I can't say anything about Buck as I have never
attended his clinics. I have seen some on tape and read his book, but that is
about it.
He does seem to follow the same philosophies as Ray
Hunt and I can say something about Mr. Hunt.
I have the most respect for that man and the way he
works with horses. However, the way he comes across to people can be a little
hard to take. I took a four day clinic with him which I still can't talk about.
As blunt and honest as he was, and believe me, he was BLUNT, he was the most
truthful teacher I have ever had. And, the truth hurts. As soon as that clinic
was over with, I got my horse loaded and got the hell out of there as fast as I
could. I was never so glad to leave anything that involved horses in my life.
Now that time has passed, and my boy is gelded, I
see how right Mr. Hunt was. I could see how right he was with other riders at
the clinic, but it took awhile for it to sink into me about my mistakes. Once
the cloak of humiliation lifted, I could see the light.
Mr. Hunt was never mean spirited, only honest. Just
like he is with his horses. The man doesn't "play games", he teaches. It sounds
like Mr. Brannaman is the same way.
Remember when you were in school and took something
like chemistry or Spanish? You probably took notes verbatim because all of this
was so new. You needed to do whatever it took to learn. But when you took a
subject you knew, you felt like you didn't have to study as hard and pay as
close attention. We do that with our horse education. Granted, that is not to
say someone who has been in horses for 10, 20 or 30 years is totally ignorant.
But that doesn't mean they can't learn anything new, either. Or at least a
better way to do it. Some people still tie a horses head to it's tail so it
will learn to turn that way. They do it because that is the way their daddy did
it, and his daddy and his daddy, etc,. For some reason, horse people are
not always open to try different things.
And then there are those who go the extreme
opposite. They fall prey to gimmicks and excellent marketing. They don't quite
get the reasoning behind doing something, don't have a bit of feel or timing and
end up damn near killing themselves and their horses with all those
"games". I have people at my barn that have had broken shoulders, collar bones,
road rash and lots of falls (gotta ride bareback and God forbid you should
use a bit even if you are 50 years old and never been on a horse before) as
well as a tore up round pen, all in the name of
"games"!
You can't spend too much money on education, even
if it is stuff you learn NOT to do. In the long run, you save on mistakes.
I would say go to the clinic and bring your
thick skinned suit just in case. And no matter what you do or who you work with,
if it doesn't make sense, it probably ain't right. Unfortunately, that doesn't
work for those who have no sense.
