Hit television series Yellowstone is about life on a ranch that includes daily chores, wrangling wayward cattle and, of course, riding horses. After all what kind of a cowboy doesn’t ride a horse?
In order to make the show realistic and believable, Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan had the show’s cast go to “cowboy school.”
Sheridan says he put the entire cast through “rigorous training” atop the back of a horse. In an interview with Deadline, the Yellowstone creator says some cast members did better than others but they all put in work. He says Kelly Reilly, who plays Beth Dutton, was the best rider of the bunch. The English actress grew up around horses and knows her way around a saddle.
“Ironically, the person who gets to ride the least, Kelly Reilly, is the best rider,” Sheridan says. “She grew up riding.”
Beth doesn’t do a lot of horse riding since the death of her mother. She does however attempt to relearn the process of riding with some assistance from Yellowstone ranch hand Walker. It is a scene that likely drew a great deal of emotion out of viewers.
Yellowstone Also Has a ‘Worst’ Rider in Cast
If Kelly Reilly is the best horseback rider of the bunch, then there must be a worst horseback rider of the bunch. According to Sheridan, the honor of worst rider on Yellowstone Ranch falls to Jefferson White, who plays ranch hand, Jimmy, on the show.
“He grew up in New York and pretty much had never seen a horse,” Sheridan says. “It takes a lot of trust for someone who has never been on a horse to get on one.”
To his credit, White pushed through and kept at it until he could ride sufficiently enough to play the part.
It’ only fitting that White would be the worst rider on the show. Jimmy, despite his desire to keep rodeoing to garner interest from the opposite sex, continues to hurt himself trying to ride bucking broncos.
While trying to impress “buckle bunny” Mia, Jimmy takes a hard fall and ends up in the hospital with severe injuries. The young ranch hand obviously does not learn his lesson as he’s back on a horse as soon as he is healed up.
The result is much the same as the last we see of Jimmy in season three he is unconscious and face down having been bucked off the horse. Watchers are left to wonder if poor Jimmy is dead or alive heading into season four.