To Buck or Not to Buck

(Little Green Notebook)

I wrote a column last year about a horse named Buck. At that time, Buck was convalescing at his home in the barn after returning from Wyoming where he’d had life-saving surgery.

Today, Buck is a ridable, working ranch horse, expected to help search for missing cows, open gates, and check fence lines.

Buck is often referred to as a buckskin which is understandable with a name like Buck, but he’s technically not a buckskin. He’s a dun. Maybe he was named Buck because he bucks? It’s true he’s bucked a time or two, but that is not the reason for his name.

Buck is named after Buck Brannaman, a well-known horse trainer who prioritizes the horse’s sense of safety and security. He stands in stark contrast to the old-school trainers who “broke” horses by beating them into submission. In fact, horse trainers now use the word “start” in place of “break.” Buck Brannaman travels the country hosting colt-starting clinics. Folks bring their young, never-before-ridden horses and leave with horses who can carry their riders safely.

This was all news to me. When I took temporary leave of the horse world almost forty years ago, I had no notion of horse clinics and colt-starting. Fast-forward to today, where I am immersed in the horse world and privy to colt-starting up-close.

One day last week, the horse-trainer, Chanoah, and I were asked to search for a missing calf. Chanoah checked her training schedule.

“It’s Roxy’s turn,” she said. “I’ll ride her.”

Roxy is two-years, three-months old. She was born at the ranch where I work, and Chanoah was there for her birth. Those two have been working together since that day. From learning to walk on a lead rope to being ponied with the big horses on trail rides, little Roxy has consistently exhibited a curious nature and a good mind. As Roxy grew older, she graduated to ground-work and learned to carry a miniature saddle. I have thrilled over watching this little filly go from bucking like a wild thing to loping calmly on her lunge line. I’ve loved riding along on a companion horse while Chanoah walked behind Roxy, guiding her with long reins.

Roxy, for the record, always walked ahead of whatever companion horse I rode. She crossed creeks, went up and down hills, and boldly trekked off-trail. I wondered if my horse and I needed to be there at all, other than to witness her training.

Was Chanoah really going to ride her out on the ranch? Roxy had only been ridden twice. Her first ride lasted ten minutes. On that day, Chanoah, with no fanfare at all, got on her back in the arena after a little groundwork. Roxy didn’t flinch. She wandered around, sniffed the rails, and responded to her rider’s leg cues appropriately.

The second time Chanoah rode her, she and her good buddy, an Appaloosa mare named Honey, left the confines of arena. They went about fifty yards to a gate, which Chanoah opened and closed on Roxy as if Roxy had been working gates for years. That ride was about twenty minutes.

It turns out Chanoah was serious about taking Roxy out to look for the calf. I rode Honey; she rode Roxy. In fact, she rode Roxy bareback from the back pasture to the barn. A truck passed us on the driveway. Roxy didn’t care a’tall.

Off we went on Roxy’s first trail ride. We rode out of the gate into the pastures, hugging the tree line to avoid the blazing sun as well as to search for the wayward calf. Roxy stayed ahead of Honey most of the time. She perked her ears and stepped out like she understood the mission. She even trotted a minute and slowed to a walk on voice command. Chanoah rode her on a loose rein, bitless of course.

I’ll confess, Roxy did buck once, going down a hill. She saw cows in the creek below and was in a hurry to reach them.

Roxy’s third ride lasted about forty minutes. We have to take it easy on the babies.

For the record, Chanoah has ridden the two-year old stallion on the farm twice, even loped him in the arena for a few seconds, and he too performed beautifully.

It’s a whole new world out there. Watching these young horses transform under gentle leadership is downright thrilling.

National Celebration of the Horse Day is July 15. If you’re looking to celebrate, I highly recommend the award-winning Sundance movie “Buck,” a documentary about Buck Brannaman. Even non-horsey folks love this beautifully filmed movie about a visionary man and his work with horses and humans alike.

For those who are waiting for that second shoe to drop, we located the missing calf later that day.

You can visit G&L Farms at gandlfarms.net to see Buck’s story in pictures. And pardon some of the horse pictures. We are updating them as I write. :)