A horse has died on the set of The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power
The horse was being exercised before rehearsing a scene and was wearing "full regalia"
Aux News The Lord of the Rings
A horse being used for filming an episode of Amazon’s The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power died earlier this month, according to The Daily Mail, which said that the horse was “one of 100 charging towards a camera while rehearsing a battle scene.” The horse reportedly was “wearing full regalia and had a rider on its back,” and an investigation later determined that the animal had died of cardiac arrest. A veterinarian was on set, as was a representative for the American Humane Association, who said in a statement that this is a “terribly sad story” and that “proper protocol was followed at all times.”
Deadline has a statement from Amazon Studios, which says that the horse was being exercised prior to rehearsals and that the trainer was not in costume and filming had not started. The horse was one of more than 30 being used on the set that day, and it was “standing around with around 20 other horses when it suffered cardiac failure.” When the horse collapsed, the set was cleared for “30-45 minutes” so it could be removed and then “work resumed.” (Grim.)
The horse had been provided by a group called The Devil’s Horseman, which has supplied animals to a bunch of other high-profile movies and TV shows (including Justice League and Game Of Thrones), and this is the “first known horse fatality in the 50-year history of the company.” The Devil’s Horseman is also a new horse supplier for the series, which moved production to the UK from New Zealand for its second season.
Deadline notes that a horse died while filming HBO’s The Gilded Age last summer, and there’s also the story of David Milch’s Luck, which was canceled partially because of a number of horse deaths that happened during filming.
UPDATE: PETA has responded to the horse’s death with a statement asking the producers of Rings Of Power (and all other things) to stop “exploiting animals for their art.”
It seems that living underground with the orcs is par for the course for the producers of The Rings of Power, because they have the option to use CGI, mechanical rigs, and other humane methods that wouldn’t run vulnerable horses to death on set. PETA is calling on the show’s creators—and all other producers—to take on a new quest without using any real horses. If they can’t avoid exploiting animals for their art, they should find a new medium, because no one wants to see a spinoff for TV with torment as the theme.
88 Comments
Time to deploy the shock troops.
Do the shock troops wear electric pants?
God DAMN these electric sex pants!
Hell’s Teeth!
CGI horses.
It’s more cost-efficient to use real horses and repurpose any dead ones to make enormous batches of horse meat stew for the production crew.
Let’s not get crazy here. Those batches of horse meat stew are modest at best.
And the grip crew can use the glue they make from the hooves.
Its hard to beat the tape they make from ducks.
They make tape from the ducks’ eyes and then release them. Where do you think the term “duck blind” comes from?
“Looks like meat’s back on the menu, boys!”
I’m surprised they’re using actual horses instead of just taping a bunch of cats together.
Well, also.
Yes and…
Hahahaha!
So, will the horse be included in next year’s Oscars In Memoriam segment?
Technically it’s TV, so wouldn’t qualify for the Oscars. Fingers crossed for the Emmys though.
Neigh.
No but it will be in tomorrows slide show of sentient beings we’ve lost on 2023.
I imagine Matthew Broderick will be livid if they don’t.
JUSTICE FOR BART THE BEAR
omg there were like four real horses total in the terrible first season, now theyre killing the horses. please just cancel this turd!
I guess they just don’t have any Luck
That’ll help the set and costume building budget!
On the plus side, the horse was delicious.
Goddamn oliphaunts.
Any time I have to look something up, you get a star.
One does not simply canter into Mordor!
YOU SHALL NOT TROT!
Foal of a Took!
What’s Timothy done now?
Timothy ?
Hopefully they don’t waste a lot of energy and time on this situation that can’t be changed
Guillermo del Toro recalled working with horses for Pan’s Labyrinth. He talked about how uncooperative and incredibly dangerous they can be – nearly breaking one of the actor’s pelvis. He called them “psychopaths.” Personally I can’t stand being around them either. I wouldn’t want a nearly 2,000 lb. “pet.” And I think it’s inhumane to ride them too, although I’m sure I’ll get a lot of grief about that. “What about when we had to ride them and use them for work?” people ask. Well, we didn’t have to, but we did. Humans are naturally exploitative. And cruel.
Sure, but a horse could easily kill a person if it wanted to. The fact that they mostly don’t might suggest they don’t mind being ridden.
Oh man, that’s one of my favorite DVD commentary riffs of all time. I love how halfway through GDT gets distracted from his hatred of horses and starts ranting, apropos of nothing, about how he also hates cows.
“I never liked horses, but after this scene, I hate them. I hate them, they are nasty animals—and I hate cows. Cows are absolutely evil, I tell you. They look, like, inoffensive, but they’re perverted creatures—and so are horses . . .”
