The Horse’s Mouth TV, Canada’s horse-focussed TV show, completes its first season of 13 episodes, airing on Shaw Cable 10 in Calgary, Alberta and at www.thehorsesmouthtv.com. Telling “amazing stories of horses and their people” is the show’s mandate and my inspiration as its volunteer host and producer.
Eight minutes long (save for episode #8 which is a full 28 minute segment), the Horse’s Mouth TV captures the dedication and love of horses our guest stars have. Our guest stars run the gamut of horse industry professionals: some acclaimed and some unsung heroes, but each one dedicated to sharing their lives with horses in a significant way. It is their stories I want to tell and use my gift as an equine journalist to do so.
The idea for a horse-focussed TV show came about during a dinner conversation with friends. With the success of melodramatic reality TV that brought the worst of mankind to the screen, I was concerned at how quickly urban dwelling people had lost touch with horses, on whose back most North American cities were built. What if I could act as a conduit for the horse community and create a horse based TV show, I wondered?
Originally a graphic designer, I had always dreamt of owning my own horse. As a teen, I took lessons, trail rode and lived on my neighbour’s fence, feeding countless apples to their two horses. In the 90s, I travelled extensively throughout BC and, depending on the town, I worked in either design or with horses. Trail guide, show groom, barn staff, horsemanship director – the titles mattered little when 6am feed rolled around I tackled the hay bales and, later, the pitchfork with gusto. My work in design paid the bills, but my work with horses fed my soul. My dream was to one day, do both.
After years of working in print media I felt the need to broaden my skills. Communications appealed to me. I graduated in 2006 with my degree in communications from Mount Royal University and took a position in marketing. A year into my new career, I realized something was missing: my work with horses. I recalled my dinner conversation and the idea for a horse TV show. Initial research indicated no horse focussed, interview styled programming existed in Canada at that time.
Not based on one discipline or another, not focussed on just one breed but on horses and their people, I call what the Horse’s Mouth TV provides ‘edutainment’. It seemed so simple and yet so obvious: I could use my newly developed talents to tell diverse, factual, interesting, horse stories.
I met Jim Cummings at Shaw Cable 10, my director at The Horse’s Mouth TV through my work.
One phone call to Jim at Shaw was all it took to book a lunch meeting with him and share my 7 page marketing plan created at 2am the night before. I was afraid he would laugh. Finished reading, Jim looked up and said, “This is good, this is really good.” It was like a light had been turned on. Eureka! Four years of college, working countless dead end jobs and at last I had found what I felt I was called to do: be a voice for the horse community.
The Horse’s Mouth TV owes its success to our guest stars. Each episode we film, I feel grateful to be able to do what I love with people I really admire. Their feedback about what being on the show has meant to them is invaluable as we grow. “The Horse’s Mouth has been fantastic for the horse community in that it has really highlighted some of the great people… involved locally with horses on so many different levels. I know for us it gave us some really great exposure; we still get comments from people who have seen us on it… Monica is such a great interviewer!” says Kathy Bartley from Bear Valley Rescue, episode number five.
The first day of filming took place in September of 2009 at Homeplace Ranch in Priddis, Alberta with Mac and Dr. Susan Makenny. I was thrilled they agreed to be my first guest stars. It had rained off and on all that summer and the day before filming I wondered how we’d film at the ranch if the weather stayed wet and cold. The day of filming, the sun came out and shone brightly. True professionals, my director Jim and cameraman Colin Johnston came prepared with rubber boots to navigate the 6” gumble with cumbersome camera equipment. In spite of the boots, Colin lost his footing and down he went in the muck. We laughed about it during a hearty lunch with Mac, Susan, the trail guide staff and visiting guests. We filmed the intro and the extro at the end of the day with genuine smiles. Horse people are my favourite people.
If the show looks and sounds great, it is due to Shaw’s camera and post-production crew. While tucked in a warm, dry editing booth is where my Shaw crew is most at home, they are new to the horse world. This came to light during the filming in March of 2011 in minus 12 degree weather at Bear Valley Rescue. Shaw TV camera gal extraordinaire, Robyn Gallant had a dramatic encounter with the Rescue’s main herd of over 30 horses, the majority yearlings. Horses are naturally curious. While waiting to interview Kathy, the Rescue’s founder, a lovely 19hh Clydesdale named Eddy paid Robyn a surprise visit, snuck up behind her, snuffled her neck while she perched over her camera. I happened to be nearby when Robyn spoke up, “Uhh, Jim?” she nervously questioned. “Is that you?!” She let out a small scream when she looked up and saw Eddy, the gentle giant, pink nose pressed closely. We had a good laugh over her nervousness but by the end of the day she was undaunted by the ponies’ constant nudges, licks and nibbles. After that, Jim and my partner Mike ran interference keeping noses and teeth away from the expensive camera equipment.
Mike came on board early into the show as a backup cameraman and has been so adept; he’s filmed the majority of the shows for the past 8 months. Once we capture the story, we drop off tape (now a secure digital card, courtesy of my shiny new camera) to Shaw, who ingests it, does the first rough edit and then calls me in to do the final edit and voiceover. It still seems like magic that we can take hours of raw footage and make interesting, relevant television out of it.
To make the show more accessible to rural viewers and those without cable, I created the website: www.thehorsesmouthtv.com. The response has been overwhelming. Social media has played a huge role in the success of the show.
Our goal for 2012 is to expand nationally and to find sponsors willing to stand behind quality programming that brings stories of what was once well known back to the masses: the story of horses and people working together in partnership.
As an AEF member, I’d like to invite you to email me with suggestions for upcoming shows by emailing me at: monica@thehorsesmouthtv.com.
Thanks for watching!
-Monica Culic, Host & Producer, The Horse’s Mouth TV.