User Reviews

A pleasant equestrian outing from Walt Disney has Annette Funicello learning the ropes in a strict British horse-riding school, hoping to overcome her fear of jumping. Perfectly decent film with excellent performances by Janet Munro as the resident teacher (she really is no-nonsense), Tommy Kirk (in one of his better, less-sleepy performances), Donald Pleasance as a humorless instructor, and radiant Annette (who also gets to sing "Strummin' Song", a finger-popping ditty). Only curmudgeons could dislike Annette in this film--she's an easy presence on the screen and her acting isn't bad at all. Prettily-photographed outdoor yarn is tailor-made for older adolescents.

This TV series started out my career with horses and led me to attend Potomac Horse Center, staffed in large part by former staffers at Porlock Vail Riding School, where both the book and the film were centered. I had a chance to speak at great length with Betty Howett, FBMS; Collette Stevens, FBHS; and others upon whom many of the characters in both book and movie were based.

OK, the movie is too cute in parts but what it did show really was a reflection of the Horsemaster program at both Porlock and Potomac and the people who signed up for these incredibly intensive and demanding courses.

I have, unfortunately, changed career paths, something I shall always regret but this movie and the path it set me upon still stand out as one of the brightest points in my life.

I saw this Disney movie some decades ago during my own teenage years. It might have seemed a great movie to me back then, had I not previously read and absolutely loved the novel by Dan Stanford. Unfortunately the movie version failed to live up to its book but was instead dumbed down and made too cute.

The movie chronicles the adventures and struggles of a group of international students at a 16 week British horsemanship riding course, primarily as seen through the eyes of an American student, Dinah Wilcox. It's an exacting program in which the young people are taught jumping, dressage, horse care, and basic vet tips.

I normally love the star Annette Funicello who plays Dinah, though having read the book, she seemed too bubbly and perky to me for the role. I have forgotten many of the details these many years later, but note that names must definitely have been changed. Where is Bee Bye, Dinah's best friend? The idea of Dinah singing the little ditty, "The Strummin' Song" was a HUGE turn off to me at the time. Believe me, there is no such occurrence in the novel. Even worse, the students' ludicrous tune "We're poor little lambs that have gone astray. Bah bah bah". I wince at the thought.

This movie is adapted from a horseback riding book which features absolutely NO little musical ditties. It focuses on both the overall camaraderie of shared hard work and struggling to meet exacting demands, as well as the rivalry between the two very competitive school teams, Blue Ride versus Red Ride. Also, in the book the students are indeed competitive and sometimes even temperamental, but they do exhibit enormous effort to accomplish a lofty horsemanship goal and would merit genuine respect. They are definitely NOT a "Brat Pack", as one reviewer describes them in the movie. I don't remember, but in the film version they probably do resemble just that.

The novel has compelling drama revolving around the riding instructor Janet (?) Hale, but I have quite honestly forgotten how well it is captured in the movie. I do note another comment wishing that there had been more focus on her story and less on this Brat Pack of students. In the cast list, instructors Major Brooke and Captain Pinski are listed as expected. However, it should be MERCY Hale, not JANET Hale. Another name change.

Somehow the story just didn't come off as in the novel, which I found quite genuinely informative about horsemanship, as well as telling its engaging personal story of young Dinah and her classmates. Disney obviously succeeded in turning this worthy equestrian tale into a cute flick with popular young teen appeal. However, though I was personally extremely disappointed back years ago when I originally saw it, I would definitely recommend this movie for modern family viewing, especially for young girls. It's certainly infinitely more wholesome and inspiring than practically everything else the cinematic world offers young people these days. Just don't read the book before you see the movie.

Even though the Horsemasters is over 40 years old it is nearly timeless, as the people and studio who made it kept it centered on horses (and the stable and the people) and away from objects and references which would have made it a dated movie by now!

Frankly I had wished the story would have focused more on the Janet Monro character and less on Annette and the Brat Pack (much more like what was done in the Melissa Gilbert movie Sylvester) which would have made it a much better movie as I was more interested in that aspect of the story line!

Anyway I hope Diseny finally puts this one out on DVD as their Diseny Network now only seems to run this gem once or twice a year and then only at around 3:00am in the morning, so if you are not an insomniac or if you do not own a good VCR your out of luck which is a pity as this is a great flick for the younger girls(5-13) out there.

Surely this deserves to be in the bottom 10 films of all time, pity it's just a TV movie. Rubbish that only we British can produce! It perhaps has some merit in the so awful it's good scale. Watch out for scene where they start dancing !

The Horsemasters:

Annette Funicello gives an outstanding performance in this wholesome movie for the whole family to enjoy. Annette again adds her singing talent to the movie with the song "Strummin Song".

This movie isn't nearly as bad as David Rayner suggests. Granted, it would be easy to dismiss this movie, starring wholesome teen-queen Annette Funicello, as mere fluff (her horse is a better actor than Annette) if it weren't for Donald Pleasence. He gives a luminous, beautifully-nuanced performance that's a joy to watch.