That Kid from ‘The Walking Dead’ Is in a Cheese-tastic New Straight-to-DVD Horse Movie

It’s called “A Gift Horse,” and if there was an Oscar for cliche, melodramatic horse movies, it would be a shoo-in. Which mean, of course, we love it.

A Gift Horse stars Kyla Kenedy, whom you may recognize from Season 4 of AMC’s popular series The Walking Dead. On the show she played Mika, a sweet kid just trying to make it to age 12 in the zombie apocalypse.

Yikes. Luckily, she fares better in A Gift Horse, described as “a family-friendly, inspirational horse film for all ages.” Other familiar faces in the movie include John Schneider from Dukes Of Hazzard.

Horses, horsepower… whatever.

Here’s the movie synopsis via IMDB:

Torn apart by the loss of her mother, young Amanda (Kyla Kenedy) spends time at a ranch owned by a business tycoon. When his spoiled daughter rejects their new horse, Amanda proves that Misty is a true champion and restores her own happiness in the process.

In other words, via a recent post on Horse Nation’s Facebook page:

Think you can handle the trailer? I don’t know if you can handle the trailer.

A man with a broken family…

A horse with a broken spirit…

A girl with a broken heart…

They will all heal each other…

Trust…

Believe…

Sometimes a second chance…

Is the greatest gift of all…

So good.

The movie was filmed at Providence Hill Farm, located just north of Jackson, Mississippi. In addition to being a full-service hunter/jumper board, lesson and training facility, Providence Hill is home to the Mississippi College Equestrian Program. The role of A Gift Horse‘s equine star, Misty, is played by Hale Bopp, the first horse donated to Mississippi College when the university launched its equestrian team in 2008. Several members of the team, including coach Tina Davey and assistant coach Leah Katynski, show up as doubles or extras on the film. The college posted a story about it here.

HN film critic is a sucker for cheesy horse movies and we’ll be looking to her for a full report in the near future. In the meantime, you can buy or rent it on demand here or wait for the DVD release next Wednesday, April 22 for purchase online or through Walmart. Keep up with all the latest via A Gift Horse‘s website and Facebook page.

Go Riding!