A very special kilometer

While our ride on Tuesday 2nd October only added about 1 km to the ‘ride to Berlin; (and to be honest that is just an estimate), it was a very special kilometer for Catriona and Hofsi. This is because the BBC were filming scenes for an episode of Case Histories (starring Jason Isaacs – Lucius Malfoy from Harry Potter) at Windy Gowl. So this kilometer consisted of the same hundred meters over and over again!
In the first piece of filming, Cat had to lead Hofsi out of the indoor school and across the yard perhaps 10 or 15 times, while filming was taking place at all angles. Next, a variety of groups of riders were required to ride about in the background from the yard into the shed, and another group from the road into the yard (including Cat and Hofsi and myself on Vinka). Shooting took all day, and the horses were very well behaved, considering we kept taking them to places where they could reasonable expect that we would get off and feed them – sooner or later!
 I'm not sure the BBC were prepared for the laughter when we were asked to make the horses move more quietly (how?). It was a long day but luckily not (very) rainy. All the equipment was amazing, and the horses just looked at it as if they'd always been asked to walk past large bright lights, while stepping over cables, walking toward a large flapping tarpaulin strung up like a trampoline. We had lunch at a distinctly un-glamourous kitchen set up in the back of a lorry, with seating on a double decker bus; everyone mixed in and the real actors were friendly, and seemed happy to meet the horses. Jason Isaacs even rode one of the Iceys a little.
A day to remember!
Kim Willoughby