50 Fun Facts About Heartland

Which Canadian network has aired Heartland since 2007?

CBC. Heartland premiered there on October 14, 2007, and out-drew Da Kink in My Hair, a new comedy that the rival network Global launched the same night.

Who plays Amy Fleming, the protagonist of Heartland?

Amber Marshall. A former veterinary assistant who had ridden since childhood, she moved west from Ontario for the role and went on to keep a ranch of her own, with horses and cattle.

In which Canadian province is the Heartland ranch set?

Alberta. The novels the series is based on were set in the United States; the producers moved the ranch to the foothills of the Canadian Rockies and filmed it there.

Which abused horse, rescued in Heartland's first episode, becomes Amy's own?

Spartan. Amy and her mother take him from a neglectful owner on a stormy night, and her slow work to win his trust afterwards becomes her own way through grief.

Who plays Lou Fleming, Amy's older sister, in Heartland?

Michelle Morgan. She has also stepped behind the camera, directing episodes of the series in which she plays the family's planner-in-chief.

Who plays Grandpa Jack Bartlett in Heartland?

Shaun Johnston. His Jack owns the ranch and starts out suspicious of the new hired hand, Ty, but comes to treat him like a son and gives his blessing when Ty marries Amy.

Which actor plays Tim Fleming, Amy and Lou's father, in Heartland?

Chris Potter. Since 2010 he has also directed dozens of episodes, stepping behind the camera on the show in which he plays the family's black sheep.

Why was Ty Borden working at Heartland when the series began?

To complete his probation. Marion offered Ty the ranch job after he was sent to juvenile detention for attacking the stepfather who was assaulting his mother.

Who played Ty Borden for 14 seasons of Heartland?

Graham Wardle. He chose to leave as the fourteenth season began, so its premiere opened with Ty's sudden death and the story turned to Amy raising their daughter alone.

What happened to Amy's mother Marion at the start of Heartland?

She died in a car crash. Marion and Amy were hauling a mistreated horse home through a storm when their truck and trailer left the road; Amy woke up in hospital.

Where was Lou working before she came home to run Heartland?

New York. Lou left a well-paid finance job and a boyfriend there to sort out the ranch's books after her mother's death, and stayed for good once her firm fired her.

What did Lou propose turning Heartland into to make it profitable?

A corporate retreat centre. Lou pictured executives doing team-building exercises with horses and won a bank loan to build guest cabins; her family mockingly called it the Dude Ranch.

What training method does Amy practise in Heartland, inherited from her mother?

Natural horsemanship. Like her mother Marion, Amy works by earning a frightened horse's trust instead of forcing it, and join-up, the first technique she tries, helps her grieve too.

Why had Jack banished Tim from the family years earlier?

His alcohol and drug use. An injury left Tim leaning on painkillers and drink, and Jack threw him out when Amy was five; he comes back only after Marion's death.

What was Jack Bartlett before he became a rancher?

A rodeo star. Jack was born on the ranch when it ran cattle and left to become a legend on the circuit; it turned to healing horses only when his daughter Marion took over.

In Heartland, who is Jack's romantic interest, the owner of Fairfield Stables?

Lisa Stillman. The racehorse breeder spends part of every year in France, and after seasons of breaking up and making up, she and Jack slip away and elope.

What nickname does Amy earn when a video of her calming a trapped horse spreads online?

Miracle Girl. Bystanders filmed Amy soothing a show-jumper caught in barbed wire after a highway collision, and the clip brought in more clients than the ranch could handle.

Peter Morris, the man Lou marries in Heartland, works in which industry?

Oil. He first appears as PW, boss of a small company caught drilling on Heartland land, and Lou organises the protest against him before she falls for him.

In Heartland, where do Lou and Peter move after marrying at the end of season 3?

Dubai. Peter's business takes them there straight after the wedding, but Lou's one-week visit home never ends, and he is left commuting halfway round the world to see her.

In Heartland, how did Lou and Peter first get to know each other without realising it?

Over instant messaging. A family friend passed on Lou's email without asking; she signed herself Sam and he used his first name, so neither knew they were chatting with the enemy.

In Heartland, what is the name of Lou and Peter's adopted daughter?

Georgie. Orphaned at three and split from her brother in foster care, she lands at the ranch, and Lou and Peter adopt her after Jack is turned down as her guardian.

Which trick-riding group does Lou's adopted daughter join in Heartland's later seasons?

The Extreme Team. Trick riding replaces show jumping as her sport for a while, until she is made to choose between the team and an Olympic jumping dream and picks the jumping.

In Heartland, what is the name of Amy and Ty's daughter?

Lyndy. She is named after Jack's late wife, with Marion for Amy's mother as a middle name, and is born at home after Amy goes into labour on arriving at a friend's wedding.

What kills Ty in Heartland's season 14 premiere?

A blood clot after being shot. Ty and Amy were both hit by a poacher's bullet at the end of season 13, and he seems to be on the mend until deep vein thrombosis makes him collapse.

Which country does Ty travel to in Heartland to help save endangered Gobi bears?

Mongolia. Ty goes with Amy's blessing even though she has just told him she is pregnant, and he comes home so ill from a tick bite that he lands in hospital in critical condition.

In Heartland, what does ranch hand Ty train to become?

A veterinarian. Ty arrives without a high-school diploma, earns it at the ranch, works at the local clinic all through vet school, and is finally offered a partnership there.

