dmjh64 — 11 years ago(May 20, 2014 02:00 AM)

(1)A lot of screen-time is taken up with the principal characters riding around in the [sound-stage] woods (would Hepburn really have been able to find Tracy a riding-outfit at short notice that fitted so well?) and it's difficult not to conclude that someone wanted to play-up the 'horsey' theme and to showcase the actors on horseback, whatever the importance to plot development of the riding-sequence [some initial footage of which seems to have been pared away from what is available as the 'standard' version on DVD].
(2)A weakness in the plotting is the dependence on Tracy's happening to find the horseshoe near the fallen bridge (pretty unlikely in the real world).
(3)The actors and those handsome mounts featured together in promotion 'stills' and lobby-cards to an extent that suggests that the 'horseback-riding' in itself was taken as a important factor in selling the (uneven) film/movie.
(4) Off-screen,Tracy's aggressive polo-playing made him a better rider than the high-class/'main line' Hepburn should have been, given her family's money.