The task seems simple enough -- to make actors, who have never been in the saddle or near horses, appear to be highly skilled Pony Express riders. Guess again. It all began with the awesome task of casting six people as 1860s Pony Express riders for the new MGM/UA Western action/adventure ABC series The Young Riders.

"Under 'special skills' on their resumes, the ink was still wet where the actors had written in 'expert' horseback riding ability," says executive producer Josh Kane. "We immediately called on veteran wrangler Richard Lundin."

"I received a frantic call from a gentleman by the name of Josh Kane," explains Lundin. "Before I knew it, I had six fresh-faced kids who needed to brush up on their 'expert' horse riding skills. I watched them trying to mount up and thought -- this is going to take some time. So we began with the basics. How to get up on the horse and stay there. From there, it's just a matter of working with them consistently day in and day out. We worked them long hours, riding frontwards, backwards and sideways -- a few of them would fall off here and there. And after months of daily riding, they can now stay in the saddle without too much bouncing up and down."

"Although I had been raised on a ranch and already knew how to ride. I was having difficulties staying down in the saddle. So the Lundin wranglers taught me how to hold on to the horse with my legs more and by the end of the training, I was doing okay," says Ty Miller.

"Part of being a good horseman comes from being able to ride different horses," relates Stephen Baldwin. "So in the beginning, the Lundins had all of us riding different horses to find the one which suited us the best. I was started out on 'White Lash' and we just didn't get along -- I was immediately bucked off. After going through about six horses I finally found one I could ride -- and get this, it was 'White Lash', the first horse I tried."

"I had never ridden before, but after working with the wranglers, it didn't take me long to pick it up," says Travis Fine. "I ended up with a horse named Bud, who has a longer list of television and movie credits than I do. One night, I was watching this old Western movie and there was Bud on the screen. I couldn't believe it! And next day during training, I asked Richard about Bud and he said that Bud has been in over 1,000 movies, television shows and commercials. I guess that's what's meant by having 'legs' in showbusiness."

(This was a feature story written by the Public Relations Dept. of Mahoney/Wasserman & Associates, the publicity firm hired by the producers of TYR)