Go behind the scenes of “American Horses.” The film crew traveled across the country to film America’s iconic horse breeds.
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TRANSCRIPT
- When you head up into the Pryor Mountains, so you're seeing all the way from the desert, you know, all the way up this mountain, which is actually the same path that the horses use moving from low elevation to high elevation.
(relaxing music) - Certainly the road going up there was pretty gnarly.
We got one or two or three leaks in our tires.
(relaxing music) - I got a rock puncture.
(relaxing music) - Whoa, those two birds, are they going like right towards Jeff?
(laughs) Oh!
- We just pulled up and it looks like there's gonna be a lot of action in the next few days.
Stallions are ripping through this field.
Holy cow! Oh, they're so fast. - What!
- Dude, Look at this.
- Wow, look at that.
- What group are they?
(relaxing music) - Whoa. This is like Shangri-la.
You look down, there's this huge open bowl.
For the very moment we arrived there were hundreds of wild horses.
These wild horses are just everywhere, it's pretty amazing.
(horses galloping) (neighs) - It's kind of a camera person's dream because every opportunity is kind of unfolding right here.
(relaxing music) This is Vijo over here, The Chief.
(relaxing music) (neighs) - That very first night, it's early in the production, we're all fairly green and certainly green around wild horses.
(relaxing music) (horses galloping) - We had to learn really quickly how to behave around these wild horses, what body language to use.
Luckily, everybody stayed safe.
(relaxing music) - The light was insane, this amazing sunset, horses are running around, and they're like super excited, it's breeding season.
And so the stallions are trying to pick off mirrors from different groups, and the dynamics are really intense.
And then two stallions just start fighting right in front of our cameras, battling it out literally in front of the sunset.
(relaxing music) (horses fighting) (relaxing music) - I think one of the most surprising things was that they don't really act like other ungulates, other hoofed animals.
(relaxing music) They formed small bands led by typically a matriarch and a band stallion, that's essentially the mating stallion.
And then they have pretty complex relationships among the band itself, among all the females.
(relaxing music) - It's an honor to work with Jeff, he's an incredible cinematographer, and when he turns on the camera and points it at something, most of the time it's gonna be pure gold.
(relaxing music) - Some of the shots that we get are like these fights happen so fast.
And I think a lot happens in just a couple seconds.
(neighs) So one of our cameras is specialized to do extremely slow motion.
It can shoot at a thousand frames per second and it can extend time by about 60 times.
Some of those shots are just really cool for us cinematographers to get just 'cause they're revealing something that we don't normally see with our naked eye.
(relaxing music) - It's the summer of 2021, and the west has been experiencing some of the biggest wildfires today, and we happen to go to Lewiston, Idaho to work with the Nez Perce Tribe right in the peak of wildfire season.
It was about a hundred degrees, it felt like the town was on fire.
(trees burning) (relaxing music) That said, it was an incredible experience.
And we were able to hang out with Rosa and her family, and her granddaughters and just learned so much about their culture in that area.
- These are my cuffs, and leggings, and my moccasins.
- The Nez Perce have kept up the horse tradition since the late 1600's or early 1700's, and that goes all the way up to Rosa here out and her family who have taken on the Appaloosa again and kept up this over 300 year tradition.
(relaxing music) (relaxing music) - The saddles are kind of heavy, getting you stronger.
- Rosa's granddaughters are young teenagers 12, 13, 14 years old, and they are all incredible horse people already.
And it was really fun to watch all the tricks like standing on the horse and riding backwards and they made it look so easy.
It was just such a fun thing for them to do, and not just a part of their culture, but just a part of their adolescence that's just really awesome.
- Oh my gosh.
- Okay, - Woo!
- The Miller family is one of the original settlers in that part of Wyoming, I mean dating back to when it was all open range and just even the feeling of being out there it's like going back in time.
(relaxing music) (relaxing music) (horses galloping) (relaxing music) (laughs) - For us to be put in that situation where we're on the ground, the light's good, cameras are working, the Talley is is out doing what they would be doing normally, and it just feels like a little gift from the film gods.
(relaxing music) - This production has had a lot of moving pieces cameraman support from crews and local fixers and horse people, and then there's layers upon layers of people who have come together to make the production possible.
(relaxing music) - So much respect for people who really keep these traditions going and the amount of work and love, and just care that goes into being any of these horse owners.
- Each of the characters we have in this film are connected to their horse in a really personal way.
(relaxing music) - Over the course of filming this summer and meeting all these different people whose lives revolve around the horse, I have an entirely new appreciation for just the amount of work and dedication it takes to continue working with these animals, and it takes love.
And I think that's what all of these characters have in common.
(relaxing music) (relaxing music) (horse flapping its lips) - Oh man.
- We need that one better.
- How're you doing buddy, - That's a little damp out there.
- It's damp but I got an umbrella.
- We're good.
(relaxing music) - Here we go.
- Storm chasing.
We're looking for ponies.
(relaxing music) (thunderstorm) (relaxing music)
