Buck Brannaman
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.Collection: Horse
I don't want the horse to get trained, because training the horse is absolutely finite. But if you get the horse to where he operates as if to be your legs, an extension of you, you've far-exceeded that whole training notion.Collection: Horse
The horse is a great equalizer, he doesn't care how good looking you are, or how rich you are or how powerful you are-- he takes you for how you make him feel.Collection: Horse
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.Collection: Jealousy
Whether it's horses or whatever it is you do, it doesn't become an art until your soul goes into what you do.Collection: Art
The horse is a gift to us, to humanity. And for that, there comes responsibility. If the horse is gonna work for you and work with you, then the best thing I can do for the horse is to make it as good a life possible.Collection: Horse
Horses are incredibly forgiving. They fill in places we're not capable of filling ourselves.Collection: Horse
It is all about the quality of the communication, not the quantity.Collection: Communication
Discipline isn't a dirty word. Far from it. Discipline is the one thing that separates us from chaos and anarchy. Discipline implies timing. It's the precursor to good behavior, and it never comes from bad behavior. People who associate discipline with punishment are wrong: with discipline, punishment is unnecessary.Collection: Dirty
The horse is a mirror to your soul... and sometimes you might not like what you see in the mirror.Collection: Horse
When you find that the horse is compelled and interested in you, something in you changes. That can be healing or move you deeply.Collection: Horse
When you first get started, you're the only one with a vision. When you become creative and use your imagination, pretty soon the things you imagined, you can get done. If you got a taste of it, if you got a taste of what I'm talking about, you'd rather do that than eat. You couldn't get enough of it. You'll hunger for it the rest of your life.Collection: Talking
It’s not about how much pressure you put on, it’s how good you are at taking it off.Collection: Pressure
The horse is so honest.... they live in the moment. And what they do, whether they need to protect themselves or whether they need to accept you really is directly relative to how you make them feel.Collection: Horse
The horse can just be a great vehicle for some people to overcome things in their life that they might not be able to overcome otherwise.Collection: Horse
I don't believe in waiting for a horse to do the wrong thing and then punishing him after the fact. You can't just say no to a horse. You have to redirect a negative behavior with a positive one, something that works for both of you. It's as though you're saying - instead of doing that, we can do this together.Collection: Horse
There are things that the horse did for me that a human couldn't have done.Collection: Horse
Gentle in what you do, Firm in how you do itCollection: Gentle
Solutions to problems often come from knowing when to ask for help.Collection: Knowing
Horses are consistent and logical. The horse will do what is easiest for him. If you make it easy for him to buck you off, kick you, and run away, that’s just what he’s going to do. And more power to him. But if you make it easy for the horse to be relaxed and calm and accurate — and also have it be a beautiful dance between you and the horse — it won’t be too long before he’ll be hunting for that just as hard as you are. Whatever you make easy for the horse, that’s what he’s going to get good at.Collection: Beautiful
With a horse, if you make it easy for him to do the right thing, that's what he will logically do, but it's not necessarily true with the human. You will see humans that will beat their heads against the wall rather than open the door and walk through it.Collection: Horse
The horse responds to comfort, they respond to peace better than about anything else you could do. All he wants you to do is just leave him alone. So if the horse responds to you and you give him a little peace and comfort that means more to him than anything.Collection: Horse
It's a matter of timing and of patience. Although it may seem nothing is happening on the surface, there may yet be profound changes occurring a little deeper. Waiting isn't bad.Collection: Profound
You can't look forward and backward at the same time...........so I choose to look forward.Collection: Looks
Simply put; I'm trying to see what I can get done with the horse without him being troubled about doing it.Collection: Horse
On a horse there is a perfect position of balance where he doesn't feel like he's pushing you along with him or dragging you along with him. It's like two converging currents in a river, where those currents converge, there is a point where there is no movement, no energy; and that's what you're thinking when you're on the back of a horse.Collection: Horse
You can't make something happen with a horse, but you can fix things up and let it happen.Collection: Horse
There are things that change all through your life the way you deal with people, the way you approach problems.Collection: People
I just spend my life driving down the road, training horses and helping people.Collection: Horse
One of the biggest challenges of a horsemen is to be able tot control your emotions.Collection: Challenges
You want your kids to feel happy and good about themselves. The rest they'll work out on their own. You never know what your kids will be drawn to.Collection: Kids
You have to plan ahead so that rather then seek revenge for the horse's misbehavior, you see his aggressive behavior shaping up and can redirect it. You change his mind before he's acted and move on to something else.Collection: Horse
Don't get on a horse that's moving.Collection: Horse
I’m just trying to get people to understand horses. You have to be consistent and logical, use your brain, and not be emotional and not lose your temper.Collection: Horse
Not all horses are going to be show jumpers, not all horses are going to be dressage horses. So you have to sort of find where the horse physically fits into what might suit him, but all horses can be comfortable and all horses can have good, solid fundamentals.Collection: Horse
It's a process and it's a matter of understanding the horse and through any of these little projects you have a beginning, a middle and an end. And if you made up your mind early when he's still scared, you'd think that wasn't working at all. Sometimes it might get darker, before it gets dawn. You might have to work at it a little bit in order for it to come out the other side.Collection: Horse
Doing something right once in a while will far surpass anything done wrong more often.Collection: Done
You can't think of everything in life your horse might encounter that might make him afraid so you'd better prepare em for it in other ways.Collection: Horse
When you see a horse that’s troubled, you sort of feel sorry for them, yet that doesn’t mean that you wouldn’t still ask the horse to behave and find a way to fit in and respond to you as well.Collection: Horse
Most people don't realize how little it takes to get a horse to move.Collection: Horse
I started to realize that things would come much easier for me once I learned why a horse does what he does. This method works well for me because of the kinship that develops between horse and rider.Collection: Horse
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.Collection: Horse
My expertise lies in what I've devoted my life to. I wouldn't pretend to be a great gift to any other animal. My interest has always been in the horses.Collection: Horse
In life, we don't know why things happen. I believe God is not responsible for the bad things that happen to you. Sometimes I think He's responsible for the good things, but sometimes it's something you shape up for yourself.Collection: Believe
I'm still on the move, I'm getting better because I'm still studying. I still want to be a better horseman.Collection: Moving
I help horses with people problemsCollection: Horse
Once you have seen quality horsemanship and are exposed to the things you can do to help a horse be gentle and dependable, then why wouldn't you do those things? No matter what your horse's age, you are going to try to offer him the best that you can. If you adjust what you are doing, he will adjust too; horses have an amazing capacity to make changes. There is always hope.Collection: Horse
I've often told people who ask if there is a God: Get around enough people with horses and see what happens. See how they survive in spite of all the things they do, and you'll become a believer!Collection: Horse
The comforting thing to the horse is, is as you become more and more accurate, he knows you’re aware of him, and pretty soon because of that he’s aware of you more and more of the time.Collection: Horse