Matthew McConaugheyYellowstone

‘Yellowstone’ star says Matthew McConaughey ‘better be a good rider’ before joining the franchise: Can he ride horses?

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Yellowstone ‘s own Summer Higgins, Piper Perabo , is sizing up Matthew McConaughey before he saddles up for the upcoming sequel. Can the Texas native and Hollywood A-lister, who’s about to take over for Kevin Costner , ride horses with the best of them?

It’s well-known that Costner lives the equestrian life off set. Aside from starring in Westerns for four decades now (and riding extensively throughout), the John Dutton star also owns a 160-acre ranch in Colorado. He’s an experienced equestrian, to say the least.

And think what you will about Costner or Taylor Sheridan , but the latter is as true a cowboy as they come. Sheridan, creative force behind the the ever-expanding Yellowstone franchise and architect of the Western revival, is as much a figurehead in the equestrian world as he is Hollywood.

In short, Matthew McConaughey has some big boots to fill. Speaking to Entertainment Tonight , Piper Perabo says the Texan “could be good in the Yellowstone world.” But she also raises this key question: Can the man ride a horse? And can he do so to the level that leading Yellowstone ‘s future will require?

“This is what I gotta say, he better be a good rider because Taylor Sheridan is a great cowboy. But if you don’t know how to ride, I don’t know if cowboy schools [are] gonna get you up to Yellowstone level. You better come in with some experience,” Perabo offers.

And she’s right. “”He lives in Texas, he understands the cowboy lifestyle,” she adds. But is it the pop culture cowboy life he underst ands, or the real one 

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? No one can claim to know the actual life of a cowboy until their legs are bowed from riding (watch Lloyd’s Forrie J. Smith walk the next time you watch Yellowstone . That’s an actual cowboy.)

Can Matthew McConaughey ride horses?

Taking a deep-dive into McConaughey’s history reveals his level of experience. He told VANITY FAIR back in 2013 that most of his horseback experience has been in movies. It’s been a while since Sahara (2005), Lone Star or Newton Boys (his 90’s Westerns) were in the public eye, but the Texas native rides in these films and others.

“And that’s fun, because you get to go train for months, and you get to be a pretty good horse rider,” he told VF at the time. “I wouldn’t call myself a cowboy riding a horse, but I’m pretty O.K. on horses.”

And who could forget the infamous runaway horse scene in 2001’s The Wedding Planner ? A lot of us, apparently, because there’s been little-to-no mention of McConaughey in relation to horse riding in the ten years since that VF piece.

“If you’ve ridden before, you get back on it and after an hour, so, it’s like riding a bike,” he said in an E! interview for that film over twenty years ago. But McConaughey was honest, saying he “had to take lessons a few times a week for two months to prepare.”

Free State of Jones (2016) has come and gone since, too. But McConaughey’s titular character is a poor farmer and Confederate foot soldier turned deserter within. He’s not a rider, so there’s no Yellowstone -level equestrian action to speak of here. There is plenty of Dutton grit to be found, however. And that’s what will make a Matthew McConaughey-led Yellowstone show worth watching.

They don’t call it “acting” for nothing. So before the Texan saddles up to take over television’s most popular show, chances are he’ll be on one of Sheridan’s horses for that now-famous Cowboy Camp .

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