New York to Montana with a horse in a trailer

Did you miss it or did Grace and her mom ever get out to pee? Did they show them sleeping every night? Did they show Grace showering? Did she make the 2000 mile trip without showering? They didn't show lots of things, but that doesn't mean they didn't happen.

Alfred Hitchcock once said that movies are life with the boring bits taken out. Try to remember that when watching one.


"...nothing is left of me, each time I see her..." - Catullus

I wondered the same thing watching this film. Seeing it was so difficult to get the horse into the trailer in the first place. How would she do it herself on the trip, especially without tranquilizers?

Did I miss it or does Pilgrim spend the entire trip, some 2000 miles, inside the trailer?

I thought the exact same thing when watching this movie again last night. As freaked out as the horse was, it seems like the mom and daughter could not even get in the trailer to clean it out during the trip without him bucking around and potentially hurting himself. Never mind being able to get him out to walk around and stretch his legs during the trip. I don't know much about horses but it seems like they would need to be able to walk around periodically to maintain proper circulation.

Maybe they stopped at places along the way where they knew that they could get some assistance in taking Pilgrim out, getting him fed/watered/exercised/rested/etc. and temporarily looked-after by people who have some experience in handling dangerous horses (not that they had to be "horse whisperers" themselves, but at least as competent as the help they had at Pilgrim's home stable).

I would surmise that this is the case, because when they reached the Lazy J, somebody got him out into the combined stable-corral area before Tom (Redford) came to take a look at him for the very first time. Judging from the comments made to Toma by the guy who was running the Lazy J, I assumed that he was the guy who helped them when they got there before Tom showed-up.

For anyone who read the book, how did it describe the particulars regarding any horse-traveling logistics?

Peace, Love, and

I have trailered a horse from South Carolina to Oakland California, one from Bend Oregon to Livermore California, and a very green one from Durango Colorado to Livermore as well. The two latter horses were trailered from Elverta California to Sharpsburg Maryland last year. It is quite in the near realm of possibility for one person alone to drive horses 2000 to 3000 miles. There is network of Horse Motels across the country ( Google it ), some are bread and breakfast, and all are owned by experienced horse people who are in the business of helping you.
For a real problem horse like Pilgrim, they would back up the trailer to the paddock or stall door and let him run out. Loading could be done as it was in the beginning of the film, by chasing him back into the trailer- not ideal but doable.
If offloading is not feasible, parking the truck and trailer every 2 or 3 hours to give the horse a break from having to balance himself (ever stood in a bus without holding onto something? The stopping and starting is quite a workout on your legs). It's also a good time to offer food and water - most trailers have an outside access window for this. This way you can leave them in the trailer for extended peroids, like the big horse transfer vans do, since it isn't feasible to offload that many horses that are strangers to you. My own trailer has a has a walkthrough area in front of the horses, when the two stall portion is set up this can be removed for a box setup, but with no walkthrough area that way. Also, tranquilizers are available from your Vet if necessary - Annie said she would have them for the trip. Just a quick poke in the neck muscles, like the Vet did after Pilgrims accident (This works better that the traditional butt poke - they seem to mind it less).

What an inane thread...

very sexist