Just when a harried New York advertising exec (Dean Jones) finds himself at the end of his rope trying to deal with an impossible deadline for an aspirin ad campaign and his teenaged daughter's (Ellen Janov) incessant demands for a horse, he has an ingenious idea: Get the aspirin company to sponsor a show jumper, one that his daughter can ride. Enter a lovely dapple gray, Aspercel (played by Albarado, who was doubled by Could Be and Sir Winston), a spirited steed who answers everyone's prayers... for awhile. Vintage Disney high jinks clear all obstacles including puppy love, the corporate world, and high stakes horseshow competitions. Based on the book The Year of the Horse by Eric Hatch.

Staci Layne Wilson
Author of Staci's Guide to Animal Movies

This movie starts off with a girl named Helen who is taking riding lessons at Susie's place. Helen's father is an Account Executive with an ad agency in New York and receives a bill that he feels is too high and pays a visit to the stables. This is the first visit and Helen is happy to introduce her father to Susie. The payment matter is settled and that evening he has to come up with a campaign for a heart burn pill.

After learning from his Aunt who lives with them that Helen wants a horse he comes up with the brilliant idea of how to obtain a horse for his daughter and save the campaign for Aspercel. The part where he follows his boss around the office pitching his idea reminds me of old Bewitched days when pitching ad campaigns.

The idea is clinched and soon Aspercel arrives and trying to get the Horse out of the white trailer is not an easy task. But Helen's dad has a glass of beer and that seemed to do the trick. The horse is welcomed into the family and Helen takes him into his new riding area. Susie is there as well and is hired on to teach Helen to ride.

Her father has the brainstorm that Helen is going to win ribbons and the campaign will be a hit. He has no idea that Helen is just beginning and when they go to the first competition is where they meet Ronnie. Played by Kurt Russell when he was with Disney in his youth. He drives a car and teaches Dad how to put the bridle on the horse and get the saddle on and they watch as Helen does not win a ribbon.

Anyone interested in horses would learn about competition and have some good laughs. One of the funniest parts in the movie is when Aspercel gets loose and the father is chasing the horse and that is when he jumps over a six foot fence and ends up in jail.

The horse is beautiful and this is family entertainment as Disney used to be.

DVD Movies have many great features: great picture quality, making of documentaries, trailers and much more. However my favorite feature would have to be "Widescreen". So that is why I was so disappointed when I found out this movie was full screen. I bought this movie anyways, because at less I could replace my old faded VHS tape with superb color and sound and it did. However it did more than that. Upon closer comparison I noticed that was getting a lot more picture on the top and bottom and left and right of the screen!!!! On my 32 inch TV it's about and extra inch and a half more picture around the out side of the screen compared to my VHS tape. I was overjoyed and delighted by this discovery. So don't be too hasty in judge this movie if you love widescreen. Give it a chance it will be sure to please.

No wonder the company is about to be taken over and broken up -- DVD was introduced to be an alternative to video, to offer more than video: better picture, more extras, and most importantly, more picture. Letterboxing. Widescreen. The complete image. So what does Disney do? They take some of their most beloved live-action films such as this one, and dump it on DVD in full-frame editions. What is the point of that? Who isn't used to widescreen DVDs yet? Why should I waste my money replacing my old Disney videos with the same crappy full screen image as before? Disney just doesn't get it, and their sales show it.

Well, I thought this movie was wonderful! I am a horse lover, so I usually like almost any movie with horses in it. But I think people who are and aren't horse lovers will like this movie too. It's funny, it has a good story, and it has gripping competition. The horses used in this movie were excellent jumpers (not to mention beautiful). I have rented this movie from the local video store a minimum of 10 times. Its a good old Disney Classic thats good to watch when you just feel like curling up on a couch and watching a video.