Before Filming Each Season Of ‘Yellowstone,’ Taylor Sheridan Holds Cowboy Boot Camp: “I Have Happier Actors & Happier Horses”

Happy Yellowstone week to those who celebrate. On Sunday evening, part 2 of Yellowstone Season 5 will make its highly anticipated return to our TV screens for what is thought to be the final portion of the series. After a long break since the first half of season five aired, with changes to Kevin Costner's return to the show, plot lines being rearranged because of that, and other issues that led to a delay in filming, one thing has remained the same. The actors are attending Taylor Sheridan's cowboy boot camp. The hit Western show features many actors on screen as cowboys, so Sheridan wants to ensure his actors are comfortable around horses and in the saddle. Because of the time the actors spend in the saddle on camera, each year before filming, he holds an intensive cowboy boot camp at his ranch outside of Dallas, where actors spend a few days on the farm, reacclimating themselves with the large animals before embodying the cowboy spirit on camera. "Most Westerns you've ever seen, it's a bunch of horses running in the distance together, and then it cuts to a bunch of actors sitting on fake horses; who wants to watch that?" Sheridan told CBS Sunday Morning. Sheridan wants his cowboys on camera to do more than look the part but know the part. Not only does it translate better on screen, and the actors are comfortable atop horseback, but it also leads to an authenticity that many other agricultural-based plotlines lack. This authenticity is part of why the nation fell in love with Yellowstone. "That allows me to make a better product when filming it. I have happier actors and happier horses." Even the actors who are veterans at this point on horseback attend cowboy boot camp every year and brush up on their skills. Cole Hauser talks about how this role is intense, and the time spent in the saddle before filming helps knock off the dust and gets them comfortable again, also helping get back into character before cameras are rolling. "To do this roll, it requires serious saddle time. From different disciplines, whether it's reining or whether it's, you know, cutting, those are things you have to get in the saddle and do. Repetition is a big deal. Right now, it's day two; I think my ears are sore. I'm that sore right now." Cole Hauser, who stars as Rip, talks about the importance of cowboy boot camp. But even though these actors sit on different horses and in different saddles daily during their time on Sheridan's ranch, that does not mean they are fully cowboys. Hauser told Whiskey Riff earlier this year that Jefferson White, who plays Jimmy, was in the saddle so long one day during filming that he was more than sore but actually injured. “I mean…he went through hell, poor guy. 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.” While the industry professionals Sheridan brings in during cowboy camp can help whip these actors into shape, that does not mean their bodies are ready to be in the saddle for hours and hours on end. That takes time. I am officially counting the hours until Sheridan's masterpiece is back on my screen on Sunday evenings. I can't wait to see what this season has in store; based on what the actors are teasing, it sounds like it will be action-packed and feature many twists and turns. November 10th can't get here soon enough. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzb3O9mC5mQ Check out the official trailer while you're here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n17AZkUXy58 Shop the officially-licensed Yellowstone Collection from Whiskey Riff Shop https://www.instagram.com/p/DB6-k9EvhNT/