Dream Horse Movie Review

A first-time horse breeder from humble means. An orphan colt. A ragtag group of horse racing outsiders. Small town life in Wales. If you like heartwarming, true horse stories with quirky characters, then the Dream Horse movie starring Toni Collette is for you. This new release by Bleecker Street and Topic Studios is in theaters now (as of May 21) and will be available via streaming June 11.

Thank you to Bleecker Street for the screener link and image used in the blog post.

I’m a fussy horse movie watcher. Too many fake whinnies or tack being used inappropriately and it’s hard for me to enjoy the experience. I’ll let you know this up front. I. Loved. This. Film.

Why I Loved the Dream Horse Movie

Quite honestly, the last horse movie I saw that was this good was my all-time favorite, Seabiscuit. Dream Horse ranks right up there now among favorite status.

The charm of Dream Horse is threefold:

1. the unlikely townsfolk that catch the excitement of being part of something bigger than themselves through owning shares in a racehorse
2. their outsider/underdog status in the horse world and
3. the land itself–Wales is the setting for this horse drama.

Janet (Jan) Vokes, convincingly played by Toni Collette, is a middle-aged grocery store clerk and bartender who clocks in reliably not just for her two jobs, but for her couch potato husband’s tea needs and aging parents’ assistance. Rosettes from dog showing (Whippets) and pigeon racing from back in the day ornament various photographs in her home, serving as a memory of past glory. As empty nesters, save for an Irish Wolfhound and a house duck, you get the sense life is a bit routine and mundane for Jan and her husband Brian until. . .

One night at the bar, Jan overhears men discussing race horses they had been connected with. An interest is sparked and during her next shift at the market she grabs a Horse and Hound from the magazine rack. With a smile on her face, Jan pauses at a spread showing steeplechase race photographs. A few pages over is an ad for some kind of bloodline registry which she orders and gets swept up into researching racing pedigrees.

When Jan finds a dark bay broodmare named Rewbell for sale for about 300 pounds, she springs the news on Brian that she is going to breed a race horse. Of course, he thinks she’s crazy and they don’t have that kind of money (but they do have a stall on their property). Undeterred, she explains how she will set up a syndicate and get people from the town to all pitch in a set amount per month in order to finance the venture.

Janet makes flyers advertising the syndicate, inviting people to come to an informational meeting. The first meeting is held in a pool hall and besides her husband, nary a soul can be found, until a diverse group of people all start trickling in 15-20 minutes late. Her excitement is contagious and for the price of 10 pounds per week, the enthusiastic attendees sign on and the syndicate is born.

Next she selects a Thoroughbred sire to be the baby daddy for Rewbell’s future foal. When they arrive at the stud farm with the mare, the farm employees make snide comments on the mare’s lack of quality. Throughout the film Jan ignores the naysayers.

The blessed event occurs about a year later and when Janet receives the phone call, leaving her job early to go see the foal, he is nestled in the straw alone (looking amazingly like a one-month old foal). She asks where Rewbell is, and is told the mare didn’t make it.

What I Would Have Liked to See More of in the Dream Horse Movie

This is the part as a horse person I was wishing the filmmakers had made a little horsier. An orphan foal is no small thing and the questions I am left with were/are: 1. Did they find a nurse mare? 2. Did Janet and Brian have to bottle feed the foal themselves for months on end? If so, I think that would have added to the drama and commitment in the film. The audience would have benefitted. 3. You hear orphan foals are kinda punks because they don’t have a mom to teach them proper horse manners–is Dream Alliance’s personality influenced by his being an orphan?

The truly beautiful part of this film is how the horse brought such a random group of strangers together and how they grew into a team. There’s a scene where they are trying to come up with a name for the colt and Janet pitched Dream Alliance which is fitting as each person who opted in to the syndicate knew their horse had a one percent chance of ever winning a race. You get the sense they are in it for the adventure and the community. They are in it for belonging.

Flash forward to Dream Alliance as a three-year old, and a determined Janet drops him off at what is apparently the country’s top race trainer’s barn. The farm set in a swath of green fields is the stuff of which horse girl dreams are made save for the major attitude the trainer shows! When they first get an exercise rider on the colt, Dream doesn’t want to move forward and acts up, backing up and going sideways (haven’t we all been there? lol).

The trainer said something to the effect, “If you want my honest opinion, with a bit of practice he might make it in a local gymkhana.” Oooh. . . that dart stung me a little.

No sooner had those negative words been uttered than Dream steps up his game and shoots forward in true race horse style. After a brilliant breeze, the trainer softens and says he would be wiling to work with him for a couple of months to see what would happen.

I won’t go into too much detail about his race career because that is half the fun of watching the movie–not knowing the results. I will go into detail sharing that the most touching parts of this movie were Toni Collette talking to Dream Alliance. As an ardent horse conversationalist, I got her.

The Parts in Dream Horse Movie that Made Me a Little Misty

In one scene Jan told him something like, “All my life I’ve never been me. I’ve been mom, daughter, wife. Watching you race I’m Jan.” That simple line resonated with me because I believe I am my truest self with my horse Knight. Loving horses is the essence of who I am. When I’ve gone through periods of life being horse-less I have felt like a stranger to myself. There’s something grounding about a horse. I’m most me with my Thoroughbred Knight.

Another snippet of dialogue I had to write down while watching Dream Horse was how Jan said of Dream, “He’s made me feel important for the first time in years.” And to her cohort of fellow owners she said how the horse had, “Reminded us all what life is like when you have hope.”

And that to me is the beauty and mystery of horses. Horses bring hope. Whether it’s for the next race, a future ride, an afternoon spent drinking in the sweetness of their smell and talking to them, sharing the heaviness or lightness of your heart. Horses are hope.

What makes this film so beautiful is that very message. Horses are hope, and horses bring people together. I’m sure you can name a number of stellar friends you have you would never had connected to were it not for a horse in your life.

Gallop on over to your local movie theater or wait to stream the Dream Horse movie on June 11. And let me know if this charming horse movie gave you all the feels like it did me.

Leave a Comment: What is your favorite horse film? Do you plan to see Dream Horse?

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