OUR DARK HORSE
A Documentary Feature Film
THE FILM
An intimate cinéma vérité portrait of a former racehorse rescued from slaughter, whose journey back to herself reveals the powerful ties of herd and motherhood—and the inner lives of horses beyond sport.
Karen Sue’s Kitten, now known as Kitty, arrives at Susan Kayne’s sanctuary carrying the invisible weight of a life spent racing and breeding. Over three years, the camera witnesses her slowly begin to trust again: choosing her companions, finding her place within a herd, and reclaiming a life of her own.
Then Susan discovers that Kitty’s long-lost son, Hooper’s Joy, is still racing in Oklahoma. As she attempts to secure his future and reunite mother and son, their story asks: Who are horses when they are free to be themselves?
WHAT KITTY’S STORY REVEALS
More than 20,000 foals are bred into the U.S. horse racing industry each year, though a racehorse’s career typically lasts only three to four years. For horses bred into racing, retirement can be precarious. Once they can no longer race, breed, or generate income, many face uncertain futures—and some enter the slaughter pipeline that carries American horses across the borders to Canada and Mexico.
Kitty survived that pipeline. But Our Dark Horse is not only a film about what nearly happened to her. It is about the life that remained waiting to be seen.
Through Kitty’s recovery, the film observes horses as they form friendships, grieve separations, protect their young, negotiate their place within a herd, and choose whom to trust. Their relationships are not sentimental projections. As herd animals, relationships are the organizing forces of their lives.
The problem is not what we take from horses. It is what we fail to see.
HELP BRING THE FILM HOME
After three years of filming alongside Kitty and Susan, production is complete and the film has been fully edited.
We are now raising the final $40,000 required to complete:
Color
To preserve the beauty, intimacy, and visual detail of Kitty’s world.
Sound
To build an immersive sonic landscape from breath, movement, weather, pasture, and the subtle language of the herd.
Music
To complete an original score that supports the film’s emotional journey without speaking over it.
The greatest creative and financial risks are already behind us. The story has been captured. The film has been shaped. An exceptional team is in place. Your contribution will directly determine whether we can complete the film at the level Kitty’s story deserves—and bring it to festivals, audiences, and communities around the country.
Two generous supporters have created a $10,000 Challenge Match to help us finish Our Dark Horse. If we can raise the remaining $30,000 needed to complete the film, they'll contribute an additional $10,000, helping us reach our finishing goal.
So Raise $30,000 → Unlock an additional $10,000.
All contributions are tax-deductible through our fiscal sponsor, the Utah Film Center.
Our Dark Horse begins with a simple act of attention: allowing audiences to spend enough time with horses to recognize them as individuals with memories, attachments, preferences, and social lives of their own.
We believe that emotional recognition can create the foundation for meaningful action. As the film reaches audiences, we plan to partner with equine welfare organizations, rescue networks, and advocates working to protect horses after racing and prevent their transport to slaughter.
That larger effort includes building awareness around the SAFE Act, proposed federal legislation that would prohibit the slaughter of horses for human consumption and their transport for that purpose.
The legislation is one potential path toward change. Kitty is the reason audiences may care enough to pursue it.
You can take action and learn more about the SAFE Act here.
Meet the Team
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Grace Oathout
DIRECTOR, PRODUCER
Grace is a documentary filmmaker with an interest in exploring the symbols, stories, and questions that define what it means to be an American. She spent nine years at Tripod Media honing her skills in production and direction, where she developed and produced documentary shorts, features, and series.
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Dominique Hessert Owens
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY, PRODUCER
Dominique is an award-winning cinematographer and producer known for her intimate vérité style in character-driven documentaries. After starting in photojournalism and creating short films, she developed immersive work at The New Yorker and now focuses on long-form nonfiction, with credits including Good Night Oppy, Pamela, a Love Story, Come See Me in the Good Light and more.
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Zosia Mamet
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Zosia is an actress and producer best known for HBO’s Girls and Max’s The Flight Attendant, and a lifelong horse lover and equestrian advocate who brings her passion for animal welfare to her work as an Executive Producer.
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Ryan White & Jessica Hargrave
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS
Ryan White and Jessica Hargrave are a director and producer team specializing in documentary projects and founders of Tripod Media. Their projects have been Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning, as well as garnering the Directing Award at Sundance.
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Sara Nell
EDITOR
Celebrated for her intuitive pacing and effortless storytelling in Monster Slayer (Tribeca Film Festival ’25), Nell’s work spans acclaimed titles such as Pamela, a Love Story (Netflix), Into the Fire: The Lost Daughter (Netflix), The Summer I Turned Pretty (Amazon) and more.
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Francis Snyder
COMPOSER
Francis is an accomplished composer for film, games, and classical music. His work spans a range of short films and video games, including Loving Martin, which earned him the Award for Musical Excellence at the Southern Shorts Film Festival. He holds a Bachelor of Music in Theory and Composition from Boston University and recently completed a Master of Music in Film Scoring at the Pacific Northwest Film Scoring Program.
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Olivia Hicks
PRODUCTION COORDINATOR
Olivia Hicks is an alumna of the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University and has contributed to six documentaries with alumni-founded production company Tripod Media. Her credits include the Academy Award-nominated Come See Me in the Good Light, as well as Into the Fire: The Lost Daughter, Pamela, a Love Story, and Good Night Oppy.
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Llenya Kinsley
PRODUCTION ASSISTANT
Llenya Kinsley is a Manchester school of art alumna with a background in artist moving image film. She has worked across a range of artist film and photography projects and is now stepping into her first role as a production assistant. Her work is shaped by a passion for female-led storytelling and a lifelong love of animals.
The Journey Ahead
Finishing Our Dark Horse is the next essential step—but it is not the final one.
Once color, sound, and music are complete, we will begin bringing the film to audiences through festivals, theatrical and community screenings, educational programs, and partnerships with organizations working in equine welfare and aftercare.
This is the moment to help. Your support now allows us to finish Our Dark Horse and begin the work of carrying Kitty’s story beyond the sanctuary and into the world.
Contributions are tax-deductible through our fiscal sponsor, the Utah Film Center.