A documentary the National Film Board is putting together has been bringing a lot of excitement to the Bar U Ranch. 

They're filming for John Ware Reclaimed and World Champion Tie Down roper Fred Whitfield was playing John Ware.

Local rancher, Lee McLean, says her horse, Cody, was a star during the filming and in several scenes in the movie with Whitfield.

Her husband, Mike, the Bar U Ranch manager knew Cody was the perfect fit for the film.

"He said they were going to be needing a horse and he thought that this particular horse would work," said McLean.

Cody, she explained, has a lot of mileage on him and he is a ranch horse so he has seen almost everything.

"He needed to be able to go out by himself with cameras, the weather was windy, there was hail that afternoon. A lot of horses are herd bound or a little nervous. And in addition to being able to move along they have to be able to stand and to wait. I think the horse did a very good job."

As for meeting Fred Whitfield, McLean wasn't sure what to expect, he's the eight time world champion tie-down roper and he represents a lot of rodeo brands you see in the stores.

"He's larger than life. Even people who don't follow rodeo know who he is. He is a huge giant of a man and he made me feel like a little tiny doll. He gave me a great  big warm handshake everything was yes ma'am and no ma'am he was really soft spoken."

The thing that impressed McLean the most was how respectful he was of Cody.

"I mentioned to him that the horse was older and he had no shoes on and he could be a little owley on gravel. Every time the director asked Fred to go from one side of the road to the other he dismounted he would walk across and let the horse pick his way across. Every break in between shots he was off the horse, instead of the horse holding him up. He would loosen the cinches he would reset the saddle."

She adds it was her job to do all of that, but because they had a good horseman dealing with Cody she didn't really have a job.

"I enjoyed my chance to meet him and I hope people have a chance to see the movie because the story of John Ware is a story that needs to be told."

"Any pictures I've seen of John Ware you could really imagine Fred Whitfield being him."

McLean added the amazing thing about John Ware is he started off as a slave and came north after the civil war. Even without good gear he could ride really, really tough horses. He became a land owner and owned his own."

When Ware arrived in Calgary he found work at the Bar U before starting his own ranch near the Red Deer River before settling near Duchess.

There is no release date yet for the production.

 

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