Check it out in their video breakdown of the shot. I love how this was achieved. And find out more about WeFX here.
Some notes from a WeFX release:
The scene, depicting the harrowing demise of a horse and its rider during a high-speed chase across the American frontier, unfolds over roughly 20 shots and was brought to life by a 50-person team led by VFX Supervisor Ryan Ng. The sequence required a seamless blend of digital artistry and practical effects to capture a pivotal and emotionally charged moment in one of the season’s final episodes.
The scene depicts Native American Pete Plenty Clouds being pursued by Marshal Kent and Father Renaud. In a desperate attempt to escape, Pete pushes his horse to its limits. As exhaustion sets in, the horse begins foaming and bleeding from the mouth before succumbing to its injuries and collapsing to the ground with Pete in a tangle of dust and limbs. This pivotal moment required seamless integration of practical and digital elements to achieve photorealism, making it a very complex sequence in the series.
Given creator Taylor Sheridan’s deep expertise in horsemanship, the CG horse needed to be indistinguishable from the real one(s) used in the show. The WeFX team meticulously studied reference footage of horse racing accidents, carefully analyzing how horses fall and collapse mid-gallop. A full digital double was created for both the horse and its rider, Pete, with intricate details such as muscle movement, skin simulations, and dynamic hair and tail physics. Additionally, every part of the saddle was modeled and simulated to ensure accuracy.
One of the biggest challenges was blending the CG elements with the practical environment. A special effects dummy horse was used on set, and the CG animation had to precisely match its movement and final resting position. A hero digital ground asset was also recreated, complete with matching grasses, foliage, and topography to seamlessly replace any traces of the set while ensuring the terrain appeared as untouched natural plains. Both Pete and the horse’s interactions with the ground were carefully matchmoved to ensure realistic interactivity and dust level continuity throughout.
To bring the sequence to life, the team relied on industry-standard software—including ZBrush, Maya, Houdini, Nuke, and Arnold—to simulate everything from muscle dynamics to environmental integration. The result is a technically complex, photorealistic sequence that highlights the precision and innovation driving modern visual effects.
Credits
Ryan Ng vfx supervisor
Filip Kicev cg supervisor
Parichoy Choudhury cg supervisor
Josh Clark tracking & matchmove supervisor
Pankaj Brijlani matchmove supervisor
Ehsan Ramezani compositing supervisor
Scott Buda compositing supervisor
Ethan Lee rigging supervisor
Patrick Hirlehey vfx editor
Vimal Mallireddy fx supervisor
Steve Stransman executive producer
Mohammad Ghorbankarimi executive vfx supervisor
Amanda Lariviere executive producer & head of studio
Igor Avdyushin head of cg
Laurence Cymet head of technology
Wes Heo head of 2d
Brandon Terry head of editorial & i/o
Jeremiah McWhirter editorial lead
Maurizio Sestito senior vfx editor
Austin Baerg layout supervisor
Cesar Dacol Jr. creature supervisor
Carlos Jacinto creature artist
Brandon Golding creature artist
Mauro D’Elia Matheus creature artist
Amanda Heppner lead creature/lookdev artist
Dajeong Park groomer/lookdev
Eric Fernandez Garcia groomer/lookdev
Arian van Zyl senior compositor
Kenwei Lin senior compositor
Keyur Patel senior compositor
Prashant Goel senior compositor
Lisa Jiang lead compositor
Ashley Hakker compositor
Christian Linker compositor
Corey Allen compositor
Kathryn Fay compositor
Lurival Jones compositor
Duc Nhan Nguyen junior lighting artist
Fernando Gallo lead animator
Mariia Nikiforova animator
Tunyakarn Anucharchart animator
Nadav Ehrlich animation supervisor
Jay Kinsella associate animation supervisor
Sonny Ong asset supervisor
Bruna Hirosse Albino junior asset artist
Jejin Lee asset artist
Hyelee Park asset artist
André Suk Hwan Ko cg generalist
Darren Lesmana fx artist
Mykyta Berezin fx artist
Jesús Guijarro Piñal lead cfx
Lewis Hawkes rigger
Pankaj Brijlani matchmove supervisor
Olabisi Famutimi senior lighting artist
Rainy Chi Yuen Tsang lighting artist
Viduttam Rajan Katkar lighting pipeline supervisor
