MovieChat Forums > Austenland (2013) Discussion > The Foal

The Foal

posted 11 years ago by Kate1976
3 replies | jump to latest

Are we supposed to believe that horse really had a foal?

1) The strawberry roan horse wasn't pregnant (there is a foal in there, it's pretty hard not to notice the massive belly)

2) Horses lie down when they're ready to give birth

3) Birth takes longer than a few minutes

4) The purpose of the straw to to rub the foal over with, which wasn't done

5) Foals are unsteady on their feet the first time they stand up

It was so rubbish, I assumed it was meant to be faked, especially with that "miracle of birth" line. Then at the end, Wattlesbook says she was lucky to get the foal because most just get kittens, making me think the horse really was supposed to have been pregnant.

So did "Martin" douse a foal in jelly intending to fake it, or are we supposed to think he really helped a horse to foal?

[–] TopFlight 11 years ago

Jane Seymour's discussion with Keri Russell near the end of the film indicates that the whole thing was false. The actor playing the groom was intended to woo her all along, and the birth of the foal was phony (and would have been obvious to anyone with any significant knowledge of horses). Apparently, the Brits running the park work from the assumption Americans know little or nothing about things like horse births. (Which raises the question, why would they think American women can handle sidesaddle riding?) Basically, everything in the park was phony.

[–] Kate1976 11 years ago

Thanks.

Because Foals don't grow that fast, it would actually be fairly easy to have a fake foaling every week (you could easily get 2-3 months before a foal looks too old to be newborn, aside from the flaws I mentioned already), so I assumed when Wattlesbrook said she had "fortunate timing" to get the foal, meant we were supposed to believe it was real.

[–] LiviaMae 11 years ago

I think she was lucky that there was a foal young enough to fake it. They probably aren't in the business of breeding horses. Cats however, they might be able to fake that every few weeks. If they have enough cats. And enough jelly.