Download-A Sunday Horse-2
Download-A Sunday Horse-1
The Real Debi (Walden) Connor
A SUNDAY HORSE is a story of overcoming impossible odds. And like every true story turned into a movie, Debbi Connor’s actual life is more complex than its film incarnation, filled with more triumphs – and more failures – than can ever make it to the screen in a 90-minute re-telling. The big-screen story, in addition to being set in present time, compresses events and characters, and uses Debi’s maiden name (Walden) in the events. What is not changed is the timeless and universal story of the underdog pursuing her dreams against all odds.
Nikki Reed, William Shatner, Vic Armstrong and Georgie Rawlings
As for Connor herself, she’s still completely immersed in show jumping. From her farm in Ocala, Florida, she is a show ring rider, buys and sells horses, and has trained horses and riders in all parts of the world. She still competes in 12-20 events a year – and wins her share. In fact, on one weekend during the film’s shooting at the Atlanta International Horse Park, Debi competed and won the blue ribbon in her class.
There’s an exciting new horse movie scheduled for release in early 2016 called A SUNDAY HORSE, the first American based movie set in the heart pounding world of Grand Prix show jumping since Disney’s 1968 “The Horse In the Grey Flannel Suit” starring young Kurt Russell.
A SUNDAY HORSE is the story of a driven, talented rider from humble beginnings who defies all the odds – first, by becoming a top competitor in a field dominated by wealthy horseowners, and then coming back from a near-fatal riding accident to become the US champion jumper on a horse deemed too small and untalented for serious competition.
Co-Producer John Duffy, Producer Ronnie Clemmer, Debi (Walden) Conner and Director, Vic Armstrong
The film stars Nikki Reed (“Twilight”), Ving Rhames (Mission Impossible), Ryan Merriman (Final Destination), and screen legends William Shatner (Star Trek) and Linda Hamilton (Terminator). It’s directed by Vic Armstrong, legendary stunt coordinator and director (Indiana Jones, Terminator 2, Mission Impossible 3, six Bond movies) and lifelong horseman, whose father was coach of Great Britain’s National team for 5 Olympic games. The film will have its World Premiere at the Equus Film Festival in New York (Nov. 19-21).
Inspired by the true-life experiences of Ocala, Florida rider/jumper/trainer Debi Connor, the word coming out of early screenings of the film is that it might be the best, most authentic movie ever made about the Grand Prix show jumping world.
Though the events from Connor’s life that inspired the movie took place primarily in the 1980’s, the movie is set in the present. The film’s heroine Debi Walden (Nikki Reed) is caught between a rock and a hard place. She’s got the talent and passion for jumping, and dreams of becoming an Olympic champion. But she doesn’t have the money to train and compete, much less to buy the number of expensive horses needed to have a shot on the championship circuit.
So she trades farm chores for training help, gets backing from an African American entrepreneur who’d also come from nothing and went on to become Entrepreneur of the Year, and scrapes together enough money to buy a couple of inexpensive horses with no formal jumping skills.
None of them – not her, not her backer, not her horses – has the pedigree to win in this sport of elites. It just doesn’t happen that way. Ever.
A Sunday Best
But somehow this team of outsiders starts making a name for themselves. Debi and the two horses she saved – Touch of Class and The Evangelist – are stunning the jumping circuit by taking ribbons in every national Grand Prix event they enter. And the talk on the circuit turns from “Who does this blond wannabe think she’s kidding?” to “Who is this country girl and how is she winning with these non-pedigreed rejects?” They earn grudging respect from riders, trainers, and established owners alike, and suddenly they’re the team to beat. Amazingly, Debi is chosen to be on the US Olympic team for the international competition only months away.
Then disaster strikes. At an exhibition for inner city students before the Olympics, Debi’s training horse crashes over a jump and falls violently on top of her. For weeks she lies in the hospital, comatose, partially paralyzed, and near death. When she finally miraculously awakens, doctors tell her there will be no more miracles. If she’s very lucky, she’ll re-learn to walk, but she’ll never ride again. Determined not to let her horse lose its chance, she sells her beloved Touch of Class to her trainer. They go on to win an unprecedented 2 gold medals at the Olympics, without Debi.
After months of painful rehab, still partially paralyzed and prone to seizures, Debi enters the Governor’s Cup at the Virginia Horse Show, where most of the Olympic champions (including her own beloved Touch of Class) will compete. Fueled by sheer force of will, Debi pushes The Evangelist to a storybook finish against Touch of Class, the Olympic champion she trained, with a triumph that is still the stuff of legend in the international jumping world.
Photos by Pansy Brandt Winters Photography