Most horse owners cringe when they see non-horse people trying to present equines to the public based on what they think they know. At DreamWorks, which is releasing the animated film Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron on May 24, animators and those involved with the full-length film were taught about the reality of horses, from behavior to anatomy and physiology, before the film was started.

The decision to have the horses not speak was made early in the production. Director Kelly Asbury recalled, “We realized that the minute you have a horse speak, it’s a comedy. You just can’t take a talking horse seriously; it was comical no matter what we did. So, the choice was to make the animals more natural and allow them to act through the animation