Meeting the Stars of 'War Horse'

Any equine person will be eagerly awaiting the release of Steven Spielberg’s ‘War Horse’, but there is a little while to wait as the amazing film is not due to show in the cinemas until Christmas time.

The film is based on the 1982 novel written by Michael Morpurgo.  The book is based on a story of World War 1, focussing on the plight of horses used in the war and the terrible conditions they had to endure. The main character is a horse called Joey and his owner Albert Narracott which starts off from the home farm in Devon; when at the outbreak of World War 1 Joey is sold to the cavalry and shipped to France to help fight the war, Albert is devastated to lose his beloved horse to the army and fears the worst knowing he will be used to fight the War. Joey finds himself fighting with both British and German armies, but befriends another horse Topthorn on his ventures; Topthorn is another army serving horse, and together they both end up getting caught in enemy fire, death and disease. After serving both sides, Joey finds himself alone in no man’s land.  Back in England, Albert never forgot about his horse Joey, and as he is too young to enlist in the army he decides to embark on a mission to find Joey and bring him safely back home to Devon.  However I am not going to tell you the end of the story, as I would not want to ruin it for you; instead you shall have to wait and watch the film when it is released and find out for yourself!

Steven Spielberg directed the movie and the entire film was shot in England, in locations including Devon, Berkshire, Surrey, Bedfordshire and Wiltshire.  Real horses were used during the film.

I was quite pleased to meet some of the actors in person; the horses that is!  The Waldburg Shires, Pair and Dray, are based in Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire; they keep up the old tradition of exhibiting an 1890’s Brewers Bottle Van which had been used in the streets of London to deliver beer crates.  Of the shire horses I met Comet aged 12 and Harvey only 6 years old, who are used as part of the Waldburg Shires showing team. The horses travel throughout the UK and Europe to attend displays shows and events.  However I only met two of the Waldburg team as I was informed that Harvey and Comet are actually part of a 6 horse team but these 2 horses are the closest to the carriage when pulling the carriage; they also have the great honour of pulling the Lord Mayor of London’s gold stage coach every November at the prestigious Lord mayor’s show.