Buck Brannaman Quotes

My expertise lies in what I've devoted my life to. I wouldn't pretend to be a great gift to any other animal. My interest has always been in the horses.

There have been so many times over the years where people have said "Man, I thought I was just coming to this deal to get a little handier with my horse" and I'll say "Well, in the beginning, I thought that's all you were coming for too. But it turns out it's about something else."

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.

The horse is a mirror to your soul... and sometimes you might not like what you see in the mirror.

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.

You try to do as little as you can, but you need to do as much as is necessary to get a result. When you get a result, you do less.

I'm still on the move, I'm getting better because I'm still studying. I still want to be a better horseman.

The road may bend out of sight at times, but I know what lies ahead: the faraway horses.

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.

Whether it's horses or whatever it is you do, it doesn't become an art until your soul goes into what you do.

Horses aren't lazy and they're not greedy and they're not jealous and they're not spiteful, they're not hateful. They're not that way. But the human can sometimes only describe a horse in the way that they view other human beings.

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

You allow a horse to make mistakes, the horse will learn from mistakes no different than the human. But you can't get him to where he dreads making mistakes for fear of what's going to happen after he does.

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

Timing is everything.

They say nerves heal real slowly. Lots of things about us heal real slowly.

You don't have contempt for a horse that's troubled. Everybody has baggage, everybody has things that they've had to deal with in their life, and it can be something positive depending on how you use it.

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.

When you see a horse that’s troubled, you sort of feel sorry for them, yet that doesn’t mean that you wouldn’t still ask the horse to behave and find a way to fit in and respond to you as well.

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

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

If the human isn’t responsible for their role in the horse human relationship, horses just don’t get along very well. So that’s why I say it’s all about the human meeting the bill to fit the horse in any given situation. But don’t expect the horse to always fit the human.

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

Kind of where you end up your ride on a horse is so important. It's a little bit like when you guys were younger & you were dating, that last two minutes of the date can be a real deal breaker. With these horses it's the same thing you know? You got to quit on a good note.

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.

Horses are very sensitive and perceptive. You don't have to be physical with them.

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

Everything you do with a horse is a dance.

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.

You might measure your approach to a horse the same way as your approach to people because there are going to be some horses, like some people, who might be inclined to tune you out.

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.

Most people don't realize how little it takes to get a horse to move.

I’m just trying to get people to understand horses. You have to be consistent and logical, use your brain, and not be emotional and not lose your temper.

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

Someone who doesn't know anything about the ways of the horse could be fooled into thinking the approach is all cosmic or mystical. It's not. Anybody can do it who has a passion to do it and has put in enough time. These people are horsemen and horsewomen, not whisperers.

If I had a horse buck with me now, I’m a little disappointed. It’s not the end of the world, but I’m a little disappointed if I couldn’t keep the horse out of trouble, whereas it used to be a source of pride, and now it’s sort of source of shame if I let the horse get lost.

My teachers used to tell me you need to learn to adjust to fit the situation. Don't just do what you've always done because it might not always work.

Gentle in what you do, Firm in how you do it

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.

As far as horses go, people will ask about one breed versus another. I have to tell you, I really don't have any prejudice one way or another. I treat every horse at face value, how he/she is as an individual.

I realized that there are some things about all of us, no matter where we're from, that we are connected and we are all still humans, and we are all still looking for the same sort of contentment in our life in one way or another. Some people are searching a little harder than others, granted. But we're not so different.

You get that horse to really operate as if he’s your legs and you can take that anywhere you want. You can dress up in any kind of clothes you like. You can be a jumper, dressage rider, trail rider, cowboy, anything.

You're trying to figure out a way to meet a horse to where he can understand. And to me, it's not to train a horse, it's to try to get the horse with you where it's one mind and one body. You may spend your whole life chasing that, but it's a good thing to chase.

A horse can have a job and not be a slave. He can look forward to it and enjoy it. That's the same for me.

In nature this animal would have nothing to do with you. "Natural horsemanship" is just words. It's not natural at all. There's an abundance of trust that must be developed for you. Imagine if humans were that pliable.

Most people think of a feel as when you touch something or someone and what it feels like to your fingers but, a feel can have a thousand different definitions. Sometimes feel is a mental thing. Sometimes feel can happen clear ‘cross the arena. Sort of an invitation from the horse to come to you.

There are no problem horses, only problem riders.

There's an ancient bond that still exists today between horses and humans, it is even there with people that have never ridden a horse or been around horses. The horse is what settled the entire west. If it weren’t for the horse they’d probably be only a couple hundred miles from where they started. A lot of people don’t realize how much they owe the horse because it’s not so much a part of our culture right now as it used to be.