I don’t think about cows at all.
THAT’S WHAT THE COWS ARE FOR!
*cah-pers.
I hate them, they are nasty animals—and I hate cows. Cows are absolutely evil, I tell you. They look, like, inoffensive, but they’re perverted creatures—and so are horses . . .”Lol, you beat me to it. I’ll never forget this rant either: ”Absoutely evil and perverted.”
Of course, the Hellboy II commentary will always be my favorite commentary – until I hear a better one. Anyone who aspires to make a film should watch and listen. One of my favorite nuggets: del Toro likes to keep the camera always just a little bit in motion. The effects are so subtle, possibly even subconscious, but the trick works. A scene, a shot, always contains that little bit of energy. Happy to find a fellow fan.
Making film or television isn’t photography. You’ve got motion cameras, use ‘em! Surprising how effective a bit of movement engages the viewer.
Movies where the camera never moves tend to look cheap, but a constantly moving camera can be feel like needless stylization (same as rapid editing and overhead shots). Del Toro handles his camera very gracefully, which gives the viewer more time to take in the imagery and wonder where the inevitable third-act chase will take place.
They’re coarse and they get into everything.
Can we get your thoughts on the Amish?
I’d rather not, but after watching Women Talking I certainly have some ideas about Mennonites.Women = mules, horses, any dumb beast of burden.
They make nice furniture.
and they never shut up
As a guy who grew up with horses…a) of course someone named after a bull is probably gonna hate horses and b) he’s abso-fucking-lutely, 110% correct. Yeah, imagine something that weighs half a ton, has four sharp-tipped legs, and a brain the size of a somewhat obese fig. And you’re meant to get on top of that thing.There will be times when the horse will just go “Fuck it” and either throw you or start pig-rooting or bucking…or just plain start galloping to fuck knows where. Yeah, yeah, some dressage monkey is gonna chime in “You’ve got to learn to fall” and that really only applies in an arena with six inches on soft sand on the floorWe used them for droving – and I’ve gotta admit, there’s few better ways to handle cattle en masse – but for anything else…fuck no.I suppose to be fair, I had what’s called, in Australian agricultural terms, “an absolute cunt of a horse” growing up, but we got rid of him and he found his true purpose in life: holding together a violin. But for pleasure? Noooo. I’ll walk. Unfortunately, one of my bosses is an absolutely horse nut of the very worst sort. She romanticises the fuck out of them, and came from the sort of money (and married into more) where she can rescue ex-races and keeps them and posts her feeding them on Instagram and is learning to ride them. So, I’m not telling her about that time I got caught in the stirrup on a paved road and dragged on my palms for fifty yards because I shook myself loose.
I have a relative who thinks of little else but the horses. They regularly post facebook pics of themselves at competitions twisitng and pulling themselves and the horse out of those six inches of soft sand. It looks tortorous for both of them. Maybe it’s fun. I don’t know; it looks extremely violent.
That thing about shooting a horse when it snaps its leg ain’t a cliché.They’ve got a…passive heart, for want of a better term, in the middle of each hoof – they have to keep steppin’ else the blood will pool in the leg and not circulate. Think of it like pressing down on a wet sponge.There’s surgery for broken legs, and physiotherapy, and after care…but…like everything with horses I hope your wallet opens wide. Really, really, really wide. Grand Canyon wide. You’d have to have some stud horse worth a million bucks for it to be worthwhile.Meanwhile, a .223 round is like fifty cents. Any horse crash is worrisome.Outside of sheep, they’re one of the most delicate farm animals around – though still a very distant second to sheep. (“Don’t ever have anything to do with sheep” is the best farming advice you’ll hear.)Despite the image, more eventers are dirt poor. The gear you need is fucking expensive, and you have to travel: the trailers, the floats, big-arse F-250 to tow all that, vet bills, shoeing. (There’s also the “correct” clothing and makeup and grooming – for both you and the horse – if you do one of the posh equestrian events.)There’s this weird image that being a professional horse person is somehow glamourous and and indicator of disposable income, but unless you’re a member of a royal family or got like Gwyneth Paltrow Goop money…no. And getting thrown off them is no fun, even on sand, let alone on dirt or road or rock.
I mean, owning any animal as a pet is unethical if you want to get essentialist about it. As is eating animals. But some horses genuinely enjoy working in the same way a lot of dogs enjoy doing the things they’ve been bred to do.
Yup horses are assholes and I was happy someone finally said it.
Well-trained horses are very easy to work with, so I can only assume he didn’t know what he was doing. Of course, if you go into the project “hating” horses, it’s probably doomed from the start. I’m onboard with the cow hate, though.
