Were any horses hurt in a Knights Tale?
Per the vet reports, "there were no serious injuries, illnesses and not even deaths of any animal used for the filming." AHA was told that on one occasion, a horse suffered a minor cut from actor's leg armour that had been damaged.
Heath Ledger knocked out one of director Brian Helgeland's front teeth with a broomstick when the two were demonstrating a jousting move. It was several months before Helgeland's mouth had healed enough to repair the damage. He says it was the only jousting injury during filming.
But Heath was great in it, he was riding around on a horse, sword fighting, all the stuff that he does in this movie.” In fact, says Helgeland, Ledger does most of his own riding in “Knight's Tale,” as well as some of the jousting and all of his sword fighting.
16/20 None of the actors did their own stunts
Heath Ledger was a hot commodity in 2001, and the studio didn't want to see him get hurt. Since A Knight's Tale was filming real jousting - the most they did for safety was padding and easily breakable lance - it was simply too dangerous for their stars to take part.
The horses used are a rare Czech breed, Kladruby, huge horses whose lineage goes back 700 years. They pulled royal carriages and served as the Medieval equivalent of tanks. Ledger loves horses but said these animals were simply huge.
Allowing for the weight of the rider and other equipment, horses can carry approximately 30% of their weight; thus such loads could certainly be carried by a heavy riding horse in the 1,200 to 1,300 pounds (540 to 590 kg) range, and a draught horse was not needed.
The rating of the film in regards to entertainment is a 5/5 but ⅗ for historical accuracy. The film was engaging and enjoyable but, while it brought a comedic feel, the accuracy of the film lacked authenticity to the time period when it came to original outfits as well as some other details along the way.
Entertainment Weekly reported that 'in an effort to avoid revisiting the makeup chair multiple times a day, Ledger would lick his lips to prevent them from cracking'. It added: "This soon became a character trait."
"He was a very magnetic presence on set, and he was like this force," Stiles described. "He had a zest for life and just was like always, he was never checked out. He was always totally engaged with everybody. Really interesting, remarkable person and actor."
The horses are generally treated well
Anytime animals like horses are used in a show like this, it's common for people to think about how they might be treated.
Do horses get hurt in jousting?
Adams said this type of accident can happen to horses when they are going through woods or running too close to a splinter in a wooden fence, but it was the first accident that has ever caused an injury to a horse in his 25 years of jousting.
When knights fought, they would charge at each other on their horses from as far away as possible. They would try to spear each other with their lances or knock each other to the ground.
But horses, like the warriors who rode them, needed armor to avoid injury. Throughout the Middle Ages in Europe, knights and their horses wore steel armor. Such armor is heavy, often weighing more than 50 pounds (23 kilograms) for the horse, and as many for the rider.
