Buck Brannaman Quotes
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Horses are incredibly forgiving. They fill in places we're not capable of filling ourselves.
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Horses are very keen on body language, and what I refer to as “presence”, and expression. They know quite a bit about you before you ever get to ‘em. They can read things about you clear across an arena.
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I often tell people that I truly want the horse to be my feet and legs. I want to be an extension of the horse and him to be an extension of me. That's what I'm always working toward when I'm on a horse.
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Controlling your emotions is the biggest challenge for a horseman.
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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.
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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.
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Horses are very sensitive and perceptive. You don't have to be physical with them.
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That’s my credo - My work is play. I don’t complain about work. I enjoy it. I like the feeling of being able to lay down at night and you’re so doggone tired, you’re just hoping to get undressed before you fall asleep.
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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.
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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.
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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."
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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.
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When you find that the horse is compelled and interested in you, something in you changes. That can be healing or move you deeply.
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If you miss the beginning, the basics, then you are destined to go back and visit the basics.
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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.
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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.
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Theoretically, the human is supposed to be the smart one. Well, if we are, then we need to be able to adjust to fit the situation rather than just think "Well this is how you work with horses. I've done this on 500 just like you."
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Whether one was going to have a horse, or a dog, or a child, with that comes a great responsibility to raise them.
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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.
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When riding, ask yourself what will my horse get out of it if I get what I want? Many times, human nature is to take and to not give anything back.
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My work is my play. I found a way to make my passion to be the same as how I make a living.
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There's a difference between mastering something physical and working with an animal. There's a spiritual component to working with a horse. You're dealing with the spirit of a live animal that thinks and makes decisions.
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Once I get the horse where he’s responding and working for ya and has a good frame of mind and a good attitude, it’s not just the horse that needs fixing. It’s the human that needs fixing and it’s the human that created that in the first place.
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Horses don’t think the same as humans. Something that’s most unique about the horse, that I love, is not what he possesses but what he doesn’t possess. And that is greed, spite, hate, jealousy, envy, prejudice. The horse doesn’t possess any of those things. If you think about people, the least desirable people to be around usually possess some or all of those things. And the way God made the horse, he left that out.