Troy is a figure much like my uncle Glenn was in terms of how I planned the movie. Where I knew I could count on Glenn for a mule team I had a feeling I could reach out to Troy for a horse or more if I needed them.

Troy and I have known each other since we were both little kids; our families linked up through marriage. He and I went to the same high school, where I was a film nerd while he was a rodeo guy. We had a very similar rural country boy background, but slightly divergent interests. Then after high school there were scant encounters, we’d see each other at family events and whatnot when I was back home visiting, but those were few and far between. It was at such an event a year or so after I moved back to around our shared hometown that I mentioned to him that I was planning a movie and might need a horse. He tells me to get a hold of him when I sorted out exactly when I needed it. That was it, no real questions of logistics or payment or anything like that. I mentioned it in the Backup Mules post and I don’t want to make some cliched statement about rural, down home, country folks, but they are typically nice and generous people. Along with that I think most country folk are always up for something fun, and making a movie, theoretically, sounds like fun.

Anyway a few months go by and I start to figure out my schedule and what I’ll need and call Troy and tell him I’ll only need one horse. Immediately he says ‘I got just the one for you’. Doc was that horse. Much like my uncle’s or Roger’s team Doc is about the best thing I could hope for outside of an animal specifically trained for film. He is a laid back horse, Troy’s toddler rides him, so we could put any actor on him and not be concerned about his temperament. But Troy also rides Doc competitively at rodeo events, so he’s used to lights and crowds and tons of strangers moving around him. Our 20 person film set was small time in a way for Doc.

Just like everyone else Troy and his horse had a few late nights with us out in the cold. And every time I’d apologize for running late and keeping them out of their bed and barn, respectively, Troy would say it was no problem and that he was having a good time. With the group we had I can see how that was most likely an honest statement.

To go back to a thing I mentioned in the earlier post; how doing a western felt like a way to set our tiny little film apart from others out there working on very small budgets. The mules and Doc and their wranglers did bring an added value to the set. Yes we had a big grip truck and we had professionals behind the cameras, but when we had our actors in the saddle or sitting in the spring seat  it did add a little something special to the shot and a sense of a larger scale of film making than you typically feel on a micro-budget set. And I owe a lot of thanks to Troy, Glenn, Roger, and a number of other folks who helped bring that lager scope to the production.