Great story-telling in this series and every aspect is well produced: acting, writing, and the incredible scenery. I'm about halfway through the 12-season show, and am simply enjoying the heck out of it. The horses are great actors, too, and should win awards. It does seem everyone is doing most of their own riding, they make it all so very realistic. The lead Amy played by Amber is incredible, who knew one person could do so many different types of riding and do it well? Horse dancing, to dressage, to jumping, to rodeo, to racing, to communicating deeply with horses in a genuine heart-felt way gets conveyed incredibly well. There's lots of topics that reveal ranch life in today's world that is interesting as well. From wild horses to oil, class war, business vs. family life, addiction, native people's oppression and resilience, death and loss, relationship dysfunction, craziness and creative solutions (no sex). Then there's the whole healing aspect that comes from living in and/or visiting the land where the heart rules. The therapeutic work with the horses affects the people and vice versa in sometimes amazingly touching and profoundly metaphorical ways. The show goes deep and is lighthearted too. It cannot be an easy show for the actors to do because it is quite physically demanding. There's violence, though not too bad, fires, explosions, shooting, avalanches, rescues, fights, lots of action. The characters, including repeating characters and are so well-drawn and acted, you end up taking them to heart. There are a few places where what they do doesn't quite fit with them, what they know or would do in just a few situations, but otherwise the character arcs, their growth and development over the years is an incredible journey of the heart. Totally enjoyable for the whole family, too. If you don't love horses when you start this series, you will.
