which_chick | (no subject)

I do not understand why some of the best, most iconic westerns I have ever seen are made by an Italian guy. I also do not understand why Fonda (the Bad Guy) is riding a very pretty gray Andalusian in this Once Upon a Time in the West movie. (It could also maybe be a Lusitano, but it's way too tall to be a Paso Fino or a Peruvian Paso, both of which have a Spanish look to 'em. This horse looks like an Andalusian. A lot.)

The thing is, Andalusians are not known for their association with the old west. They're an Iberian breed of horse. Spaniards rode 'em. Maybe you'd see some Andalusian-type horses in California (come up from Mexico with the vaqueros and their spade bits), but I wouldn't bet that way.

Attention movie people! Cowboys and gunslingers should ride (a) paint horses (b) "western" colored horses such as buckskins, palominos, grullas, duns, and roans (c) undistinguished chestnuts, grays, bays, and blacks. Cowboys should ride stock-type horses and good using-type horses (morgan and thoroughbreds preferred as the Cavalry Remount people dumped buckets of those into the riding stock of that era). Things like Arabians, warmbloods of all types, Andalusians, saddlebreds, and Tennessee Walkers are totally and completely cowboy/gunslinger-inappropriate. So wtf is with the damn Andalusian?

According to Wikipedia, this movie was filmed largely in Spain, where there are Andalusians all over the place and, y'know, your generic quarter horse was not very readily available. I feel better now.