Yellowstone is a demanding show for the actors. They must embody the complex characters that fill our screens and meet physical demands that set the authentic Western apart from other shows.
Earlier this week, I had the chance to sit and chat with Cole Hauser, better known as the cowboy heartthrob Rip, on the show, and we got to talking about horseback riding and the physical demands that were required of them from the show. While Taylor Sheridan’s Cowboy Camp is a widely well-known aspect of their “cowboy training” program, I still wondered how they could get some comfortable on the large animals.
I am a horse person, and even after over 15 years in the saddle, there are still instances in which I find myself in discomfort, so naturally, I am fascinated with how quickly Hauser and others were able to make it appear as though they were born in the saddle. While Hauser’s answer was straightforward and work-driven, similar to the motto of his Free Rein Coffee Company slogan, “Get Up And Get After It,” he did detail a funny story about his co-star Jefferson White.
“You need to interview Jimmy.”
Hauser says with a chuckle.
“I mean…he went through hell, poor guy.”
While we all know his character Jimmy gets beat up quite a bit on the show through his wild ride scene, it turns out his cowboying up happened in real life off camera, too…but not in the way you’d think.
“He couldn’t ride really after day one because he had torn a piece of his…. taint just by riding too much in one day. Yeah, it was bad, he was bleeding. It was horrible.”
I guess that puts a whole new definition to walking like a cowboy.
Just like he said, though, no matter the discipline you are riding, time is the only thing that will make you comfortable in the saddle.
“If it’s roping, you’ve got to put in the time; if it’s reining if it’s cutting. And so it’s just saddle time.”
Hauser has put in the work and hopes to appear in the Yellowstone Celebrity Cutting competition, which occurs annually in Fort Worth. Forrie J. Smith has been the defending champion among the Yellowstone, 1883, and 1923 casts, so Hauser hopes to one day give him a run for his money.
“He’s a badass, though he’s great. He’s the real deal, but I think I could get him. The horse is the athlete; you just have to hang on and look good.”
Hauser’s cutting knowledge exceeded most, and I hope one day to see him get in the dirt on horseback cutting a steer in Will Roger Arena.
Taylor Sheridan’s Cowboy Camp
The world has been anxiously waiting for TV’s most watched show to return this November after Yellowstone went on hiatus due to a number of factors such as the writer’s strike and Kevin Costner’s contract dispute, but things in the Yellowstone ecosystem are springing back to life as tidbits of news continue to leak out about the flagship series and associated spin-offs.
Lainey Wilson said “there’s a plan” when asked if she’d be making a return, Matthew McConaughey has been rumored to be starring in a new spinoff titled 2024, and 1923 was nominated for two Golden Globes. While that doesn’t make up for being without our favorite show for over a year now, it’s good to know there’s still a lot of life left in it.
While the storylines may be what people eventually wind up falling in love with, what gets your attention right off the bat is how realistic the cowboying scenes are in every series and it turns out there’s a very good reason for that.
Creator Taylor Sheridan is a real life, full-fledged cowboy who demands the best out of his actors, so in preparation for filming, he takes them all to “Cowboy Camp.” That’s right. He rounds up all the actors and brings them out to an actual ranch where they learn all the essentials of roping and riding, herding and sorting cattle, swimming horses, and driving wagons.
Sheridan says:
“The purpose of cowboy camp is to get actors comfortable enough on the horses that they weren’t nervous when riding. The better I can make them as a rider, the more they understand the thing they’re acting out.”
And just like the camps you probably went to as a kid, there’s a few games along the way to keep it fun, including balancing an egg on a spoon while riding. Sheridan is obviously quite good at all of this, but Tim McGraw, who plays the great-grandfather of John Dutton in 1883, suspects there may be some rule breaking afoot.
“I heard Taylor cheated when he does it. That he puts his thumb on the egg. Now, I’m not saying that it’s true… I’m just saying I heard that Taylor cheated.”
I’d love to be a fly on the wall for all of this, or better yet get put through camp myself. That’s mostly just an inflated sense of what I’m capable of talking, I’ve never actually ridden a horse, but I’m 100% it wouldn’t be an issue… probably… okay I probably would fail the first test, but hey, it’s all about getting back on the horse as they say, right?
