Customer Reviews

The Horsemasters

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This movie shaped the lives of many girls of my generation (way old). As Ofoeti mentions in the review below, we ate and drank this movie. However, we had to keep reading the little paperback book, as there were no VHS machines yet. The little book came from a kids newspaper we used to get in school, I almost remember the name of that newspaper (Weekly Reader?). I was sorry to read in Mike's review that Annette did not enjoy the making of this movie, but I do know that she loves horses. Wasn't her husband first her horse wrangler? It is time to rerelease this on DVD. I wonder if it is Annette or Disney who is holding up the release of this movie, but if they don't release it soon, those of us who love it will be dead.
I was lucky enough to find a camp much like the movie in CA. I went to Cal Poly SLO and studied horses. I have bred horses ever since. Movies change lives.
Best, Virginia

When I was a girl (lo these many, many years ago)this was my favorite movie in all the world. My friends and I played "Horsemasters" endlessly (which was kind of pathetic, as we were just little middle-class suburban kids who had no access to horses) -- taking the movie plot and expanding on it as far as our imaginations would go. Revisiting this film was such fun! The acting was fine, and the riding scenes are still exciting to see. OK, it'll never rank up there with the Disney classics -- but it's actually more genuine than a lot of later-day Disney fare. I'm glad "The Horsemasters" is still around and hope it finds an audience.

A group of riding students (Tommy Kirk and Annette Funicello among them) must contend with unruly horses and a taciturn instructor (Donald Pleasance), all while trying to master the finer points of jumping, dressage, and sportsmanship. Not a great movie, but doesn't deserve to be forgotten. Based on a novel by Don Stanford.

Staci Layne Wilson

All girls developed their first crushes watching this series on television. As we aged by a very view years, our instructor in Pony Club gathered us all together for movie night to watch it again.
We "critiqued" everything that was done wrong in the movie. It developed great comraderies in the group to call out grooming and riding errors while enjoying this Disney classic. I agree with another reviewer that it should come out on DVD. Thank You Disney for so many great childhood memories!

I looked all over for this movie. I was so excited that Amazon had it and at a reasonable price. I saw it as a child on the Micky Mouse Club and fell in love with it and horses at the age of 9. It is as good as my memeory of it was. One for the whole family, and especially for the young ones who love horses! Of course, I am a young 56, and I still adore it! Now if Disney will just release Cristobel-a paso fino horse I will be in heaven!!!

I saw this as a child many years ago as other reviewers. I have tried to get in the UK but it doesnt exist. my only option is to purchase the US version and have it converted in UK.

This was so wonderful it make me wish that I could attend a school like that!

"They come from all over the world, and they think they know it all." (Emphasis on "think"). So says the guy in charge of the "Horsemasters" course. This is foreshadowing. Even a person who has never seen a movie before will probably guess that this perception will be corrected soon, once the course begins.

Plot: EIght youngish adults, including Annette Funicello, are chosen to participate in the prestigious "Horsemasters" course of the title. This takes place in England. They learn horsemanship. They learn riding. They learn life lessons. They flirt. That's pretty much it.

Warning: This is a Disney movie. Therefore: All the fun is strictly G-rated. So is any romance. People burst randomly into song, though not too often. It's not a musical.

Other pros - at least if you're a horseperson - Everyone wears hats and boots when mounted. Safety procedures around the horses are stressed. I mention this only because so many horse movies have riders galloping through the fields with their hair flowing and other major infractions. The hard hats are pretty flimsy by today's standards but at least they're worn.

The actors spend most of their screentime on horseback, either doing dressage, stadium jumping or going cross-country At the end, there's a hunt race competition followed by a hunt. The horses are cute, especially the pinto. There's also some cool aerial shots of the horses jumping (usually they're filmed from the ground). If you have a couple hours to kill before your riding lesson, you could do worse than watch this film.

I had forgotten how grainy VHS movies can be. This one is in not so good a shape. but I have a wall of VHS movies and a large collection of DVD's and I really have not watched a VHS movie in awhile. I was so desperate to have this movie as a collector, I have not found it anywhere else, so I'm thrilled to have it. I'm a Annette Funicello fan since I was five years old and I remember this movie playing on the Disney show on two consecutive sunday's evenings. I did not see it again till it showed on cable TV, on the Disney channel. It brought back all the memories of my family sitting together watching it on our black and white TV. Thanks for your promptness in sending it, it was pretty beat up and torn by the time I received it, but so far the movie is good, I'm barely finishing watching it today 4/20/11, because I had surgery and then my first grandaughters wedding on my birthday and then the holidays. Then I had my first radiation treatment, and then the next round of radiation and then I got better, my Pop had a sudden stroke and passed away. Now we are eyeball high in moving my Mom out of her home and into my daughters, meanwhile she is with my husband and myself. After I finish writing this small cathartic note. Thanks by the way, I will indulge in a memory fest and finish watching the movie.

I received the product in a timely manner. Product was in the condition described in ad. I would do business with them again.