This message is from: "Krist Martinsen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>From Krist & Jeanine Martinsen
Really enjoyed reading Anita's message re the filming of the movie.
Much better than the movie. Must have been quite an adventure.
----- Original Message -----
From: Jean Ernest
Sent: Thursday, June 13, 2002 8:48 AM
To: fjordhorse@angus.mystery.com
Subject: Re: Fjords and the 13th Warrior
This message is from: Jean Ernest <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
The Unraus supplied a lot of the Fjords in the movie. If you want to read
Anita's accounts of the filming, look in the archives:
http://www.eScribe.com/pets/fjordhorse/m11581.html
"The last movie was the 13th Warrior that took two years to be
released. There wereabout 60 Fjords of which we supplied 21. Ted
Swendsen and Helena Klement supplied about another 20 head between
them and some came from Sask. as well as several from individual
people. Only during the big rides were all 125 head out at once.
Usually we worked a total of 40-60 head of all horses every day. We
worked for the first week in July until the middle of Sept. Orville
was one of the Wendol's and many a day was 14-16 hour days starting
with costume and makeup. The horses learnt to have patience and be
ready to go but to relax and get some sleep in between takes.
Sometimes it might be two hours between and the next time they would
have to go right away. They all learnt to listen for "Rolling"
"Action" and they were gone as most scenes were wide open. Then they
would come back to the starting point and have to stand in line. It
was a standing joke that the Wendols could not count. They would be
told to line up in threes or fours and a lot of them never did get
that figured out. One filly that we sold to New York would lay down
between takes and her 14 yr old rider would snooze on top of her. I
wish I could have got some of the waiting pics. 7 or 8 Wendols sitting
around a stump with everyone on the next person's shoulder sound
asleep and their reins in their hands with the horse standing with
hind leg cocked also asleep. With the long hours sleep was a real rare
commodiy. We also worked 6 day a week and would take the Sunday shift
so we would have time to go over the horses and make sure everyone was
okay. My job was staying at the tent and cleaning barn, feeding,
doctoring etc.
I did get to go up top a couple of nights and watch.
I too wish we could take the cuttings and make another film."
http://www.eScribe.com/pets/fjordhorse/m11555.html
> Got a chuckle out of Misha's description of the 13th Warrior.
Wouldn't say it was the worst movie I had seen but it sure could have
used a story line. After two and a half months of filming some
spectacular shots of the horses the six or so min. on the screen were
a disappointment.
We heard the Director John Tiernman and Michael Crichton had a big
fight over the movie and the Director lost. He was the man with the
vision of how it should be and controlled all the shooting and it was
different from Mr. Crichton's. We plan on getting the video and going
over the horse scenes frame by frame and see who we can identify. None
of the spectacular shots were used that we could see. During filming
they said they were happy if they got 4 or 5 seconds of good footage.
I finally seen why. Everything was so fast my eyes had trouble
adjusting to the fast pace and we were sitting near the front which
was a mistake.
The white Arab that Antonio rode had 16 or 17 different horses from
start to finish if I remember right. The whole movie thing certainly
was a eye opener but would do it again with a few changes.
Out of the 22 head we took to Campbell River in 97 all are sold except
for one gelding, the three broodmares that are not for sale and the
only non Fjord that went. That was Strausser, our red dun Hanoverian
gelding that we took to Ebbs, Austria in 98 for the World Singles
Championship. His moment of movie fame was somersaulting in the moat
with Mel Hyland, former World Champion Saddle Bronc rider. Mel got too
close to the edge and a front foot sunk and over they went. Going
exactly where you put Strausser, at whatever speed is what made
Strausser so quick in the hazards. You have to respect that trust and
not diminish it in any way. Mel didn't ride him again after that."
************
If you want to search the Archives for more, go to
http://www.eScribe.com/pets/fjordhorse/ . You will be asked for "User Name"
which is "fjordhorse" and the passwaord is "fjords_rule"
Jean in Fairbanks, Alaska, cloudy and will be 65 degrees with 22 hours
daylight.
>This is what I know about the horses in the movie. Most of the Fjords that
>you saw were computer generated. Lars was the Fjord that the leader of the
>enemy tribe was riding.
************************************************************
Jean Ernest
Fairbanks, Alaska
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
