Are you excited now that Heartland is finally out on DVD?
I’m so excited, it seems like it’s been so long that we’ve had to wait for this.
Did they ask you to do a riding test for your role?
No, because at the audition I explained that I owned two horses so I think they just figured I knew what I was doing.
What kind of riding did you do before you got the show?
I dabbled in quite a few things in the horse world. I started out in English hunter which is jumping, and I did that for four years and then I moved into Western pleasure and recently it’s just been pleasure riding, doesn’t matter if it’s English or Western, just going on trail rides and things like that.
I read the first three, and when I got the series I read a few more, and then it got confusing because we’ve changed so many of the characters and the storylines are different in many ways so I had to stop because I was confusing my character in the show with my character in the books.
Do you like to research your roles?
Definitely! Most of the time I’m lucky because I’ve been around horses most of my life so most of the research I’ve done as a child growing up. If it’s about a certain ailment that the horse is dealing with that I’m not familiar with, then I’ll go on the Internet and look that up.
Why do you think Amy doesn’t like to be referred to as a horse whisperer?
Well, I think she doesn’t like everything that’s associated with it. Because a lot of people still make jokes about that, they don’t understand what it entails. I think she just doesn’t want that title. She wants to be seen as a horse trainer and someone who’s able to connect with people and horses but the term “horse whisperer” to her is almost just kind of a stereotypical title that she doesn’t want to have.
It is quite a trip. I got used to it. I think my mom was pretty happy when I got my own vehicle because for many years, she was driving all the way down for auditions with me. But yeah, I totally got used to it. I’d jump in the car, I could be in downtown Toronto from my house in about 2½ hours and I’d just throw on a CD or something. It wasn’t too bad.
Where do you stay in Alberta during filming?
I have 10 acres that I’m renting. I brought my Welsh [horse] out there, and I’ve got two foals and a couple of ponies and have got quite a farm going there. Chickens, bunnies, cats, dogs…
Is it near the set?
It’s about 20 minutes. So it’s a much better commute than when I was living in the city first year, it was about an hour commute. We film most of it in Millerville, which is about 45 minutes to an hour southwest of Calgary. And then we also have a studio in the city but we’re only there maybe one week per month.
I hear you went on a horse camping trip on your time off?
It was incredible. I’ve always wanted to go ride my horse up into the mountains with a tent and all that kind of stuff so I went with a couple of girlfriends and we brought our horses. We just went for a night, because my horse is only a four-year-old and he’s never done anything like that. So we loaded them up with big saddle bags and we carried tents in backpacks. The funniest part was trying to get off the horse, because we had these giant backpacks that were about 50 pounds and we were top heavy or back heavy, I guess, so every time we’d swing our leg over we’d fall (laughs).
We have a saying that goes, “If you don’t like the weather in Alberta, just wait five minutes” and it’s so true. But it’s hard for continuity purposes for the show, because we’ll be filming one scene and we’ll get through four takes and then it’s cloudy for the next two and people don’t realize that when you’re switching back and forth through camera angles and you have a sunny shot, and then a cloudy shot, it doesn’t work. So we’ll have to sit and wait for the sun to come out again, or just completely fill it full of lights so we can match that. It is frustrating sometimes but I love Alberta weather. Especially Alberta summer. It’s just beautiful. It stays around 25, which I love because it’s not too hot and it’s always sunny. The whole summer is always nice and sunny and that’s what I love about it.
What’s the winter like?
Winter’s very very cold (laughs). Let’s not talk about it. I’m not looking forward to going into winter right now.
It looks pretty cold sometimes on the show.
We actually had a day this year, I think it was at the end of September, where it dropped down to minus 20. And that’s in September! You can’t really tell, because there was no snow on the ground. So it looks just like a nice fall day. But my whole core of my body was just shaking and I had to deliver these lines and it made it quite an interesting day.
Any tidbits you can share for the upcoming season?
Mostly just as far as characters and horses go we’re dealing with a lot more problem horses this year. We have a guest star horse each episode, which is kind of cool. We also get to meet Ty’s mom, which is kind of interesting. Other than that, Amy and Ty’s relationship will be developing and they stay together through the season but there’s a lot of ups and downs.
~Alexandra Heilbron