Spirit's capture. Particularly Esperanza attempting to pick her way down the cliff to him, then giving the most heartbroken whinny when he cries out to dissuade her.
The eagle that Spirit races seeing Spirit captured and calling to him with a sad look in its eyes.
Doubles as a Heartwarming Moment: When Spirit sees the Eagle in the distance and calls out to him, he's distraught when his friend doesn't respond to him. Rain notices how sad he is, and is perhaps worried that he's considering leaving the village to return to his herd, so she nickers softly in an attempt to comfort him. Spirit smiles in response and follows after her, but he clearly still has a lot on his mind.
Spirit: For the first time in my life, I felt my heart torn two ways.
Also doubles as a Heartwarming Moment: After Spirit is freed by Little Creek, he meets Rain to tell her, and wants her to come back to his homeland with him. She is startled by this change of events, and refuses sadly when he starts to move away. Spirit responds by going back to her and nuzzling her.
Spirit: I knew that this was hard for her, and that she was scared. But more than anything, I wanted to share my homeland with her.
How about the scene where the Colonel accidentally shoots Rain when she attempts to protect Little Creek from him? It seriously looks like she legitimately died! Thankfully, it's revealed that she survives at the end of the film in another Tear Jerker and a Heartwarming Moment.
The way Spirit tries to stay with Rain after she gets shot, as pictured above. When the soldiers come for him his anguish is clear as he gives Rain a final embrace. When he gets captured (Again), he strains and struggles in a rage to remain at her side. The reluctance that he shows when he is finally dragged away from her is heartbreaking. Even worse, the soldiers deliberately leave Rain to die of her gunshot wound, and she can only whinny in despair as Spirit is taken from her.
Watching the soldiers tear apart the Lakota village. You can see the terrified faces of the women and children as their men try to protect them with tomahawks and saddle-less horses while their homes are being destroyed all around them. Fridge Tearjerker it is heart-breaking to think about what might have happened to that sweet little baby we saw earlier. At the very least she must have been scared out of her mind.
The boxcar scene, where Spirit sees phantoms of his herd in the swirling snow, calling him home and helping him regain his will to live. The "Sound the Bugle" sequence doesn't help make the scene any less heart wrenching.
When Spirit pretends to collapse from exhaustion, it seems to the other horses like he's dead, and when Spirit lets his head loll back to the ground they're obviously worried. Luckily they realize he's alright soon after.
Doubles as a HeartwarmingMoment: It's impossible to watch the scene where Little Creek and Spirit part for the last time without feeling a little choked up.
"Take care of her. Spirit... who could not be broken."
Spirit "hugs" Little Creek by nudging his head against him. Little Creek desperately hugs him back with a face looking like he's on the verge of tears, before saying "I'll miss you, my friend."
