7 Clinics with Buck Brannaman

Buck Brannaman:
I don't use gimmicks. I can get it done with my hands and feet.

Buck Brannaman:
On a green horse, one that's kind of troubled, I might let them cuddle up to me because it's not a disrespect, they're looking for some support and comfort. But then gradually I know part of the process is that I put him back on the end of the led rope and say, see if you can stay out there and still feel my comfort from out there. But I won't ask him to stay for long. I work my way toward everything I get in small increments, a little bit at a time.

Buck Brannaman:
At first on a horse that really has no idea what you're looking for, you need to be able to go from pressure to a release, which in that case is NO pressure. It's really not a confusing thing, it's just people don't want to listen or don't want to let go. And they'll say, I do release. Well going from 50lbs. prying on a horse to 40lbs. is not a release-you can find another way to describe it, but it's not a gray area. Release means just what it is NO pressure.

Betty Staley:
If people can't dial back down, that's where they really start to make mistakes. It's real easy to dial up your energy & dial up a discipline and not dial back down when the horse is doing ok. That's the difference between good horsemen, they get in, they get out. They do it once, they get out.

Buck Brannaman:
All the groundwork that I do you can find a parallel to it with something that I do when I ride the horse.

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:
It goes beyond the mechanical to a feel. You start by having the horse operate through a feel & you start to realize these things you've been told a hundred times of doing less and seeing how little it takes to get the horse to do something. That operating from a feel is a whole different thing than mechanically thrashing around.