I feel bad for the horse, but PETA can, as always, shut up and fuck off.
PETA is absolutely right about this though. We’ve had the technology to completely recreate horses via special effects for nearly 50 years now, and Hollywood still refuses to commit to it
You’re using coconuts!
And I don’t get this. Working with horses on set must be an absolute nightmare for everyone involved. Sometimes I think people just enjoy making things harder for themselves.
I would disagree as horses are generally pretty easy to train and usually well behaved.
Working with horses on set must be an absolute nightmare for everyone involved.You know horses aren’t like bears or puppies or something, right? They’re generally very easy to work with, as evidenced by the last 100 years of filmmaking. Sometimes I think people just enjoy making things harder for themselves.You think working with a horse is harder than replacing hundreds of people on horseback with CGI?
PETA will crack the shits if even one of those coconuts was harvested by monkeys.
They should just use CGI, but there is a huge, vocal, annoying sect of “nerdom” that never misses an opportunity to shit on projects using CGI in lieu of practical effects. And they are ALL OVER RoP. I get wanting to appear authentic on the part of the creators.But again, better inauthentic than endanger animals i think.
They can but they won’t.
Surely the producers could have used a tofu horse for those scenes.
Why is this news?
I know a lot of people strongly dislike PETA but they aren’t wrong. It doesn’t help their argument, however, to compare the producers to orcs (if I’m reading this right), as apropo as it might be.
Well, if what commentator Incurable Ennui says above is true, then maybe not. They say:“The company providing the equine talent asserts that this is the first death on the job in 50 years, and by all accounts, it was cardiac arrest that happened while the horse was ‘standing around.’ Provided we take those details at face value, it seems like a responsible company, and that the horse may have just had, you know, a fucking heart attack.”If that really is the case, then it would seem that once again PETA is living up to their reputation for belligerence over accuracy, understanding and/or actually helping anything. (And that’s why so many people, even animal rights advocates, really can’t stand PETA)
I just looked up PETA’s reputation. Perhaps the AVClub should have quoted someone else about this incident. Now that I know what I know, I’m even more convinced that this site is mostly interested in generating outrage, like every other coporate owned media site.
Alec Baldwin has denied any responsibility.
Alec Baldwin was indicted for horseslaughter in New Mexico, but it turns out the bill had not yet been introduced into the NM legislature.
That horse has gone to the great glue or dog food factory in the sky. Godspeed.
Ace Ventura…pent detective.
We never figured out what happened to the horse, but this charming man in a Hawaiian shirt made stupid faces for three hours.
Three thoughts:1) We should thank raptor jeebus that this news cycle is slow enough that a horse having a heart attack is above the fold news (even on the A.V. Club).2) The company providing the equine talent asserts that this is the first death on the job in 50 years, and by all accounts, it was cardiac arrest that happened while the horse was “standing around.” Provided we take those details at face value, it seems like a responsible company, and that the horse may have just had, you know, a fucking heart attack.3) Somebody maybe should get in at PETA, and explain that advocating for animal welfare doesn’t require them to address humans as adversaries from the get-go, and in fact might undercut their own objectives.Bonus question. I’m assuming humans work for PETA. PETA hates humans. Do they just walk around the office kicking each other in the groin all day? Never mind, that image is locked in my brain; no need to answer that question.
“the horse may have just had, you know, a fucking heart attack.”So what you’re saying is that it was the COVID vaccine
/taps side of nose, tips tin foil hat/
Probably just the proximity to a vaccinated rider was enough to stop the heart.
Why would you include a statement from the extremist trolls at PETA? It’s like adding comments from 4chan to an article about trans rights.
Is there a point to going to PETA for comment on anything? They have exactly one opinion.
Can we all stop giving PETA a platform? It’s like asking the Taliban their opinion on women’s rights. PETA is toxic, and if they had their way, all domestic animals would just be slaughtered.There are hundreds, thousands of humane societies whose main focus is improving animal welfare – and PETA are not one of them. They are fanatics. Stop giving them airtime.https://www.cheatsheet.com/culture/this-is-why-so-many-animal-lovers-hate-peta.html/
Did they try beating it?
Could American media please stop legitimizing the Daily Mail by using it as a primary source, thank you.I’m seeing this nasty little rag slowly work its tendrils into worldwide media and it’s like people don’t know what this is.
Sounds like even the powers that be aren’t happy they moved production to the UK. RIP horsie.
Ben: Okay, all the permits cleared for the… [passively annoyed] horse funeral…
Ron: What was that tone?
Ben: What? Oh, nothing!
I figured the horse died trying to choke down the show’s premise
Pfsh that’s nothing, on The Hobbit they killed like 3 horses and a bunch of other farm animals.