Condition update May 11

This week I worked on a remake of the classic "My Friend Flicka". Whether this will even approach the level of "classic", I can't predict. On Monday we filmed a "wild horse race", an event that takes place at rodeos and fairs around the country on a regular basis. Wrangling the animals for the movie is one of the foremost experts in the world. The cowboys who participated in the event are real cowboys, huge lugs the size of football players. Groupie cow girls were there too.
The race utilizes wild horses released into a ring all at once. Cowboys in pairs try to still the horse long enough to saddle it, mount it and ride it once around the ring. First to do so wins.
The first take was exciting, the crowd of extras enjoying the mayhem of wild horses having their way with the cowboys and clowns. At the end of take two most of us looked over to discover a horse down near the fence. It was on it's side, absolutely still. Within a minute a vet hired by the movie was at the horse's side, and a minute later the horse had been euthanized. There were some people crying, men and women. Having recently put my father down, I wanted to console them. And I felt facination, an attraction almost to the huge beast and the attendants working to get him into the carrier and out of the ring. I was impressed by how quickly the animal was relieved of it's pain. We were told later that the rope attached to the horses bridle got caught up on the fence as it ran by. A broken neck resulted.