Yellowstone, effortlessly, is one of the best projects credited to Taylor Sheridan’s name to date, ranking among the likes of Sicario, Hell or High Water, Wind River, and this very series’ multiple prequels including 1923 and 1883.
But while the mastermind developed this storyline himself, not many fans know what actually induced him to spend so many big bucks on the horses for this saga.
As it turns out, there is a very major reason behind this decision from the filmmaker that many are unaware of: A story based on true, real-life harrowing events that Sheridan himself had to go through.
Moreover, this dark tale not only influenced his decision to buy so many horses for his saga but can also be felt in the characters’ behaviors throughout the masterpiece series.
Taylor Sheridan Has a Dark Story Behind His Horses for Yellowstone
During an interview with Esquire, the 1923 helmer shared his story about why he spent so many big bucks on just buying horses for his Yellowstone saga. And while this story started on a merry note for the one it was based on, it didn’t hesitate to end on a dark note for everyone.
According to Sheridan, this tale started with his boyhood best friend Phil, who was there for him when he was “starving and at his wit’s end.” This Phil ended up falling for the first girl he slept with, which resulted in the pair soon welcoming a baby boy to their home. His name? Taylor.
Soon after his birth, filmmaker Taylor Sheridan scored the privilege of being the godfather of this baby boy. Having earned that position, he had to fulfill a very important task that his friend requested of him. As Sheridan shared, Phil told him: “I want that kid riding before he’s crawling.”
So it was. “We saddled the horses up. We took a ride. I cradled his boy,” shared Sheridan. But while this happy recollection still stays in the mastermind’s memory, the events that followed two decades after this are so harrowing that he probably won’t be able to forget it until the end of his time.
As the 1883 writer revealed, around two decades later, his godson “called me once, suicidal, and I talked him off the ledge.” But then a few weeks later, he once again got a call; though this time, it was from Phil: The younger Taylor had given up on his life and left this world.
Evidently devastated and distraught from how everything had turned out for his godson, Sheridan rushed to Texas to be by his friend’s side in such a heartbreaking situation. But when he got there, his friend had only one request of him. As the filmmaker shared:
I’m going to explain to you the cowboy mentality. [Phil said to me:] “I’m going to think about it for the rest of my life. But I need two hours to not think about it. And the only way I don’t think about it is on a horse.”
That was that, and ever since, every time Sheridan gets a call from his friend asking him, ‘Hey, man, you wanna come out and ride?’ his response is, ‘I’ll be there tomorrow.’ Because he knows that his friend is “thinking about his kid. I’m the only person that he can forget with.”
Needless to say, this is also seemingly why the mastermind spent so much money just on the horses of his smash-hit Yellowstone television series.
Yellowstone is Synonymous With This Story in a Lot of Ways
As fans have already seen (and felt) in the Kevin Costner-led series, most of the characters often depict tired, suicidal behaviors. In fact, a lot of them even seem like they are on the verge of self-destruction, just like Sheridan’s godson did.
But in the series, those characters also led some very good and happy times — except that a majority of the time, those good moments only came when they were riding their horses.
Connecting the dots with the dark tale, it becomes evident where these character traits stem from.
All of this being said, it is inevitably only understandable now that the real reason why Sheridan included so many horses on his Yellowstone ranch is actually seemingly because of his best friend Phil and long-lost godson, whose absence still haunts them to the verge of riding their horses.
If anything, it won’t be an understatement to say that the fact that the Dutton family members prefer to ride their horses every time they are sad, to escape that feeling just like Phil, changes the story itself into a much darker tale than many could have expected.