They shoot horses, don't they?

Editor's note: This feature was originally written as War Horse was about to hit cinemas

War Horse

This year, actors hoping for awards success have to handle the awkwardness of large sections of the filmgoing public preferring a performance by a dog. But things may be about to get tougher still when War Horse reaches screens on Friday. Its star, English thoroughbred Joey, has already won a legion of adoring fans who include the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton. And Joey is part of a long tradition. On the big screen, and sometimes on the small ones, horses have been popular heroes ever since the dawn of film.

The early film industry wasn't great on health and safety for anyone, but was a particularly risky place to work if you were a horse. Injuries were common. Some horses died on set and many more were injured, often needing to be put down later. Audiences loved to see dramatic action scenes with horses in and there was simply no way to fake them, whilst the tricks of the trade that keep stunt horses safer today were yet to be learned. Audiences were so wowed by the wonders of cinematic illusion that it took them a while to cotton on to what was happening, but gradually campaigns to protect horses took shape and the industry was forced to change. This was helped in part by the rise of several distinctive equine stars.

Probably the first horse star of the silver screen was silent film legend Fritz, a red and white pinto whose career began in 1915 and spanned eight features. The loyal companion of actor William S Hart, Fritz was a horse whose name could sell a film. He was famous for his adaptability and for his daring stunt work, jumping through windows and falling to the ground. Such was his fan following that he even received sugar lumps in the post. Despite all the rough and tumble, he retired in good health and lived out the remainder of his days on a ranch.

Seabiscuit

In 1938, a modest golden palamino steed carried Olivia de Havilland's Maid Marion to her beloved in The Adventures of Robin Hood. Just months later he met actor Roy Rogers and the two formed a partnership that was to define both their careers. Kids all over the world fell in love with Trigger. Famous for his extraordinary repertoire of tricks, he appeared in 87 feature films and even had a comic produced detailing his imaginary exploits. He was often billed as the smartest horse in the West.

Fictional horses also made their mark on moviegoers' hearts. In 1943 Mary O'Hara's best-selling novel My Friend Flicka was adapted into a hit film with Roddy McDowell as the wayward boy whose love of an injured filly changes his life. (In 2006 it was remade, rather less successfully, with Alison Lohman in the McDowall role.) Just one year later the young Elizabeth Taylor wowed audiences as a girl who wins a feisty gelding in a raffle and goes on to ride it in the Grand National.

One of the most famous horses in fiction, The Black Stallion featured in three films between 1979 and 2003. A large, powerful Arab horse accidentally acquired by a young boy, he goes on dramatic adventures, surviving in the wild and racing to victory. And perhaps the most widely loved horse, Black Beauty, was the subject of four different feature films, from 1921 to 1994. Black Beauty also featured in a cartoon adventure series, an early entry in the craze for animated horse stories that led to films like Spirit: Stallion Of The Cimarron and My Little Pony: The Movie.

Real life horse celebrities who have been celebrated in film include US Depression- era racing sensation Seabiscuit, nobbled Australian favourite Phar Lap and Irish kidnap victim Shergar. Hidalgo follows its eponymous mustang hero in a race across the treacherous Najd desert and Secretariat looks at the life of the US thoroughbred who beat all the odds to win the Triple Crown.

Horse films are for horse people and the best ones don't waste too much time on their human stars. If War Horse is a hit, we may be about to see many more horses to follow in Joey's hoofprints and go on to cinema success.