Second Chances

I bought the movie Second Chances a couple of years ago at LifeWay Books. While there is no overt Christian content in the movie, the themes of forgiveness and second chances are prominent throughout the movie. It's based on a true story, but I haven't been able to track down any details about the true story.

A number of characters are given second chances in the movie, including a horse, two little girls, a former rodeo cowboy and the mother of the main character.

The movie starts with a car accident. The father dies, but the mother survives with minor injuries. Their daughter is thrown from the car and injuries to her leg leave her needing crutches to walk. As we see a young policeman searching the area around the car, his flashlight lands on a large Pokey, Gumby's horse friend. He then finds seriously injured ten-year-old Sunny Matthews.

Sunny is depressed about the loss of her father and can't understand her mother's acceptance of her father's passing. Sunny's mother, Kathleen, doesn't know how to tell her daughter that they have to move. They end up moving into a trailer park behind a horse ranch.

One day Sunny hears the sounds of horses and goes to investigate. She sees a beautiful horse in a paddock. With no one around, she goes into the paddock, not knowing the horse has a reputation for being mean-spirited and violent. Ben Taylor, a former rodeo cowboy and owner of the horse ranch, gets Sunny out of the paddock and lectures her on the danger of entering a paddock containing a horse she doesn't know. He tells her the horse's name is Ginger. Ginger is an American Quarter Horse who had a great career as a barrel racing horse until a leg injury ended her career.

The next day, Sunny returns and once again enters Ginger's paddock. Ben reprimands her again. Sunny replies that she knows Ginger now, so she wasn't disobeying Ben's instructions. Ginger is calm and gentle with Sunny. She notes that Ginger is like her - they both have bad legs.

Sunny's own disposition improves as she draws closer to Ginger and Ben. Meanwhile, her mother is drawing closer to Sunny's doctor, Hugh. She's doesn't mind Sunny's attachment to Ginger, but she's not so sure about  Sunny's attachment to Ben.

Another little girl makes fun of Ginger and says she's only good for dog food. Sunny does her best to ignore the other girl's taunts. To complicate matters, the little girl happens to be the granddaughter of Ben's ex-wife.

A kill buyer offers Ben four hundred dollars for Ginger. Sunny counters with an offer of four dollars. Ben tells the kill buyer if he can get Ginger out of her stall, he can buy her. The horse rears and the man can't get near her. Ben makes the same offer to Sunny. She enters Ginger's stall and the horse follows her calmly. When Sunny tells her mother, Kathleen immediately gives Ben a piece of her mind. Ben assures her Sunny can work off the cost of boarding the horse by helping him at the ranch.

Determined to be able to ride Ginger, Sunny puts extra effort into her physical therapy so she will be able to walk again and eventually ride. Ben is determined to help Ginger when he sees Sunny trying to use physical therapy on the horse. Unknown to Sunny, he pays for Ginger's surgery himself. Sunny finds out about it, and is then determined to win the state barrel racing championship so she can give the prize money to Ben to pay for Ginger's surgery.

By the end of the movie, Sunny and Ginger have become a top-notch barrel racing team. Sunny's former antagonist has become her friend. Ben and his ex-wife realize they were always better as friends than as husband and wife. Kathleen has turned down a proposal from Hugh because she realizes she's fallen in love with Ben.

Second Chances is an appropriately titled movie and well worth watching. Even though there is no overt Christian message, it does show the value of forgiveness and giving people second chances.