Heartland Season 16 Episode 3 Recap

Another exciting episode of Heartland aired on Sunday that saw Amy, Caleb and Sam train a new rope horse, Jack and Tim disagree on what to do with Blue, and Katie and Logan go river rafting.

Want to know more about what happened during the episode? Then keep on reading this recap of Heartland season 16 episode 3!

Built for it

At the beginning of the episode, we saw Amy taking a ride, and happen upon Caleb and Sam loading hay into Caleb’s truck. It turned out that Sam’s donating some spare hay to the rodeo school.

While there, Sam admitted to Caleb and Amy that he thinks that the rescue horses living on his property don’t have much purpose, thus Caleb suggested that he could turn at least one of them into a roping horse for the rodeo school.

And Amy agreed, saying that one of the horses, Hawk, was definitely built like a roping horse.

At first, Caleb wanted to do the training. But after Hawk threw Caleb when he went too fast and started swinging his rope before the horse was used to it, Sam asked Amy to help with Hawk.

So, the three of them got to work.

New purposes

Caleb, being the cowboy he is, wanted to get to the exciting part already but, after seeing Hawk in action, Amy knew that there needed to be a few steps in between.

First, Amy and Caleb got Hawk used to the rope, and then Amy got Caleb to swing the rope slowly and throw it at the dummy. Only Caleb threw it at a nearby-standing Sam instead of the actual steer dummy which was another example of the more light-hearted moments Caleb’s character always brings to the show and why I love him so much.

After lunch though Amy found Caleb accelerating things again and wanting to see what Hawk can do on the move by roping a steer dummy while Sam’s dragging it behind the ATV.  But Amy had a feeling that that wasn’t the best of ideas. And she, of course, was right.

Hawk spooked as soon as Caleb got moving, so Amy figured that maybe the horse needed to get used to cattle in a peaceful setting before you could start roping steers on it.

Amy took Hawk out to help Jack round up his herd and Hawk did really well with it. Meaning that the next day Amy could try actually roping a steer. And she was successful.

Hawk seemed to have gotten used to steers as well as his new job – roping.

And, although, Caleb didn’t win his bet with Sam (that Caleb can turn Hawk into a roping horse) since Amy was the one to actually work with Hawk, Sam still kept his word and made lunch for Caleb, Amy, and Lyndy.

So, Amy, Caleb, and Sam got to talking over burgers and Sam admitted that lately, he has been feeling a little pointless himself.

When Amy questioned what Sam meant by that, he told Amy and Caleb about how, although, he bought Big River Ranch to get some privacy and peace, lately, Sam has been thinking that his life might be a little too quiet.

Luckily, Caleb and Amy were there for their friend and Caleb suggested that Sam help out at the rodeo school in order for Sam to feel part of something again. After all, Sam was a pro athlete once which meant that the rodeo school students would totally look up to Sam.

And with that settled (they even got an okay for Sam to volunteer at the rodeo school from Tim), they decided to enjoy their meal, and later Caleb and Amy thought Sam how to swing a rope to prepare him for his new volunteer position.

His horse

The other horse-related storyline of Heartland season 16 episode 3 had to do with Blue, the horse with cow sense Jack bought from Stumpy and gentled in episode 1509.

Since Jack bought it using Heartland Beef money, Tim was adamant about having Blue as a horse that they could loan out to hired ranch hands when the need arises. However, when Tim wanted to give his horse Champ a rest and insisted on riding Blue only to get thrown off soon after, Tim saw that Blue clearly won’t work for that purpose and started talking about selling Blue.

Jack, of course, refused, saying that Blue just needed the right rider. But Tim had a point, too.

Maybe Blue wasn’t the kind of horse you could pass around from rider to rider and just needed to go to a home where Blue would have one single rider the horse trusted. After all, what if Blue throws off somebody who seriously gets hurt? That could open Heartland Beef up for a lawsuit.

But, instead of trying to convince Jack some more, Tim, in a typical Tim fashion, devised a plan behind Jack’s back to find Blue a new home. Despite the fact that Jack already resolved to try and get Blue comfortable with other riders and Amy telling Tim that Blue isn’t just a ranch horse to Jack, he’s Jack’s horse.

What was the plan? Well, Tim told Jack that he hired Russ to help them sort heifers from steers, only Russ was actually a potential buyer for Blue.

Jack, of course, already sensed that something was up since he knew that they didn’t need the extra help. But Tim went on with his plan anyway. And because Jack thought that it was just a test to see how Blue does with another rider, he allowed Russ to help them.

However, as soon as Jack turned their backs on Tim and Russ, you could hear Russ marveling at how much of an impressive-looking horse Blue is.

Unfortunately for Tim, though, later in the day Russ wasn’t so subtle anymore and Jack heard Russ tell Tim that he could see what Tim was talking about when it comes to Blue being a great cattle horse.

So, the jig was up. Tim had to admit to Jack that Russ was there to check out Blue.

Jack felt ambushed by Tim’s plan, so he rode off to check the fence line in order to cool off and not yell at Tim right then and there.

Once Jack regained his temper, Jack and Tim talked. And Tim finally told Jack the real reason why he wanted to sell Blue.

It wasn’t so much that Blue could hurt someone else, it was about the potential of Blue hurting Jack.

