Best movies like Heart of a Champion

Mi Taylor is a young wanderer and opportunist who finds himself in the quiet English countryside home of the Brown family. The youngest daughter, Velvet, has a passion for horses and when she wins the spirited steed Pie in a town lottery, Mi is encouraged to train the horse.

Shipped off to her American dad's ranch for the summer, a teen and her horse Lucky Lad compete for a spot at the National Youth Rodeo.

Story revolves around a young boxer, Izzy Daniels, who trains to follow in his father's footsteps by winning the Golden Glove. When his friend, Mary, however, asks him to substitute for a team member in a Double Dutch tournament, the young man discovers a hidden passion for jump roping

This rare John Ford silent is a charming, sweetly sentimental tale of the relationship between humans and animals told largely from the point of view of a racehorse who observes as her breeder (Henry B. Walthall) is forced to sell her when he loses everything in a poker game. Several of the era’s most famous racehorses make appearances, including the legendary champion thoroughbred Man o’ War.

A young boxer is taken under the wing of a mob boss after his mother dies and his father is run out of town for being an abusive alcoholic.

Born free in the American West, Black Beauty is a horse rounded up and brought to Birtwick Stables, where she meets spirited teenager Jo Green. The two forge a bond that carries Beauty through the different chapters, challenges and adventures.

Steve Raleight wants to produce a show on Broadway. He finds a backer, Herman Whipple and a leading lady, Sally Lee. But Caroline Whipple forces Steve to use a known star, not a newcomer. Sally purchases a horse, she used to train when her parents had a farm before the depression and with to ex-vaudevillians, Sonny Ledford and Peter Trott she trains it to win a race, providing the money Steve needs for his show.

Hyperactive teenager Kelly is enrolled into a military school when her new stepfather becomes the Commandant. At first she has problems fitting in and taking orders until she tries out for the drill team.

Frederick Bolton has to solve two problems. First, his boss has instructed him to come up with a reasonable campaign to promote a new product, a stomach pill named "Aspercel" - by tomorrow. The second problem is Fred's daugther, Helen. She is absolutely fond of horses, takes riding classes and has already had decent success in some competitions. Her biggest wish is to own a horse herself, a dream her father cannot afford at all. Now Fred tries to solve both problems at once by simply combining them: A horse named "Aspercel", ridden by his daugther should bring the name of the pill into the papers and make Helen happy, too. But there's still one more obstacle: Helen and Aspercel of course have to win a few prices to make this idea work...

Eddie Ogden is his pa's pride and joy as well as the Groundhogs team's only asset as baseball talent. Then Eddie discovers a taste and talent for cuisine. Although his brothers Andy and Alex, and Pa as well as classmates enjoy his dishes, they only mock cooking, so he arranges and 'accidental' registration for him and two friends in Home Economics. Only Eddie -secretly again- and nerdy shrew Bridget Simons enter a national cooking competition for school-kids. Ma finds out and to his surprise proves supportive, as well as the teacher, who once won the competition herself.

The mother of a severely traumatized daughter enlists the aid of a unique horse trainer to help the girl's equally injured horse.

A young boy whose parents just divorced finds an unlikely friend and mentor in the misanthropic, bawdy, hedonistic, war veteran who lives next door.

An alcoholic former horse-trainer perceives in a fifteen-year-old boy a unique gift of horsemanship and makes it possible for the boy to conceive his dream and pursue it.

A modern retelling of Anna Sewell’s classic novel, Black Beauty explores the heartfelt story of 15 year-old Audry who makes the discovery of a lifetime whilst volunteering at a city animal shelter. Rescued from an abusive owner and recovering from a traumatic past, Black Beauty possesses a most unique quality of character, endearing itself to Audry and her Grandpa who adopt the horse in order to give it a second chance and perhaps even help revitalize their own family situation. Aided by dedicated trainer James and tested by the many challenges of equine life, Black Beauty has his work cut out for him as he embarks on a remarkable journey of discovery and friendship.

Steve is a talented gymnast who has given up competition and is working at his father's bike shop. Julie is the new girl at his old gym, who has moved to town to train with their powerful coach. Inspired by Julie, Steve resumes training. While dealing with the conflicts in their personal lives and the stress of training, they prepare for the US Olympic Trials.

