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 The post This ‘1923’ CG horse visual effects work by WeFX is…intoxicating appeared first on befores & afters.