Buck, the Documentary
Over the weekend the heat index was off the charts, to escape that we decided to watch a movie. Buck Brannaman’s story is the focus of this documentary, detailing his life and how he came to be such a respected horse trainer. He travels around the country setting up clinics to share his knowledge of training with gentle touch. In watching this documentary I learned a lot of insight, not only into how he works with horses but how his gentle intuitive behavior translates into human relations.
The documentary’s intention might not have been to make you more reflective on your life or past history but for me it did, I left the theater overcome with emotion. Buck’s life starts out working with his father and brother learning how to become a trick roper. In his younger years he is a roping sensation, even earning a placement in a commercial for cereal. Unfortunately his father is an abusive alcoholic, due to that abuse he is removed from the family home at the age of six and raised by a wonderful foster family. Both situations, his birth family and foster family, centers around horses, his new foster-father is a farrier, a person who shoes horses, buck learns the trade as he bonds with the family.
Buck steps into a ring to work with horses he has only met moments ago, or what seems like moments, it could be editing but at times it is obviously not the case, he is guiding animals though touch and instinct instead of using a firmness that most tend to use. He describes the gentle touch technique, it is natural to react to aggressive behavior in a protective manner but with gentleness you teach trust and with trust you build a partnership with the horse who then becomes an extension of yourself. He talks about his life and you know that he understands how abusive impacts behavior, you know he has brought his past into his training style. In one part of this documentary he says that you build respect from trust and not from aggression or by demanding it. That was something I have always believed in, something I had always taught my son, when he said that I felt an immediate connection.
This documentary is worth watching, even if you aren’t a horsemen, as it shares so much more than training horses. There is a lot to learn in watching how Buck interacts with everything in his life, you leave with a greater respect for his work and with a deeper understanding on how patience and kindness towards others changes the dynamic of any relationship.
There are many quotes and insights from this movie I would love to remember and share but will leave you with this one. Buck was raised in an abusive relationship, many people would carry that behavior forward into their lives but he chose to break the chain, ending the abuse with his father. That is my life as well, growing up in an alcoholic household, not with physical abuse but instead with emotional and mental abuse, I also chose to break that chain moving forward. I also chose to break the chain on obesity and in doing so have chosen to live a life that was a complete 180 from the way I was raised. Perhaps that is why I was so emotional as I walked out of that theater as this movie spoke to me personally, I felt a calm peace wash over me, something the horses he works with must feel when they realize they are walking with a gentle soul for the first time.
For more on this movie you can see the FoxNews article giving further detail.
