I was actually enjoying the movie for a bit. It had a good story line in the beginning and you got emotionally into it during and after the tragic accident with Grace and Judith. Being a horse person, I knew the behavior of the horse afterwords was a little far fetched, but thats what happens with most movies. From the get go, I noticed the training methods of "The Horse Whisperer" were based on fear. This is definitely never the way to go while training horses, so I was skeptical. But I continued t watch, assuming I was mistaken. And for a bit, I believed I was! But the thing that really set me off was in the scene near the end where Tom got Pilgrim saddled. He tied the horse's leg to the saddle horn and made him run around and buck! This is extremely dangerous and could've resulted in a broken leg, snapped neck, even death for the horse. And I know what you're saying, its just a movie. But they had to get the shot somehow, didn't they? This "training" method could be considered abuse, using fear and force to get the horse to lay down. On top of this, the wife is cheating on her husband with Tom! This is downright unnecessary to the story and wrong. Her husband isn't a bad guy or anything, she just wants to be in the country. Overall, the 3 stars I gave the movie were for the beginning. I consider it animal abuse what he did to the horse. I have been riding for most of my life, I know what I'm talking about. Also, it is just wrong how they had the wife cheating. I, personally as a horse lover, do NOT recommend this movie.