The curiously named, Moondance Alexander is a spirited teen living with her eccentric mother. She is faced with another uneventful summer until she discovers a lost pinto pony named Checkers who has jumped out of his paddock. Although Moondance returns the horse to his rightful owner, the gruff and mysterious Dante Longpre, she is convinced that Checkers is a champion jumper in disguise and is determined to help him realize his full potential. Moondance manages to talk Dante into training her and Checkers for the Bow Valley Classic and despite the criticism of her peers; discovers that perseverance, loyalty and individuality can land you in the winner's circle.

Young elite swimmer Claire is sent to Australia to coach a boys swimming team, where she must overcome an old rival and a secret fear to save the swimming camp from closing.

'Sparke' Thorton, a lad with a penchant for trouble, is sent to live with his Uncle and Aunt Bolt in Indiana after his Aunt Henrietta Bolt dies. Though he's not happy about the arrangement at first, his love of horses and his affection for a young filly that he plans to race make life bearable. He also finds romance with tomboyish 'Char' Bruce who shares his love for horses.

Sarah Brown is sent to England after her parents die in a car crash. There, she lives with her aunt Velvet who introduces Sarah to the world of equestrian competition and gives her the last foal of her own prize horse, The Pie. Under the watchful eye of her aunt and horse trainer Capt. Johnson, Sarah develops into a talented rider who might have a shot at the Olympics.

Claire lives with her wealthy adopted parents in a luxurious and isolated house in the woods. She discovers a wounded and bleeding boy her age in her family's garden shed. The boy is a young drug courier from Afghanistan; shot and wounded after serving his purpose as human packing material. Claire decides to keep the boy a secret. He slowly recovers under her care; and they fall in love. When the drug dealers return and Claire's family is due to move back to the city; they decide to flee; though Claire finds it difficult to outrun her past as an abandoned child.

Leelee Sobieski is brash, abrasive and vulnerable as a teenage child of divorce who hides her pain behind a mask of hard-edged gothic rebellion. Albert Brooks plays a man who is her total opposite, a precise and well-ordered menswear store owner of forty-nine who manages limited expectations and protects lonely secrets with pleasant ritual and quiet, ironic reserve. These two total opposites collide in conflict then come together in a surprising alliance, changing each other's lives forever.

Philandering husband George Montfort purchases railroad tickets for a weekend tryst in the mountains with his latest paramour. When his wife Yvonne finds the tickets, George hastily explains that they were bought as an anniversary present for her. Yvonne doesn't believe George, but she decides to use her ticket anyway, while George remains behind in Paris on "business."

Mary is a good Christian girl who goes to a good Christian high school where she has good Christian friends and a perfect Christian boyfriend. Her life seems perfect, until the day that she finds out that her boyfriend may be gay — and that she’s pregnant.

A group of rodeo trick-riders recruits a young girl to join them.

A powerful true story about the journey of a troubled teenage girl who finds healing in the most unlikely of places, and who must choose to either invest in her own recovery or succumb to the trauma of her past.

Dusty Rhodes is new at Jefferson High, and she sticks out like a... well, a cowgirl. Dusty is a real cowgirl from Texas. Her parents are in the U.S. Army: her mother a helicopter pilot and her father a Special Forces Army Ranger. At first, Dusty is an outcast, but eventually she makes friends with a group that includes Savanah, a girl whose father was killed while fighting in Iraq three years earlier. Even though Savanah is kind of Goth and Dusty is all cowgirl they have a special connection and they bond. Dusty gets the school to agree to an Equestrian Drill Team and she enlists her new city slicker friends to join the team. As Dusty and the team practice, Dusty deals with the fears that come with her mother fighting in Afghanistan.

When a stolen white stallion escapes his captors, young Stephanie Ward gives him a new home and a new name: Lightning. As she grooms the horse for show-jumping competition, the pair forms an unbreakable bond. But when Stephanie finds herself in need of an expensive operation, and Lightning's original owner tracks him down, Stephanie sets all her hopes on first prize at the Nationals - and on the horse who's become her best friend!

While excavating near the Pyramids, Dr. Leonhardt finds a small box with a map to the treasures of the Pharaoh Ramessess II. On his way to deliver this to the local authorities, he is kidnapped by his nemesis Dr. Bent. Before Bent can retrieve the papyrus map, Karen, who is Leonhardt's student assistant, and John, Leonhardt's son take the map to look for Leonhardt. They soon find that Bent is in hot pursuit and they figure that the only way to save Leonhardt is to be the first to the treasure so that they could ransom the Doctor from Bent. But Bent has other plans for all three of them.

