‘Yellowstone’ Star Jen Landon Feels Like Teeter Gives Her ‘Courage’

Like many actors, “Yellowstone” star Jen Landon has learned quite a bit about herself by playing Teeter on the Western show. Primarily, she’s learned to embrace a little more fearlessness in her life, just like Teeter does on the ranch.

Teeter wasn’t a typical role for an actress like Landon, who’d starred in roles on shows like “House,” “The Young and Restless,” and “Animal Kingdom.” Earlier this week, Landon sat down with co-star Jefferson White on the official “Yellowstone” podcast. On the podcast, she opened up more about what she’s learned from a fairly fearless character like Teeter.

“I do feel like Teeter’s courage gives me courage,” Landon explained. “That’s something that we all experience as actors playing different parts. We sort of take on their mental state.”

Because Teeter approaches everything head-on while on “Yellowstone,” Landon had to adopt a similar mindset. And while in some cases that pays off, in others it doesn’t work out so well.

“But also as an actor, we really get a false sense of confidence. For example, I’m under the impression that I’m an incredibly good fighter who can beat up an entire biker gang. Because [stunt coordinator Jason Rodriguez] choreographed a fight in which I win. But I cannot do that. But I think I can,” Landon concluded.

White brought up Teeter’s courage giving Landon courage for a specific reason. It’s related to an incident Landon experienced as a child that gave her an immense fear of horses.

How Jen Landon Approached Her Fear of Horses on ‘Yellowstone’

“Yellowstone” star Jen Landon’s team told the show that she rode horses professionally. Landon had told her team that she once rode them as a child. But she quickly stopped riding them after an accident with a horse almost killed her mother.

“So coming in, I actually had a lot of horse fear, ’cause I did grow up with horses,” the ‘Yellowstone’ star explained. “My mom had a really, really bad fall, and was dragged around an arena with her foot stuck in a stirrup. And she really shouldn’t have survived that, and I was still quite young. But that was the end of horseback riding, so I didn’t really get to reclaim that until joining the show. It was really healing on one level.”

For some, confronting a traumatic event like that and facing one of your worst fears would turn you off to a project. But not Landon. She knew she had to ride horses if she wanted to star on “Yellowstone,” so she reclaimed her fear, as she said. Now, she’s spent two seasons on horseback, showing all the other cowboys and ranch hands how it’s done.

We hope to see more of Landon and her newly minted horseback skills in “Yellowstone” seasons to come.