Which Heartland ranch hand, hired while Ty was away, becomes his rival and later marries Ashley?

Caleb Odell. He is taken on while Ty is away and briefly dates Amy, then marries Ashley, but the marriage does not last and he comes back to the ranch alone.

Who is the widowed owner of Briar Ridge Stables, Heartland's main antagonist early on?

Val Stanton. She drives her daughter Ashley to win at shows and scorns the ranch's gentle methods, yet she and Jack become friends once he helps her mend things with Ashley.

In Heartland, talkative Mallory Wells is the daughter of what kind of performer?

A country music artist. Her father is played by real Canadian country star George Canyon, and when his career takes the family to Nashville, Mallory has to go, to her dismay.

Whom does Mallory marry when she returns to Heartland in season 10?

Jake Anderson. She spends years pushing the young cowboy away, though he once helped her run back from boarding school, and at last follows him to Paris before the wedding.

What business does Lou buy in Heartland's season 7 and run with Tim as her silent partner?

Maggie's Diner. Lou first fought to have the diner declared a heritage site to keep a chain out, then bought it herself, with a partner who turned out to be anything but silent.

Which elected office does Lou hold from season 14 of Heartland?

Mayor of Hudson. Lou ran only to keep a rival she distrusted out of the job, then leaned on her administrator Rick, the show's first openly gay character, to learn it.

In Heartland, Amy's best friend Soraya moves permanently to which city in season 5?

London. Soraya first goes there on a visit and meets a boyfriend, and her mother later follows her across the Atlantic; Soraya comes back only for Amy and Ty's wedding.

In Heartland, who becomes Lou's on-and-off boyfriend after her marriage to Peter breaks down?

Mitch Cutty. The new hand works to win over Jack and Tim, and after much hostility Tim nicknames him Trooper, after a tenacious bronc; Peter's visits keep complicating the romance.

In Heartland, what is the name of Tim's son with ex-girlfriend Miranda Grenier, revealed in season 4?

Shane. Amy bonds with her 11-year-old half-brother over horses, but the news costs Tim his girlfriend Janice, who moves to California without him.

In Heartland, who finds and saves Jack after his heart attack in the field?

Tim. The son-in-law Jack once banished, and has just fallen out with again, is the one who finds him unconscious in the field and calls the ambulance.

In Heartland, which pony, owned by Mrs. Bell, did Lou learn to ride on?

Sugarfoot. Mrs. Bell keeps the little Shetland in her house for company, and when illness puts her in hospital it is businesslike Lou who grows unexpectedly attached to him again.

Which future Arrow star guest-starred in Heartland as champion rider Nick Harwell?

Stephen Amell. In the first season his prize-winning show jumper turns up to coach a sulky pupil and flirts with Lou, four years before Amell pulled on the Green Arrow's hood.

Heartland is based on a book series credited to which pen name?

Lauren Brooke. More than one writer has used the name: Linda Chapman wrote many of the early books and has also written as Daisy Meadows, the name on the Rainbow Magic books.

In the original novels, which US state is the Heartland ranch in?

Virginia. In the books Amy's family heals abused and neglected horses there; the television producers carried the whole ranch across the border into Canada's cattle country.

What is the title of Heartland's first episode, shared with the first novel?

Coming Home. The title covers two arrivals in one hour: Lou's return from her city career, and a rescued horse brought back to the ranch for Amy to heal.

Which real town stands in for Hudson in most of Heartland's location filming?

High River. The show keeps a permanent storefront set on its main street, and after a flood swamped it in 2013 the production came back with $80,000 raised from fans.

What does Amy temporarily lose after being kicked by a horse in Heartland's season 7?

Her sight. Amy steps between two fighting horses, wakes in hospital unable to see, and tells Ty to leave her if it never comes back; he refuses, and the next day it returns.

Which long-running show did Heartland pass to become Canada's longest-running one-hour drama?

Street Legal. The Toronto legal drama ended its original run in 1994 and kept the record for two decades; it came back in 2019 with a new season, but that was cancelled after six episodes.

Which Jenn Grant song is Heartland's opening theme?

Dreamer. The Halifax singer stopped performing as a teenager with stage fright that she says lasted about ten years; the song comes from Orchestra for the Moon, the debut album she made after coming back.

Which runaway horse, named by Amy, bonds with Lou's adopted daughter and becomes her jumper?

Phoenix. Horse and girl turn up at the ranch in the same episode, both runaways from bad homes, and once the two have bonded Jack offers to let her stay.

Which US cable network, known as GMC TV until 2013, has carried Heartland since 2010?

Up TV. The channel started out as the Gospel Music Channel and renamed itself in 2013 because it had broadened from gospel music into family programming.

In Heartland, who is Scott Cardinal?

Heartland's vet. Scott was once a troubled teenager whom Marion took in and set straight, just as she later did for Ty; he dates Lou for two seasons and regrets losing her.

What is the name of the neighbouring ranch that Tim works on and later buys?

Big River. Tim takes a job there to be near his daughters after years away, grows close to the owner's daughter, and buys the cattle ranch when she decides to sell.

What is the title of Heartland's standalone feature-length TV movie from 2010?

A Heartland Christmas. Amy and Ty spend the holiday digging out starving horses trapped by a mountain avalanche, and Jack and Tim, sent to fetch Amy home, end up staying to help.