Nebraska’s working ranch horses and working horses in all walks of life across the state are getting their day in the sun.
Brandee Weber, Nebraska Public Media producer for the recent release, “Saddle Up: Nebraska’s Working Horses,” grew up in Colorado and Wyoming — horse country — but didn’t have much experience around equine friends.
Maybe that’s why she pitched the idea of a horse documentary to the folks at Nebraska Public Media. She wanted to learn more, and she knew that spending a year working on a documentary about the working horses of Nebraska would afford her those learning opportunities.
The result is “Saddle Up,” an hourlong documentary filmed mostly during the heat of last summer, which premiered March 2 on Nebraska Public Media. But viewers who love horses, or non-horse people who love Nebraska, can still catch this film on Nebraska Public Media stations at other times and dates in March — at 8:30 p.m. CST March 8, and again at 2 a.m. CST March 10.
Weber, who served as co-producer for the film “Nebraska’s Sacred Places” — and as producer for such films as “Exploring Nebraska’s State Parks,” “Patchwork on the Plains: Nebraska’s Barn Quilt Culture,” “Nebraska Spirit: Go Big Red,” and her favorite, “Nebraska: The Chocolate Life” — spent the past year working on “Saddle Up.”
Learning more
“I like covering things I don’t know about, because then I’m not assuming everyone knows everything while I’m filming,” Weber says. She was able to learn about horses, including riding a horse herself, while she helped to bring the working horses of the state to life through her work.
“I felt the timing was just right for this topic,” Weber says, “because the Burwell Rodeo was turning 100 years old. We are a statewide network, so we felt there was a lot of appeal to a lot of the state.”
The film begins with the story of the famous White Horse Troupe and internationally recognized White Horse Ranch at Naper that was so well known. But the film also visits ranches such as Otter Creek Ranch near Lewellen, Pitzer Ranch in Ericson, Haythorn Land and Cattle Co. in Arthur, Rowse’s 1+1 Guest Ranch in Burwell, and Burwell Rodeo and the Lancaster County Horse Show in Lincoln.
On the more urban side, the film covers the Omaha Mounted Patrol, the state’s horse-racing industry from Fonner Park, and therapy horses at Horses for Healing in Firth. The thread that ties these stories together is commentary from Kathleen Anderson, equine and animal science professor at the University of Nebraska.
Weber says that the horse folks and ranchers they worked with in the filming process were wonderful. “I got to ride a horse at Otter Creek Ranch,” she says. “It was so much fun being out there.”
She adds, “After we were finished filming for this program at Haythorn Land and Cattle Co., we asked Craig Haythorn if we could just stay out in the pasture for a while and film the grass, the water and the cows. We were out there so long, he was starting to wonder what happened to us.”
For Weber, learning about the benefits of therapy horses and how long horses live and work was interesting. “Therapy horses are usually around 12 to 14 years old on average,” Weber said. “They need them to be that age, so they are mostly docile and easy to work with.”
At Fonner Park, she learned about the horse-racing industry and the need for more folks to adopt retired racing horses, because the horses can only race until they reach a specific age.
Long process
It is quite a process bringing documentaries like “Saddle Up” to the screen, Weber says. It required plenty of research on Weber’s part, pitching the final concept to a committee at Nebraska Public Media, and then planning and scheduling filming with folks who will be interviewed.
She also writes the narrative, and once the filming is completed, the team at Nebraska Public Media works together with Weber to edit the film, lay down the audio, get the color perfect and hone in on the final version of the film.
“We began shooting for this film in June 2021, and we really didn’t finish up until the end of February, before the March 2 premiere,” she says. “The biggest challenges came in scheduling the filming, because we try to schedule two or three segments for filming during the same trip. Sometimes we have to reschedule because we get rained out, for instance.” The team effort from the talented individuals involved brings the entire project to fruition.
In “Saddle Up,” there are Nebraskans from across the state who are featured, but the real stars of the show are the horses. Learn more about “Saddle Up” at nebraskapublicmedia.org/horses.