So I'm pissed off. I have a long- standing beef with Chinese entertainment industry about the abysmal horseriding skills in the cdramas. I understand that most likely a person who doesn't know much about it doesn't notice and doesn't care. Unfortunately, I do.
I recently came across this photo of Xiao Zhan on Little Red, the horse he was given to work with during shooting of "The Condor Heroes".
This is a picture of the rider fighting the horse, and the horse resisting. Not a good situation. There are many more photos like this one. XZ talks about the horse in an interview, and mentions that she was " arrogant" and "a bit rebellious". I read it as temperamental and probably not well trained. He also mentions that eventually, after 3 months, they " came to an understanding".
Horse riding is a dangerous sport; an actor should not be expected to deal with a difficult horse during the filming, on top of everything else that goes on. It's unfair to the horse and to the rider, and endangers both. Maybe I'm overreacting after Yibo's infamous mishap... but I'm angry 😡 at how cavalier the industry*** is treating it's biggest assets.
*** not only in China