Last week, the equestrian world loudly applauded Horseware Ireland’s touching commercial, “Rugs For Life.” The commercial captures the bond between a man and his horse, and briefly intersects a memory when he first met his wife. The famous Rambo blanket is shown, but the commercial is not about the product; it’s about what the product protects.
Horseware published a video a few days ago introducing the cast and crew behind the scenes, explaining how the commercial was planned and shot. The starring horse, “Ben,” is a one-star eventer, who was first filmed for the “aged horse” scenes with a full winter coat; he was then body clipped, mane pulled, to create the illusion for the “young horse” scenes. Actor Sam Doyle explains, “I’m not a very experienced rider, and I was on Ben, who’s the star of the show really. He’s a very fine-tuned horse, and I’m not a fine tuned rider…and there were certain points where he’d run away with me, which was, uh…quite terrifying? But we got the shots we needed, he did very well, and I stayed on.”
