Buck (2011)

I’m personally not a big fan of horses. I have to go to the riding school once a week as the kids wanted lessons and they enjoy it. This means I regularly have to get close to them and saddle them, but it really isn’t for me. One thing you do notice is that they all have their personalities. For example, there is this one horse that always seems to be grumpy and you always have to keep your eye on him or he might shove you. Despite not liking horses much I was very interested in seeing this documentary about Buck Brannaman. Basically he is the horse whisperer (he was the consultant for that movie)

Buck Brannaman is a very unique guy who was almost forced into showbiz at a young age by his father who made him and his brother do rope tricks. They were very popular, but unfortunately his father didn’t treat them well. It’s something which has had a profound effect on him and based on that experience and seeing how horses were treated he decided that horses should be handled differently in order to get them to do what you want. He uses some very unique techniques and what he ends up with is a horse that will just follow him without him having to do much.

Is Buck worth watching even if you don’t like horses? I think it is because even though the things Buck talks about are about horses, they are usually things that also apply to people and the way you treat them. There is this one scene where he explains with someone holding a rope that you can pull something towards you in one quick pull, which basically tenses up the one on the other end or slowly pull which the other will hardly notice. The end result might be the same, but the second one means that you will get something done without a lot of resistance. Buck is a very interesting guy, as Robert Redford also explains, and I personally thought that it was inspiring stuff.

Score: 8