After more than ten years as ‘Don Matteo’, Terence Hill opened a new chapter in his career in the summer of 2010. In the brand new series ‘One step from Heaven’ (Un passo dal cielo), he played a forester in the South Tyrolean Alps and was finally able to do what he had loved doing all his life: riding. His horse in the first season was the Quarter Horse ‘Reddy’, which had previously been a successful competition horse. His speciality was reining – a Western riding style in which the horse has to master a sequence of manoeuvres specified by the rider exclusively at a gallop.
For Reddy, the series was his first experience on a film set. The spotlights made him nervous and the cameras frightened him. He needed someone to calm him down. And Terence Hill, who was used to working with horses, understood that: "I talked to him, let him come closer slowly, stroked him to calm him down gently and patiently. Gradually, he gained confidence on set. We rehearsed every scene the day before, especially the most challenging ones, such as the one where we had to cross a small river. I fed him and put him to sleep. A deep connection developed between us: horses are very sensitive animals."
After his time in South Tyrol, the horse spent his retirement at the Grace Valley Ranch in Hechingen, south of Stuttgart in Baden-Württemberg. Here, the horse was given the name ‘Joe Brown’ in reference to Terence Hill's horse in the film ‘Renegade’. After seven years in Hechingen, Joe Brown moved on to Thuringia in the Unstrut-Hainich district, where the horse, now over 20 years old, is enjoying his retirement.
From his new home, Joe Brown will set off with his new owner on Saturday and Sunday for Ilmenau, where he is looking forward to meeting friendly festival visitors in the park on the festival grounds.
