HomeMane Event for TV Volunteers
A VIRTUALLY unknown Australian television show about horses is about to be beamed into more than 17 million homes in the US.
Horse Talk aired on community network Channel 31 for six episodes in October and November and had a weekly national audience of just 40,000 people.
Produced by Sydney woman Katie Hickson, 50, the program featured segments on local equestrian events such as dressage and reining, as well as trick riding, liberty horses (which perform without riders) and even jousting.
The heads of US cable network Horse Racing TV approached her about licensing the show after seeing clips online. She said the US deal was a boost for her team, which had been making the show without payment.
''The real pay-off for us and the program is what it will do - it is amazing exposure,'' she said.
The network, which is run by two big racing conglomerates, plans to screen the show in January and has requested first option on the next series.
Ms Hickson worked as a horse trainer and breaker for 17 years before leaving the industry because of poor pay and a series of serious injuries. She broke a vertebra in the late 1990s and suffered a broken rib in 2004 when a horse fell on her.
''I remember thinking, 'This could be it - I could be a paraplegic.' I am not earning enough money to get busted up like that,'' she said.
She worked in media sales for a few years but when she lost her job after a corporate takeover, she decided to combine her skills to make the television show.
''I was driving down the M4 one night - I entered unemployed and exited a producer,'' she said. ''I picked up the phone and called Channel 31 - hands-free - expecting to get an answering machine, and the program manager picked up.''
She is now working on the second series, which will have 13 episodes.