A shy teenager living on the Isle of Wight dreams of pop stardom. With the help of an unlikely mentor, she enters a singing competition that will test her integrity, talent, and ambition.

After the sudden death of her father leaves a teenage girl without a family, she becomes lost in her own anger and sadness. Her family doctor (Daryl Hannah) informs her that her father had a secret, that the mother she never knew (Claire Forlani) was alive and well. When she travels to meet her, she befriends a horse trainer (Louis Gossett Jr) and discovers that in caring for the horse, she is able to overcome her hardships and emotional trauma. Together they begin to win many races and upset the favorites, owned by an egocentric mogul (Eric Roberts). Through the victories and new friendships she forms, she learns to find her way back to happiness.

A world class ice skater eager to take the top prize in the biggest competition around finds his dreams going up in flames after his partner suffers a debilitating injury in this romantic sports drama starring Matt Lanter, Francia Rosa, and Christy Carlson Romano. Zack (Lanter) was headed for the gold when his partner suffered an injury that made competing impossible, but could a feisty female hockey player prove the key to keeping his illustrious career on track? Alexandra is an amateur Latina hockey player who has never skated professionally and doesn't much care for Zack, though a little determination goes a long way in helping Zack convince her to join him on the ice. Now, as this unlikely pair begins the arduous training process that could make them both bona-fide superstars, the girl with the icy attitude finds her handsome partner's warmth and charm bringing about a most unexpected thaw.

Dawn isn't like other kids her age full of typical teenage angst about boys, school and parents. Her pain goes far deeper, and to deal with her emotional overload she physically cuts herself. The problem of adolescent girls committing self-mutilation is very real, and this movie exposes the growing epidemic. It's a film you can't afford to miss.

Martha is a businesswoman and divorced mother of two children - Augusta and Jack. However, when docile Augusta becomes a teenager, feelings of anger and self-hate cause her personality to undergo a scary transformation, and Martha realizes that this is not just typical teen angst. Augusta begins doing drugs, drinking, and ends up on the streets. Her concerned mother and father reach out to an educational consultant, who advises them to send Augusta to a strict wilderness camp for troubled teens. However, even the institution's experienced and tough administrators find Augusta a difficulty to keep under control. Martha comes to realize that there is no answer to her daughter's behavior.

The true story of the relationship between famed author William Allen White and his teenaged daughter Mary, who died in a horseback-riding accident at age 16, and the powerful effect the tragedy had on the life of her father.

Orphan Eddie Burton is not bad, but too many screw-ups land him repeatedly in jail, so his 8-year old son Will, simply abandoned by his 'mother', has nobody else then Eddie's granny. When he hears about a program for convicts working an a foundation's farm for retired race horses, Eddie signs up and proves his talent with Big Spender, who was found completely run down. He nurses the horse back to health, and convinces Jake Cotter, the man in charge, to try a stunt: train him for an new career in jumping, which is a success when his dedicated race jockey Mel Tennant volunteers to ride him again. If he does really well, he may even get a certificate opening the perspective of a real job, which he desperately needs when grandma dies after having him swear he'll get out: the nightmare alternative is to leave Will lingering in the very home that did Eddie no good

After a near-fatal accident, on a horse the experts thought was nothing special, a determined rider from the wrong side of the tracks defies all the odds to pursue her dreams of winning a national jumping championship.

After his parents decide to move to a retirement home in Florida, professional gamer Quincy “Q”Johnson (Jerry Trainor) must find a way to raise 175,000 dollars to buy his family home. After hearing about a tournament for the game “Black Hole” with a grand prize of 175,500 dollars, Quincy enters the tournament, only to be faced with a new problem. An equally skilled gamer named Chris Saunders “Prodigy” (Jeanette McCurdy) has become the one block in Quincy’s plan, defeating him at every turn. So he teams up with his friend Wendell (Amir Talai) to try and find ways to stop Chris from entering the tournament.

A profligate, polo-playing playboy (Henry Fonda) is married to a beautiful but superficial heiress (Mary Brian). They divorce, and the wife gets all the money. But the humbled (and impoverished) Fonda finds true love in the arms of Pat Paterson, who cares nothing for material things.

EKAJ is a love story between two drifters, a naive teenager and a hustler. Ekaj meets Mecca who takes him under his care. Mecca has AIDS and multiple problems of his own. He is high all day but still manages to be the only voice of reason in Ekaj’s hopeless world. They cruise the city together looking for money and places to stay. Although Ekaj makes some money as a prostitute, he finds himself discarded, and lacking what it takes to survive in the city. Their mutual loneliness leads to genuine friendship.

