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Did anyone catch the program on Dish the other night about Buck Brannaman?

Not too much about him,but part of the program had a palomino stud that some woman brought. A real nigthmare. She had raised it from bottle feeding. He back footed roped him and work a little and had his helper saddle and get on him.This horse was charging, striking, kicking, etc, trying to bite,the whole program.

After they unsaddled it, the helper was in the round pen doing a little work and the horse charge him, knocked him down and bit him on the head. Clean down to the bone requiring stitches.Nasty.

After that, they had the good sense to just drive it back into the trailer and callit quits.

Turns out,this woman had about 16-18 studs at home,not doing anything with them and the guy gave her the real what for. Of course she ended up crying, and said she would have to put the horse down.

This was an award-winning documentary that premiered at Sundance about a year ago then came to national theaters last summer. I saw it first here in our wonderful old-fashioned movie theater then purchased a DVD. It's a very good film. Could have been done better, but good just the same.
I first got a report on the film from my friend Charley, the saddlemaker and horse clinician who is a friend of Buck's. Charley told me about the palomino stud. My first thought was: "I know that woman!" Turns out this was a different woman. But some years back I pastured some yearlings and two-year-olds for a guy who said he was in a breeding program with a lady. It was the lady who came to pick them up. She told me she owned (get ready for this) THIRTEEN STALLIONS OF THIRTEEN DIFFERENT BREEDS.
When it came time to jump these loose horses into her trailer (they were not halter-broke) I told her not to step in front of them because they were likely to turn around and come back the first time or two.
Sure enough, we took them down an alley, they got to the big gooseneck and all turned around. This lady -- she was in her late 40s or early 50s and weighed about 120 pounds -- stepped in front of them and coaxed: "No babies, no babies. Turn around, babies."
Well, you guessed it. They treated her like a pinball. When I picked her off the ground she was dazed but unhurt.

I don't mean to offend any women here,but those type drift in and out of the horse world and God must surely look out for them.

She should put the horse down and she can thank herself for that. hard to imagine she had enough sense to know it. people in the breeding business with no more understanding than they look so cute when their babies should really reconsider.

I worked ten years as an Animal Control Officer in the City of Calgary. We were also Inspectors under the Stray Animals Act. If there was loose livestock in the city, we handled it. You would not believe how many horses I handled that had never been halter trained or transported in a trailer. We did have some rodeos.

I remember being thanked by a woman for capturing her foal (1-2 years old) during rush hour. She did a double take when she realized it was wearing a halter and was snubbed up to a fence post(My trailer hadn't arrived yet. My dispatcher had started calling livestock owners in the area and found her.)She asked "How did you get a halter on it, it's never been halter trained?"

I didn't answer her, because I didn't want to tell her that it had very nearly been fatal to the foal. As the foal (mom was easy to catch)ran up and down the ditch of a narrow, heavily travelled road, it was roped and snubbed to a post. The foal kept running and hit the end of the rope, causing it to flip on it's back. The lariat had cinched down very tight, (think the neck 1/3 normal diameter)and I couldn't get the hondo to release. The foal had passed out and I was digging out my pocket knife to saw through the rope when the hondo was released and the foal was finally able to take a big gasp of air. When he recovered sufficiently, he stood quietly next to mom.

Awww, memories! Many rodeos with untrained horses.

Like saddlesore, I don't mean to offend the fairer sex, but I was contacted a few days ago by a writer from Boston who is pursuing a story about the "feminization of the horse industry." She and I will talk later this week. Anyway, she was alerted to the possibility of this story when she went to her local feed store to buy feed for her two donkeys and realized the feed was now packaged in 40lb bags rather than 50 lb. bags. The feed store owner told her this was happening because the majority of horse owners was now female and the smaller bag was easier for them to handle. Not sure how deep that goes, but it is an interesting concept.

I have the movie here at home but haven't watched it yet, but my wife liked it. We worked for a while at a ranch near Libby that is featured in the movie, the owner is a goood friend of Buck's. I didn't go for the hero worship that went on there for the man, but he is one hell of an impressive horseman.

Have seen the movie and read both the books. The movie was okay- telling the story of Buck Brannaman. Not much info on horse training ... more so on his people training. His first book "The Far Away Horses" is a decent read. "Believe", the second book is more geared to as was said above hero worship.

Have watched his horse training videos and they are informative. A very talented man who does not dwell too much on his rough upbringing....unfortunatly those who produce movies/books do dwell on his past.

Having attended clinics in the past, being the only guy is not all that uncommon. Seeing the make up of 4H and pony clubs the gals keeping the equestrian interest going is what keep the feed stores open. On the work or money side of the sport the guys show up in numbers.
The feminization of the sport/life style may be its saving grace. Like one sees in shooting sports numbers are important - gender not so much.

I think the 40lb bags have more to do with profit than lifting. Around here, Big R, the local fram store charges as much as 50 lb bags elsewhere. Figure it out and that is 20% more profit.

Sort'a like the 13 oz cans of coffee instead of 1 lb can.

