Oh dear, this movie leaves a lot to be desired. The grandmother's acting was actually painful it was so bad, although the terrible lines written for her can't have helped.
The whole campfire songs and announcement stuff was embarrassing. I was a girl guide and we sang songs at camp but there wasn't all the shrieking and forced jollity. Still, I can see how American kids might be more into that sort of thing so I'll let that go as it's probably just me. By the way, why were they all girls? Were boys not allowed at the camp?
For a horse camp there didn't seem to be an awful lot of knowledge about horses and this really grated on me. The girl who was described several times as 'the best rider in camp' could barely stay on at a walk and at one point when she was riding with the other 'veteran camper' (Lisa?) who was stiff as a board and hanging on to her almost stationary mount's mouth, both the horses appeared to be lame. The poor horses also seemed to be cross-tied day and night with no access to any food or water or opportunity to move around. I do hope that isn't true to life in American stables!
The last bit of the movie was the icing on the cake as they shot a video with a stunt double who looked much bigger and more muscular than the actress, and the way it was shot made it so obvious it wasn't the same person with every pose showing only the back of her head or an arm!
I must admit I don't really understand how the video 'saved' the ranch. I realise they got a lot of bookings for the following summer but that wouldn't have solved the immediate problems of the debts and how to feed the horses over the winter. I understood there was some kind of sponsorship deal but then the video was shot in a field with not an advertising banner in sight so I'm not sure how that worked. But then logic was in short supply throughout the movie, from the whole 'Olympic letter' thing onwards. The posh girl said right at the beginning 'but I only ride {name of horse I've forgotten} and then later on she claimed to have ridden Orion for years in the woods!
Still, it looked like a nice place, and I guess if you are a ten year old girl who loves ponies but knows nothing about them then this movie might be fun to watch.
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