Emma’s Chance

Welcome to Red Bucket, the ranch that the horses own, and the very real inspiration for the movie “Emma’s Chance”.

Yes, Red Bucket is real, as is the horse “Chance” who was the inspiration for the movie. The ranch and all of the horses in the movie are real as well. While “Emma” was the imagination of Writer/Director Anna Elizabeth James, she elegantly represents over 400 volunteers who selflessly serve and work tirelessly to care for the great many horses in our care. The real Chance’s name is Paidraig and he was portrayed by four different rescue horses. Paidraig, a former show jumper, is quite the character. He only likes the real Susan Peirce to ride him, and on special days loves to jump…but only for her. He is quite the personality, and just like in the movie he paws at the ground to get attention and his favorite treat is a root beer barrel. Rubix, who is featured on the DVD cover, was the horse that Greer Grammer (Emma) rode in nearly all of the scenes and was used in all of the non-horse show jumping scenes. Rubix lives on the ranch and enjoys meeting new friends every Sunday during visiting hours. Two other horses, Willow and Waikiki, have been happily adopted into loving forever homes. Delilah, who also lives on the ranch, is currently being prepared for her forever home one day very soon. Mr. Rogers and “his horse” Finbar greet all of our visitors and are the first to greet new horses…and the last to bid them farewell…when they leave us for their new forever homes.

Red Bucket is a volunteer organization and therefore it seemed fitting that the “extras” and background actors were real volunteers. The majority of the horses used in the movie were real rescue horses who either still live on the ranch or have been adopted into loving homes. The ranch and all of the props are real, as is Keely, the little orphan foal who truly does attend Red Bucket Charm Farm with the other youngsters that Red Bucket has saved from slaughter. Like the great majority of the animals that we have saved, loved and care for, one day Keely too will leave Red Bucket when she gets a home of her own.

A large portion of the movie was based on the reality of the day-to-day at Red Bucket. There were many parts of the film that were incredibly spot-on accurate, including the monthly hurdle to keep hay in the barn and feed in the buckets. What may not have been captured is the tremendous amount of hard work and dedication that occurs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in running such a large organization.

Red Bucket was not paid for participating in the shooting of this wonderful movie, nor do we have any residual income as a result of profits from the movie or the sale of DVDs. Red Bucket is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization and relies on the generosity of like-minded humanitarians to help us make our good work possible.

The theme of financial distress is also very real. In reality, Red Bucket has not received a large check allowing us to keep pasture space. While much of the story was fictionalized in order to be entertaining, the life and death struggle to survive and serve is very real. Anna Elizabeth James wove the reality of the incredible financial stress through the real examples of dwindling hay reserves and the great need for local pasture, which we need for our youngsters and unadoptable residents. In addition to high monthly overhead, Red Bucket faces a looming final balloon payment on our mortgage of $990,000 in June of 2017. It is the sincere hope of the horses of Red Bucket and those of us who serve them that this lovely little movie, which was the passion of our treasured friend Barbara Konney, truly shines a light on our meaningful work and raises both awareness and funding for our beloved Red Bucket and other groups who are committed to saving animals…and maybe, just maybe, inspiring people to be better humans.

Please donate today and help us continue our lifesaving work. Thank you!