The real reason I purchased this movie was because of its setting - in the San Juan Islands and east of Seattle. I admit to being homesick! This is not really a "horse" movie and really doesn't spend any time on dressage. It is, rather, a story of family interaction. I thought, unlike other reviewers, that the cast did pretty well with the sketchy material they were given. It didn't bother me that everyone was "unlovable" - I thought they were rather interesting as they were. They reminded me a bit of my family, for good or bad. However, the pace of the movie was very slow, and I felt we could have gotten to know the characters a lot better in 2 hours.

I really found nothing to like about the movie. We had better actors in my high school drama class. I am not a horse person per se, however I do love horses and ride whenever I have the opportunity. I suppose this flick was meant to be a paean to our equine friends, however this clumsily handled production left me so cold I wouldn't have been bothered if the herd was sent to the glue factory. And the beginning with the ballet class, what was that all about? The actress playing the role of Dana the ballet instructor was not credible as she had neither the carriage nor grace of someone who studied ballet past third grade. In all honesty I popped out the DVD halfway through and was resentful that I paid $1.20 to rent it.

My wife loves Friesian horses and dressage competition. So I went to a particular rental kiosk that seems to be so popular and found this movie for rent. The official plot was that a Ballet teacher from Seattle goes to Orcas Island in Washington State to win a dressage competition with a Friesian horse. This is supposed to save the farm, and I rented the movie believing that this was the whole basis of the film.The characters in the beginning were cold, and the only likable character was the father with dementia. There was a lot of drama in the beginning with family members not talking to each other. I didn't mind a little back story, but got this solely as a horse movie. It wasn't that. Instead, there were a lot of out of place songs with out of place stock footage of nature scenes and a painfully slow storyline that dealt more with family issues than about a Friesian horse plot that takes up only a fourth of the movie's plot.The plot centers more around a father whom has dementia and his grown kids come to their farm to find out that he owes back taxes for his wife's father's farm. The wife solely believes that the "wild Friesian" that she bought could be trained and rode in the dressage competition, while the dementia suffering husband believes he can save the farm with his invention that he works on throughout most of the movie. That plot about the Friesian horse was short lived, but if I heard right, the name of the farm was "Dark Horse Farms" during the announcing of the Ballet teacher.This is not a particularly heart warming story. The plot ends at the family moving away from their farm, but at the end, as the horses and farm are sold, the family has mended broken ties. In seeing the scene of the husband with dementia kissing and loving his wife near the end, whom they talked about their marriage was "for better or worse", and about how they would never leave each other, I found it touching the heart of my wife and myself, whom mirror that husband and wife in the story. That was about the only heartwarming thing in the entire movie.

This movie was obviously a labor of love, but is probably only important to the people involved with its creation. Everything always seems only half-developed; the pace of the story is slow and arduous, the characters are neither convincing enough nor likable enough, and nothing engaging or endearing or emotionally gripping enough to keep your interest. Even the horse seems tangential; you learn nothing of dressage and see more of the competition's performance than the pair for which you're supposed to be rooting. The story ends and you're never exactly sure what you're supposed to take away from the movie.The soundtrack also seems to be constantly waffling between genres, between folksy americana and instrumental celtic pieces better suited for sweeping Irish vistas. The one saving grace for the movie is the lovely songs performed by the Wailing Jennys. But overall, unfulfilling and disappointing. Would not recommend.