Buck

A good leader is intuitive, and extends a clear invitation to the other to join. Firmness is necessary when met with rebellion, but the goal is always a collaboration in which the listening and following ultimately becomes a dance. Trust is essential in any partnership. It is developed through consistent leadership, resulting in joy. With trust comes learning and miracles occur naturally.

 

Buck Brannaman’s abusive childhood features in this documentary, paralleling a similar attitude towards the “breaking” of horses that was typically considered normal horsemanship.

 

The ego demands and commands in order to have a position of dominance, and this was all Buck knew of horsemanship until he encountered a “horse whisperer,” who operated through kindness and genuine connection. Deeply impelled by the connection he witnessed, Buck became a horse whisperer himself and dedicated his life to teaching “another way.” Buck teaches the many horse owners who come to his four-day clinics that horses are a “mirror of your soul,” and being mirrors, “They sometimes show you what you don’t want to see inside yourself.”

 

Buck has an immediate and transformational effect on almost every horse and rider he comes in contact with. Horses are clearly his pathway to God, and it is his joy to teach the equality of the Spirit, and to immerse in the glory of the “dance” with the beloved.