The history of Hollywood is littered with stars telling producers and directors they can ride a horse. Mark Ruffalo famously told a story about lying to Ang Lee about his horseback riding skills, leading to the horse fleeing set with him holding on for dear life. Taylor Sheridan’s shows avoid this narrative entirely by sending his casts to Cowboy Camp. For the cast of Hallmark+’s upcoming new series Hope Valley: 1874, horse riding was very much going to be a part of the narrative. Turns out, there were some very optimistic stars amongst the cast of the When Calls The Heart spinoff.
In fact, when I spoke with 1874’s lead Benjamin Ayres, he admitted he may have skirted around the saddle a bit when it came to his horse-riding abilities. Sticking to his spurs landed him the gig, but when it came to showing up on the Langley, BC set, he did find out two truths: 1. Riding on a horse under normal circumstances can be OK for novices but 2. Riding a horse in “torrential downpour” is a different beast altogether.
