If you grew up in Australia back in the day, you remember The Saddle Club. That weirdly Aussie-filmed show, based on Bonnie Bryant’s books, turned a whole generation horse-obsessed.
Years later, another show lit that fire again. CBC’s Heartland has been on since 2007 — and it’s still going. It’s a big Canadian family drama about Amy Fleming, a teenager on an Alberta ranch who inherits her late mother’s gift with horses. She reads troubled animals, trusts her gut, and somehow holds her family together between emergencies. Mostly, it’s comforting, horsey TV you put on when the world feels too loud.
It’s cheese. It’s also genuinely wholesome. And honestly? I blame it for wrecking my bank account.
I went from casual adult lessons in 2016 to owning three horses, competing in eventing, and watching my savings vanish into hay, farriers, and vet bills. I’ve never looked back.
Why? The scenery, for one. Alberta’s mountains make you restless at a desk. Watching Amy “join up” with a stressed horse in a round pen somehow makes quitting the city feel reasonable.
Then there’s Spartan. Is it realistic that a rescue becomes a world-class jumper like that? No. Do you care while you’re watching? Also no.
When I bought my first horse, she was a nightmare. After a bad fall — or after another night of wondering why I’d done this to myself — I’d ask a ridiculous question: What would Amy Fleming do? It sounds silly. It worked.
I later bought a terrified filly and used the same natural horsemanship ideas Amy leans on — patience, calm, no forcing it — until she started to trust me.
When my third horse got sick, I stress-watched the Spartan hospital episodes on loop. It kept me sane.
Even if you’re not a “horse person,” there’s something rare about a slow, sunny drama that doesn’t try too hard. Just don’t blame me when you’re Googling riding lessons at 2 a.m.
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