Buck, the movie

"Your horse is a mirror to your soul, and

sometimes you may not like what you see."

Buck Brannaman

Well, that's a depressing quote when your horse "acts up." Could it be my soul? Troubled horse owners travel to Brannaman clinics all over the county and line up to pay $500 to have him point out their failings as trainers and human beings. But he does it with a Mark Twain type of intelligence and wit. He works hard for his money, too-- he has ranch in Wyoming but he's out on the road most of the year.

The documentary called Buck won the Audience Award at Sundance this year, and it's just been released on DVD. Buck Brannaman was the inspiration behind Robert Redford's 1998 Horse Whisperer movie. Buck is about horses, but it also tells the story of his abusive childhood and the foster parents who raised him. Buck said that if his foster parents had felt sorry for him and treated him as special, he would have become spoiled. He points out that a horse can become spoiled too. When his parents took him in, they provided direction and discipline along with caring and support - not with harsh force, but the kind that says, “Not that; do this instead.”

This is the essence of how he trains horses. Buck says, “That time in my life, from the first day on the Shirley’s ranch, made me understand the needs of horses that have been treated poorly and are scared or troubled. You can’t just fix things by showing them love while doing nothing with them. You have to give them some direction, a purpose, a job. They need something to do, a direction to take, a vision of the future so that the past eventually becomes irrelevant.”

Even if you're not interested in horses, this documentary is fun to watch and has something for everyone.