In the scene where the woman rides the horse and jumps over several barriers in the stable, a stunt coordinator actually rode the horse in this scene. The horse was conditioned to jumping over barriers. Production also acknowledged the importance of the person handling the horse and chose to incorporate the horse's real life groom into the movie, allowing him to hold the horse on camera. The horses where not handled or led by anyone except people with whom they were familiar. The actress did ride a horse in one small scene with simple action, but the actress was trained in horse riding the day before they shot the scene. The child actress was required to sit on one of the horses and she too had come to the stables prior to filming to get acquainted with the horses.

Due to late notification and/or limited resources, American Humane Association did not monitor any of the dog and hamster action.