Amy Acker says Luke Macfarlane had never ridden a horse before filming My Christmas Cowboy. He still handled the work with almost no visible hesitation, which made the set story more interesting than a standard holiday-film anecdote.
“I mean, it was insane,” Acker said of watching him on horseback. “He had never been on a horse, and he had zero fear. He wasn't afraid at all. He got right up there. He was great! He's kind of just good at everything. He also said, 'I can't dance,' and then we went to the dance rehearsal, and I was like, 'Shut up, you're so good!'”
Amy Acker on set
Acker, who co-wrote My Christmas Cowboy, said the horses were only part of the surprise. She added, “I think the cowboys were all also slightly in love with him,” before noting, “They gave him a lasso at the end of the movie!”
That lasso ended up becoming part souvenir, part proof of how fast he adapted. Macfarlane said he was “flattered and honored,” and repeated that he had never been on a horse in his entire life before filming.
The lasso in his basement
The handoff came with its own practical problem. “I didn't check a bag, so I was like, 'Is this going in my carry-on? What's gonna happen here? I could (look like) a crazy person in the airport if they open up my bag!'” Macfarlane said, before adding, “Now I have a lasso in my basement. Guess I could take it to Central Park and practice, but I could get myself in a lot of trouble there, too!”
For My Christmas Cowboy, the detail that stands out is not just that he learned on the job. It is that Acker says he did it without the stiffness that usually shows up when an actor is still figuring out a horse at the same time he is trying to hit marks.
Countdown to Christmas
My Christmas Cowboy sits inside Hallmark Channel's Countdown to Christmas, where small behind-the-scenes details can do real promotional work. A Dallas native, Acker had the advantage of growing up around people who knew horses, while Macfarlane brought a very different starting point to the film.
That contrast is what makes this story worth the extra attention: one lead walked in with no riding experience, the other says he took to it naturally enough to impress the people around the horses. For viewers deciding whether to watch, that is the kind of on-set chemistry that often shows up in the finished movie, even before the holiday plot does.