Prerna, a teenager growing up in rural India, comes of age when she’s introduced to the sport of skateboarding. As a result, she has to fight the odds to follow her dreams and compete in the national championship.

13-year-old Corrine deals with her parents' recent divorce while everyone else is already adapted to their new roles as a blended family, challenging herself to train a rambunctious puppy as she discovers her new purpose.

With a case of writer’s block, a children’s author escapes to small town Mitford for a change of scenery. She soon finds the heart and soul of the southern town in a priest as they work together to care for a young boy who’s lost his family. With heartbreak in their pasts, each must find the courage and faith to grab an unexpected chance at true love.

A young girl struggles after a traumatic horse riding accident causes her to lose her eyesight. CHARLES, the head trainer of Southeastern Guide Dogs, trains Apple, a miniature horse, to be her companion and surrogate eyes.

Cowgirls 'n Angels Dakota's Summer tells the story of Dakota Rose, a cowgirl and competitive trick rider who finds out at the age of seventeen that she was adopted. She secretly sets out to discover the truth about her adoption and meet her birth parents while visiting her grandfather, rodeo legend Austin Rose. At Austin's ranch on break from the Sweethearts of the Rodeo trick riding team, Dakota discovers that family is not defined by blood, but rather personal commitment and by the love they share. Finally at peace, Dakota trains with Austin in order to prepare to rejoin the Sweethearts for their final competition against the talented Lone Star trick riding team and become the champion trick rider she was destined to be.

What’s the matter with Kathy? She’s your typical 17 year-old girl in search of something more in her life. It seems the only place she is going to find it is at Horse Camp. Her father Luke recognizes that she’s got it in her blood, a sensibility in her being - she understands horses just as much as they understand her. But at Horse Camp there is much more to learn, not only about horses, but about people and the many challenges of friendship.

When a rebellious teen is arrested and sentenced to an equine therapy camp, she forms a connection with a spirited thoroughbred that she helps train with the guidance of the ranch's no-nonsense owner.

Jesse is approaching her 15th birthday and the only gift she desires is a horse. Unbeknownst to Jesse, her mother Brandy is in the throes of a cancer diagnosis which has Jesse's father jumping through unexpected obstacles. He signs Jesse up for summer camp, but when summer camp falls through he decides to have her stay with her estranged grandfather, an old gruff horse trainer named Gauff. Gauff, still recovering from the death of a special horse named Grace, now faces the challenges of teen negotiation. Gauff finds he must swallow his pride and ask his daughter Brandy for forgiveness.

Mason is a former race-horse owner who gave up everything and started to drink after the death of one of his jockeys. One day he meets Goldie who has run away from home, hoping to find a job around horses; his biggest hobby. When he finds out the real identity of Mason, Goldie takes care of him. The two find an occasion to buy a horse for only two dollars, and start entering competitions. Goldie is an instant celebrity, but his mom reads the newspapers and tracks him down. Mason is very surprised to see her, his ex-wife, and even more astonished to hear that Goldie is his own son. However, Goldie must go back to school and so they decide to keep the secret. Since Goldie does not want to leave Mason behind, he goes to the bookies and fixes the next race, hoping to disappoint Goldie by asking him to lose on purpose.

Dan Hurley wants to sell wild horses and is trying to get the Wild Game Laws that protect them changed. To get his petition signed, his henchman paints his trained horse to look like the wild horse leader and has it kill a man. Johnny Revere finds traces of paint on a horse and tries to arrest Hurley and his men. But he is captured by the gang and is now slated to be the next victim of the trained horse.

For 13-year-old Kaitlyn, her world threatens to collapse when she learns that her parents want to get a divorce, especially because it threatens the loss of the house they shared in Portland, which had always been Kaitlyn's home. The teenage girl has dark thoughts and lost interest in life. The breeding pigeons given to her by her mother's police colleague don't make things any better. What should she do with the birds? Then her best friend Adam gives her an idea: they could steal the very valuable racing pigeon named Granger from the local breeder Jaan Vari, sell it and use the proceeds to pay off the mortgage on her family's home. The plan initially works, but then everything seems to go wrong and Kaitlyn loses her footing even more. But surprisingly, the old man who was robbed takes care of the girl and a bond develops between the two, which ultimately leads her to a new outlook on life.