I ran out of time today… so I thought I would bring this blogpost to the forefront.  It was originally posted on April 6, 2010.

Anyway, a few years ago, HORSE AND MAN visited with Tad Griffith.  Tad is an incredible horseman.  He trains his string of movie horses for whatever they need to do:  Roman riding (Zorro), Westerns, Wild West Shows, Jumping through Rings of Fire, Riding at liberty…  His forte is Roman Riding and trick riding but he can do it all.  I remember being a bit afraid to visit Tad because I was hesitant to learn his training tactics.  Silly me… He is an animal lover and treats his charges with great respect.  He taught me so much.  Here is a list of some of his feature credits:

• The Patriot
• Shanghai Noon
• Wild Wild West
• Ride with the Devil
• The Mask of Zorro
• Adobe Station
• The Magnificent Seven
• Texas Payback
• Jack of Hearts
• Gambler III
• Dream West
• Gambler II
• TBS “Movies for Guys Who Like Movies”
• Eye on LA
• Two on the Town

Ok so today, I found some raw footage of casual conversation between Tad and I that we happened to shoot. While reviewing it, I thought his comments on Sonja Fitzpatrick were memorable so I cut them together (to see the video, click here/quicktime)  Do you know about Sonja?  She had a show on Animal Planet called, THE PET PSYCHIC.  Sonja now has a radio show on Sirius.  Anyway, her producers picked Tad’s ranch for one of her episodes of THE PET PSYCHIC and I had heard about it before I interviewed Tad.

So, during my interview with Tad when I casually spoke with him about Sonja, he demurred.  He didn’t want to talk about it because I’m sure he thought I wouldn’t understand.  Or, he thought that he would sound silly for believing in Dr. Doolittle.  But, he had no fears here because I do believe in Dr. Doolittle.  (Gee, even admitting that to all of you makes me feel silly, too…)  C’mon in here closer and I’ll tell you —  to be honest, I was ready to not believe.  As a producer, I was wondering if Sonja’s show on Animal Planet was rigged or whatever.  Have you seen the movie LEAP OF FAITH with Debra Winger and Steve Martin?  Well, that movie had a huge impact on me.  It tells the story of a criminal evangelist that rigged his shows to fool unsuspecting believers out of their money.  So, I had to check it out for myself.  I called Sonja and set up a reading…  When Sonja was reading my animals, she had a tough nut to crack.  I was waiting to uncover the Steve Martin character from Leap of Faith.  But, I gotta tell you,  she was right on.  It was scary good.  I believe in Dr. Doolittle, too.

Anyway, back to Tad.  I asked him if he thought Sonja understood his animals, not letting him know that I knew about Sonja at all.  Tad got really quiet and smiled and told me it was the best horse day of his life…  He said he started as a skeptic and then became a believer.  The fun part about this is that Tad is not a woo-woo kinda guy as you will see.  And in the video, he gets excited to tell the stories of what his horses said! (embedded video, better quality for sure!)  Oh, the woman in the video (You Tube version) is his wife.  She was lovely, too.

So, watch the video (sorry about the poor editing on my part…) and then check out Sonja, if you’d like.  My reading was awesome and so was Tad’s.  Here is her website. (No affiliation with either Tad or Sonja)

HORSE AND MAN is a blog in growth… if you like this, please pass it around!