That got Jack thinking. And although he did have to consider that possibility (later, he even told Tim that he appreciated his concern), Jack also trusted Blue. So, after Blue proved himself at the river (more on that later), Jack knew what he had to do.

Jack handed Tim a hundred bucks – the same amount Heartland Beef paid Stumpy for Blue – and officially made Blue his personal horse.

And the episode ended with Jack riding Blue to Paint’s final resting place (Jack’s horse that he had to put down in season 9 after Paint’s arthritis got so bad that the horse could barely stand) to introduce Blue to Paint.

Advice and adventure

Finally, the third big storyline of Heartland season 16 episode 3 was all about Katie and Logan taking that river rafting trip that was teased in the episode preview.

Early in the episode, we saw Katie and Parker having lunch at Maggie’s.

Katie was complaining to Parker about how she thinks that Lou is only calling her because she has to, not because Lou actually wants to connect with her daughter when Logan showed up.

Logan looked upset, so when Parker asked him what’s up, Logan admitted that his friend Myles bailed on their plans to celebrate their graduation by going rafting.

Parker and Katie knew how big of a deal graduating high school is, so Parker suggested that they celebrate by going on a picnic. Logan, of course, wasn’t super jazzed about a picnic, but he agreed anyway. However, Katie had an even better idea – why don’t the three of them go rafting?

Logan loved the idea, so he agreed. But Parker, ever the responsible one of the group, bowed out of the river rafting right off the bat telling Katie that not only she doesn’t have a death wish but also that Parker’s parents wouldn’t allow it anyway. And Parker doubted that Lou would be okay with Katie going, either.

Fortunately for Katie, Lou being in Vancouver and distracted by work emails during their nightly conversation meant that Lou wasn’t really listening to what Katie was saying. So, after Lou didn’t bat an eye when Katie told Lou that there was a roach in their fries at lunch, clearly not hearing what Katie was actually saying, Katie could easily ask Lou if she could go rafting with Logan without Lou even noticing what she actually agreed to.

Once Katie told Logan and Parker that Lou had actually agreed to her going, Logan was excited. And even though Parker tried to talk Katie out of going by listing how many people die on the water every year, it didn’t work.

Parker even tried to stop Katie from going by telling Katie that maybe she’s the one with a crush on Logan, but Katie rebuffed Parker by saying that she just wants to celebrate Logan’s grad by doing something special. And as a compromise, they would do the picnic Parker suggested at the spot where Katie and Logan plan on finishing their rafting adventure.

So, the day of the rafting trip came, and although Katie almost got caught by Lou who called her right before they got into the inflatable raft, Katie managed to convince Lou that she’s just going for a picnic with Parker and Logan. And Katie and Logan set off.

The start of the trip went well, the two were doing great and even got to talking about their parents not being the most attentive with Logan encouraging Katie to not shut Lou and Peter out.

But once they reached the spot where Parker was waiting for them, the two realized that they passed the pull-out spot and couldn’t get out of the river anymore. So, they had no choice but to go down the rapids.

However, the rapids were too much for the two to handle and they ended up crashing on a log and capsizing.

Luckily, there was another log for them to hold on to, but it didn’t seem like they would last long. So, Parker called Amy for help.

Amy and Sam, who was still with Amy learning to throw a rope, raced to the river but Jack, who Amy called on the way and who was closer, got there first.

After Logan helped Katie to not freak out and managed to get her to hold on for a bit longer, Jack arrived, threw his rope at Katie, and pulled her to the shore. Amy and Sam had arrived by that point, so Amy did the same and pulled Logan out of the rapids with Sam helping the two teens out of the water.

READ NEXT: Recap of Heartland season 16 episode 4

Katie and Logan were okay and their little rafting misadventure had ended without anybody getting hurt.

However, Katie did get in trouble for taking advantage of the situation when it comes to getting Lou’s permission to go rafting. So in the next episodes, we’ll probably see how that will impact Katie’s summer vacation and how much leeway Lou gives her from now on.

Last thoughts on Heartland season 16 episode 3

It was really interesting to see Caleb play cowboy cupid this episode and try to set Amy up with Sam.

We already saw the potential of a relationship between Amy and Sam last season, especially in episode 1508 when Sam seemed happy to see Amy at the bar with Lou. And this episode it seemed that Caleb finally caught on as well and was working overtime to make Amy see how nice of a guy Sam is.

However, both Sam and Amy told him to butt out of it.

First, Amy told Caleb to curb any urges for him to play matchmaker. And then Sam told Caleb to stop making things awkward when Caleb was suggesting to Sam that Amy and he were getting along pretty well as good friends and maybe even something more.

Therefore, even if Amy and Sam would become more than friends in the future, that would be solely up to them and have nothing to do with Caleb’s matchmaking efforts.

And speaking of romances, I appear to be way off when I said that there might be a romance brewing between Katie and Logan in the recap of episode 1602.

Katie herself told Parker that she sees Logan as more of a cool brother. So, those of you who were concerned about the age difference between the characters can rest easy, it looks like the show isn’t pushing a romance between Logan and Katie.

Promo for Heartland season 16 episode 4

And here’s the preview of the next episode:

Titled “Spark to Flame”, the episode will see the unexpected return of Finn Cotter. While Jack and Tim will win Hudson’s Entrepreneur of the Year award, which will not only cause problems for Lou but will also lead to somebody from Tim’s tracking him down.