Horse Sense

Horse Sense was the first episode of the 1978 series. It introduced James Herriot, Siegfried Farnon, Mrs. Hall, as well as several other recurring background characters.

### Overview

James Herriot, a newly qualified vet, travels to Darrowby, Yorkshire, to secure a new job. However, his prospective employer, Siegfried Farnon, seems otherwise occupied...

### Plot

James Herriot travels to Darrowby, Yorkshire, by bus. He talks to the local seated next to him about life in the dales.

Arriving in Darrowby, he asks a woman where the vet’s is. She informs him that Skeldale House is where the vet lives. James heads to Skeldale House. On his way in he sees a plaque by the front door that reads: ‘S. Farnon M.R.C.V.S.’

James rings the doorbell, to which several dogs start barking excitedly. An older woman opens the door, and James introduces himself, stating that ‘Mr. Farnon’ was expecting him.

The woman tells James what time the vet surgery is from, to which he replies that he’s applying for the position of vet assistant.

The older woman introduces herself as ‘Mrs. Hall’, Farnon’s housekeeper, says that he’s a bachelor and didn’t tell her that James would be arriving. Regardless, she invites him in for a cup of tea and says that Farnon shouldn’t be long.

James enters the living room where there are a few dogs, and looks around the room. Mrs. Hall brings him some tea, and James says that he supposes that Farnon is ‘out on a case’. Mrs. Hall replies that Farnon has gone to visit his mother in Broughton and that she doesn’t know when he’ll be back.

James sits down and pours himself some tea. He is interrupted by the sound of the doorbell and the dogs barking again. He goes to investigate and finds a man waiting outside who asks if Farnon is in. James replies that he is not and asks if he can help.

The man, Bert Sharpe, asks James to pass on a message to Farnon, saying that he has a cow that wants ‘boring out’. James seems confused by Sharpe's hard to understand Yorkshire accent and colloquialisms. Sharpe leaves and James goes back to the living room.

Some time passes and James heads into the vet surgery. He looks around, and hears coughing from the waiting room. Another man, Biggins, is there and tells James he has a cow ‘grunting a bit’. James offers to have someone come and have a look at it, and Biggins is unsure that it would be necessary. He tells James that he, as the vet, is the expert, to which James replies it’s hard to tell if the cow needs to be looked at as they haven’t seen her.

Biggins further expresses that he doesn’t like the vets to visit his farm as their fees are expensive, on top of the medicines. James offers to give Biggins some medicine to take with him. After some back and forth with Biggins, the man decides to leave without settling on any particular course of action.

James, frustrated, goes back to the living room and sits down. He picks up a newspaper, the headline reading ‘Prospects Bleak for Newly Qualified Vets’. James puts down the newspaper and begins to fall asleep.

He is woken by Farnon calling his name, and jumps up, telling Farnon about some of the people who had come to visit while he was out. Farnon apologizes for not being there, and takes James on a tour around Skeldale House.

He shows James the vet surgery, and James says that he’s impressed with it. Farnon shows James a number of the medicines and other veterinary equipment he has in stock, including a demonstration of the chemical reaction created by mixing ‘resublimated iodine’ and turpentine. Farnon admits that the reaction is probably not much more than a party trick, rather than having any useful medicinal effect.

Farnon also tells James that he offers veterinary services for small animals as well as farm animals, noting that some of the more old-fashioned vets wouldn’t be bothered to look at a cat or a dog.

James remembers that the difficult-to-understand local, Bert Sharpe, also came to call. Farnon is able to translate the ‘local terminology’ for James, telling him that Bert’s cow has mastitis. Farnon offers for James to come with him on a call out to Sharpe’s place, as well as a farm where there’s a lame mare.

They take Siegfried’s car out to the farm, discussing horses on the way. At the farm, Farnon asks James if he’d like to examine the mare. James does so, checking the horse’s hoofs while Farnon watches on.

James diagnoses the cause of the lameness - pus in the sole of the hoof - and is successful in evacuating the pus. Farnon performs his ‘party trick’ with the iodine and turpentine to ‘disinfect’ the cavity.

The two vets then head to Bert Sharpe’s place to treat the cow with mastitis. James does so but is kicked by the cow whilst attempting to treat her. He soon learns to keep an eye on the cow’s back legs.

Afterwards, Farnon and James head to the pub for a drink. There, Farnon offers James the job, with £4 a week salary and full board, to which James gleefully accepts.

Farnon tells James about the previous owner of the veterinary practice, and how he is trying to improve business. They also discuss the locals and how they can be somewhat tight-fisted with their money, and the dire situation for vets currently looking for jobs.

James goes to chat to the pub’s barman. Bert Sharpe comes up to the bar and tells everyone how his cow kicked James. Some of the locals grill James on his inexperience with farm animals, to which he asserts that he’s a qualified vet. One old man shares with James a 'secret miracle cure' for mallenders and sallenders in horses. James shakes the man’s hand and leaves with Farnon.

They head back to Skeldale House and James tells Farnon how grateful he is for the job. Farnon tells James to call him Siegfried. The two discuss the limitations on current medicines, vaccines, and veterinary practices over a nightcap, although James begins to fall asleep. Siegfried realizes that he must be exhausted, and shows James to his room.

The next morning, James heads to the surgery to see the small animal patients. A little girl arrives with a tortoise in a paper bag. James is unable to get any information out of the girl, so sends her on her way.

Later on, James meets up with Siegfried who is fixing up an old car for James to use. They head off in Siegfried’s car to some more farms. On the way, James tells Siegfried about the little girl with the tortoise. After their round to the farms, Siegfried asks James if he’s okay to hold the fort at Skeldale by himself while Siegfried goes to visit his mother, promising a quiet night for James.

Later on, back at Skeldale House, James receives a call from Phineas Calvert about a bull in a bad way. James goes to Calvert’s place, and diagnoses the bull with sunstroke. He manages to cool the bull down with water from a hose. James and Calvert have a drink in celebration.

Once back at Skeldale, James is called out again to see a horse with colic at Lord Hulton's place. James meets Mr. Soames who shows him to the horse. On examination, James states the horse might have a torsion - a twisted bowel. Soames snaps at James that it’s just a bit of bellyache, and he wants the horse cured.

James confirms his diagnosis of a torsion and tells Soames he should euthanize the horse as it has been in agony all day and a vet should’ve been called sooner. Soames objects but James goes ahead with the euthanasia anyway, telling him that Siegfried will confirm his diagnosis of a torsion with a post-mortem of the horse the next day.

#### Cast

James Herriot - Christopher Timothy

Siegfried Farnon - Robert Hardy

Mrs. Hall - Mary Hignett

Helen Alderson - Carol Drinkwater

Biggins - John Sharp

Soames - George Selway

Bert Sharpe - Paul Luty

Phineas Calvert - Johnny Allan

Mrs. Calvert - Lorraine Peters

Farmer - Johnny Maxfield

Diana Brompton - Georgina Melville

Man on Bus - Ted Carroll

Tommy - Derry Jordan

Pub Customer - Leslie Sarony

Pub Customer - James Ottaway

Pub Customer - John Biggerstaff

Barman - Michael Shannon

#### Production Credits

Production Assistant - Peter Grimwade

Production Unit Manager - John Nathan Turner

Film Cameraman - Ken Morgan

Film Sound - John Gilbert

Film Editor - Henry Fowler

Make-up Artist - Vivien Oldham

Costume Designer - Gill Hardie

Lighting - Bob Gell

Sound - David Hughes

Script Editor - Ted Rhodes

Designer - David Crozier

Producer - Bill Sellars

Director - Terence Dudley