Best Buck Brannaman Quotes & Sayings

Horses are consistent and logical. The horse will do what is easiest for him. If you make it easy for him to buck you off, kick you, and run away, that's just what he's going to do. And more power to him. But if you make it easy for the horse to be relaxed and calm and accurate - and also have it be a beautiful dance between you and the horse - it won't be too long before he'll be hunting for that just as hard as you are. Whatever you make easy for the horse, that's what he's going to get good at. — Buck Brannaman

Not all horses are going to be show jumpers, not all horses are going to be dressage horses. So you have to sort of find where the horse physically fits into what might suit him, but all horses can be comfortable and all horses can have good, solid fundamentals. — Buck Brannaman

I've often told people who ask if there is a God: Get around enough people with horses and see what happens. See how they survive in spite of all the things they do, and you'll become a believer! — Buck Brannaman

My daughter's all grown up now compared to what she was, but I used to say, I've got to have my horse to where if she's leading my horse somewhere, and she's got a big armload of Barbies and drops something out of her hand, that son of a buck ought to stop and respect her while she's gathering up all her dolls and not to walk on her or take advantage of her. And if I've done my work right, by gosh, that's what they'll do. — Buck Brannaman

There is something in the human psyche that there is a connection between horses and humans, a real special kind of a thing, and I guess it's always been there. I hope it will always be there, I hope we don't evolve past that. — Buck Brannaman

Think of the horse as your partner.and it's all one great dance.
That's not to say it's always going to be easy or you won't have to work through issues.
But when a horse is troubled or uncomfortable in our world, rather than show contempt for him, you must demonstrate empathy and work to convince him that you mean him no harm.
You have some things that you'd like him to do 'with you', as opposed to 'for you'- and the best way to do that is as partners. — Buck Brannaman

One of the biggest challenges of a horsemen is to be able tot control your emotions. — Buck Brannaman

The horse is a gift to us, to humanity. And for that, there comes responsibility. If the horse is gonna work for you and work with you, then the best thing I can do for the horse is to make it as good a life possible. — Buck Brannaman

The horse can just be a great vehicle for some people to overcome things in their life that they might not be able to overcome otherwise. — Buck Brannaman

Solutions to problems often come from knowing when to ask for help. — Buck Brannaman

Once you have seen quality horsemanship and are exposed to the things you can do to help a horse be gentle and dependable, then why wouldn't you do those things? No matter what your horse's age, you are going to try to offer him the best that you can. If you adjust what you are doing, he will adjust too; horses have an amazing capacity to make changes. There is always hope. — Buck Brannaman

I've always wanted to do the right thing by a horse, that's never changed, its just that as my knowledge grew I've been able to offer the horse a better human being, as time has gone on. — Buck Brannaman

And for a lot of people, they want it all to be fuzzy and warm and cosmic, but it's no different with a horse than with a kid ... You can't always be the kid's best friend. First you have to be the parent. — Buck Brannaman

I don't believe in waiting for a horse to do the wrong thing and then punishing him after the fact. You can't just say no to a horse. You have to redirect a negative behavior with a positive one, something that works for both of you. It's as though you're saying - instead of doing that, we can do this together. — Buck Brannaman

I take the horsemanship very seriously and I treat it with the same integrity that one would any of the fine arts. — Buck Brannaman

The horse seems to wanna please the human and so many times if the human isn't much of a leader well then the horse has gotta do it's own thinking. The horse isn't really designed very well to be the leader but just because the horse is responding to ya, I don't really think of it as it succumbing to you. I think it's more of the horse sort of joining you, being more of a partner. — Buck Brannaman

Simply put; I'm trying to see what I can get done with the horse without him being troubled about doing it. — Buck Brannaman

The horse responds to comfort, they respond to peace better than about anything else you could do. All he wants you to do is just leave him alone. So if the horse responds to you and you give him a little peace and comfort that means more to him than anything. — Buck Brannaman

The horse needs to respect you, but sometimes people confuse respect & fear. And they're not the same at all. — Buck Brannaman

It is all about the quality of the communication, not the quantity. — Buck Brannaman

Controlling your emotions is the biggest challenge for a horseman. — Buck Brannaman

Horses are incredibly forgiving. They fill in places we're not capable of filling ourselves. — Buck Brannaman

You have to plan ahead so that rather then seek revenge for the horse's misbehavior, you see his aggressive behavior shaping up and can redirect it. You change his mind before he's acted and move on to something else. — Buck Brannaman

Some guys make their careers off one horse; kind of a trick horse, a wonder horse. I'm not knocking that, but for me I'm trying to get better and study. That means taking out new horses. It's a life study. When I've finished a horse, I turn him out and basically stop riding him, except taking him to the occasional branding so I can enjoy him. — Buck Brannaman

When you find that the horse is compelled and interested in you, something in you changes. That can be healing or move you deeply. — Buck Brannaman

A lot of times, rather than helping people with horse problems, I'm helping horses with people problems. — Buck Brannaman

All your horse looks for is the thing that matters most, peace and contentment. Give it to him. — Buck Brannaman

My work is my play. I found a way to make my passion to be the same as how I make a living. — Buck Brannaman

It's a matter of timing and of patience. Although it may seem nothing is happening on the surface, there may yet be profound changes occurring a little deeper. Waiting isn't bad. — Buck Brannaman

There are things that the horse did for me that a human couldn't have done. — Buck Brannaman

When you first get started, you're the only one with a vision. When you become creative and use your imagination, pretty soon the things you imagined, you can get done. If you got a taste of it, if you got a taste of what I'm talking about, you'd rather do that than eat. You couldn't get enough of it. You'll hunger for it the rest of your life. — Buck Brannaman

Nobody has to lose for me to succeed and that is a unique job. Everybody wins, horse wins, people win, I win. — Buck Brannaman

That's the cool thing about horses - they don't have prejudice. They don't care if you're tall or thin or if you're dark or if you're light, or if you're rich or you're poor, if you're handsome or not so handsome. — Buck Brannaman

By the time you've had a relationship with a horse for a while, there are characteristics in the way the horse behaves with you and around you and responds to you that are directly (related) to some of your traits as a human being ... whether it's insecurity or aggression or fear or hate. — Buck Brannaman

With the horses, you can't let them call the shot part of the time and then you call the shot part of the time. They're not really designed to be your leader, but they can be a great partner, but you need to lead, and they need to respect you and respond with respect. Don't think of respect as a dirty word. You need to respect them as well. — Buck Brannaman

The horse is so honest ... they live in the moment. And what they do, whether they need to protect themselves or whether they need to accept you really is directly relative to how you make them feel. — Buck Brannaman

With the horse I always consider that if I do too much in too little time and I'm not patient, he's gonna shut down and I won't get anything done. — Buck Brannaman

When you're younger, you ride with 90% physical and 10% mental. But if you could learn how to use 90% mental and 10% physical you'd be better off. — Buck Brannaman