On the same note, recently there was an article in Western Mule by a gal close to me, complaining about the dangers of high lines and she stated that everyone should just tie to a tree.( Like that is legal) Her problem was she had the drop lines too long. Then she commenced to expound on the attributes of an electric enclosure in the back country. Obviously never encountering a herd of elk, a moose, or a bear coming thru camp at night running all the stock thru the hot wire and to God knows where. Her back country was just west of Colorado Springs,west of Pikes Peak where there are a lot of those 40 acre ranchettes. Then ended it by saying,"if I can just educate one person into not injuring thier mules,I have done my job"
I figure the next article will be "it's for the kids"

Hope Ladymulerider will chime in.I know what she will say. That gal's the real deal.

I have the video here at home, the 'Mrs' enjoys it and has watched it twice, I agree with the hero worship comments.
We have horses and have been to two of Buck's clinics.

I thought the episode with the dangerous palomino was not necessary for the story, and Buck getting stiff with it's owner was just so much drama.

I purchased the video for the Mrs to watch whenever but for any one else, borrow or rent it (once would be enough).

Was this movie made before or after he had his wreck (horse training)?

I watched it on Netflix.

I liked that Buck was straight with that lady. How many folks would be frank with someone paying to come to their class?

The "horse ladies" are a menace. Many are also hoarders. And a lot of the clinicians are just as bad. They've trained some horses in an arena and are now cowboys from way back.

I'll bet the smaller feed bags are partly for profit. But I also know some horse hay dealers that want pretty green, lightweight bales. Because they are appealing to women.

Boy I see that a lot around these parts, I know one personally. 90% of the horse hoarders I know can't afford to keep one,yet alone a whole herd of them.

There was a family living up the road in a subdivision. The husband was elderly and the wife had a severe kidney disease. They kept three or four fillies in the corral and did nothing with them. Actually, weren't capable of doing anything with them. Then one Spring the husband went to town during our famous Bucking Horse Sale and purchased a stud horse that bucked in the sale -- obviously he did not buck well -- for $90 and brought him home and turned him in with the fillies. Fortunately, in the end, no one was hurt, but ...

The better clinicians have developed good people skills - the harder part of the gig according to the two that I have asked... He told that woman what she needed to hear in a manner that she listened to. No sugar coating - refreshing to hear in this pc age.

There are some things you can't sugar coat. That horse was going to kill somebody, it was only a matter of time.

I'm sure not denying that a lot of these clinicians know a lot about horse training. However, I think about 75%, maybe more, are entertainers. Hence the "People Skills". Brannaman alluded to this when he stated that in early days,he was just mimicing Ray Hunt and had to find his own niche.

Personal experience of mine. I met Pat Parellie back in the early 80's at Bishop Ca,when he was selling home made vidoes out of an extra rented stall and giving bridleless mule riding demonstrations. I still have some of those tapes and his training methods have taken a completely different path. He switched to horses as he was not making a living using mules.He also switched wives along the way.

About the same time,Meridith Hodges came on the scene,out of CA and established a mule training business near Loveland CO. Her only claim to fame was she was the daughter of Charles Schutz, of the Peanuts comic strip. She brought some good donkey stock with her and did in fact do some darn good mule breeding. She was one of the ones who really brought about the idea of breeding good mares to good jacks to get even bettr saddle mules. A concept that had taken hold in CA, but was a long time reaching CO.

I am a little bit older than her and have watched her progess thru the mule breeding, training, and promotion of mules. She is no doubt, one of THE authoritive voices on the subject now days.

However in the mid 80's I sent a darn good walker mule for her to finish out as I was traveling a lot that year and my wife needed a classier mule to continue her competitions. The mule cost $1200 and the training was $600/month for 3 months.(Lot of money for us back then.) The mule came back a bucker, laid my wife up for 6 months with a smashed leg and ended her riding career.The mule ended up with an outfitter and the 1st time out he put a gal on that was bucked off and had to be air lifted out.

I tell this because Meridiths training techniques have reversed about 180 degrees since then and she puts a lot more emphasis on gettng inside the mules head.

I have found this to be true of a lot of these clinicians today and think that many of the younger ones getting into it will fall into the same category. Not that they are wrong, but there is no way of being in the busines for 5 years or so that the person is going to come across all the different problems of a lot of different horses(or mules. Basic principals will apply, but each animal is a case unto itself. Throw the mule equation into it and it is more so.

Combine that little bit of experience with these gals who think ther horses are thier babies and you have real recipe for disaster.

A few years ago I helped a friend of mine running some basic horse skills training weekends. The first weekend I worked with him we had a woman bring a four year old thoroughbred in a brand new trailer, towed by a brand new truck, with all brand new gear.
She had never had anything to do with horses but decided that she liked them and wanted to ride so she spent more money than I made in two years getting the one she thought looked nicest and all the new gear.
She was a danger to herself because she had no idea and really didn't want to listen to anyone. She bought the horse right from the track, the guy who sold it to her told her it's no good for racing, and sold it to her for $25000.
By lunchtime on the first day I told her the best thing she could do would be to put the horse down and adopt a child because if she kept treating the horse like a baby it would end up hurting her. She made us load her horse in her trailer and took it home, two weeks later she ended up in hospital after the horse reared and struck her in the head.

People in the industry also need to take responsibility for a lot of the disasters that happen because it's them who sell horses to a lot of these stupid owners without any thought for anything except making money.

I really don't see how selling a horse makes someone responsible for a new owners lack of common sense.

For whatever reason people that own horses seem the least likely to accept good advice about how to do something better.

We agree there Richard.There are no prerequistes for buying and owning a horse.Sort of like kids,lot'as folks should not have them but they do.