ALBERTA – Following another round of programming cuts, the CBC has been forced to downsize almost 40 horses from the 9th season of it’s still existing drama, Heartland.
“For a while we thought we could just use one horse and paint it different colours,” explained head writer Heather Conkie. “But it died really fast. Like, way faster than we thought a horse could die.”
The show has struggled to deal with the impact of having no horses on a show set on a horse ranch. Upcoming episodes will see Ty and Amy discuss their relationship troubles while they walk nothing around the horse pen, majestic shots of the Alberta Rockies as two men in a horse suit run around beneath the mountains, and a three part storyline in which grandpa Jack is seriously injured after he falls off a dog.
“Eventually, we had to explain their absence,” said executive producer Tom Cox. “In the episode we’re writing now Amy meets the ruggedly handsome young owner of the glue factory that just moved in next door. Also Spartan gets into the University of Alberta.”
CBC’s original programming lineup took another hit this week when Gerry Dee was shot after the network’s insurance refused to cover his broken leg.
