Hey Honeybee
sometimes one wants to give a question in a topic more thought - and in the end it drops down the list and might get forgotten (thanks, Arthur for popping it up).
So: good observation on the changing of horses in True Grit. I guess you're right since on most productions they would have a "stand-in" for the "hero-horse", the one that the star rides. Because you don't want to wear out your horse before the shot is lighted and ready, and because the 2nd unit team, shooting the long shots and stuff, needs an identical horse, you're observation must be right. For stunts they would usually spray a trained stunt horse in the color needed for the particular shot. So the Beau that falls down with Rooster (in this case doubled by Jim Burk) would probably not be the same Beau ridden by John Wayne all through the picture but a stunt horse.
Then they would have more than one horse because a single horse might not be able to do all the tricks all day long - one might be good for the charge, but one might be good for just standing still. Which is very important if you want to get a good close-up of the rider in the saddle, and you don't want to do it a thousand times because the horse tends to be nervous and can't stand still.
