend throws money and does all these things. well in real life our girl or boyfriend may not be a retired investment banker with too much money, and you may have to learn to accept a new person in your father or mothers life. I am still bothered by how ugly she was to the girlfriend, and everyone had to coddle the "angel". Now john schneiders daughter was even more terrible than the little girl and once again its all forgiven in the last lame minutes of the movie. i could go on about the mother, who seems to be a money grubbing tight expensive clothes and too much makeup wearing shrill, and the fact that the divorce was supposedly all johns fault, even though the mother was portrayed as shallow, vain and a money waster, yet he had to do this lame dialogue about it being all his fault. The scenes were so contrived, the dialogue lacking, the connections between scenes were disjointed, and the messages terrible. it left me with a bad taste, and i just felt sorry for schneider for having been in this film.

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• This movie was terrible.

  emilyanklesaria2015-08-13

  This movie was not good, I have been riding for quite a few years now and I can only jump 2.9 but the riding in this movie was terrible. The posture was awful, they were hunched over and always leaning forward they didn't even have to 2 point, I am surprised they weren't falling off when jumping. Also this movie is completely unrealistic you can't sprain a horses ankle because you pulled to hard on there reins will trotting, also why were you even pulling on the reins the horse wasn't moving anywhere. Plus where was everyone else in the barn there were a total of 2 girls there and now one isn't even riding anymore! Another unrealistic thing is that if that girl had been riding since she was 6 then why was she such a bad rider, her and the little girl were the same level. Last the girl would have never won the competition she would have been last place defiantly. Even though there are many other things wrong with this movie I must stop here because I will run out of words. I give this movie the total of 0 stars but I can't give it that because apparently there is no such thing as a movie that bad.

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