As the little horse stood quietly with his head in my arms, a lady in the crowd who owned a local Arabian farm of her own spoke up. “Buck, now that you’ve gotten this horse coming around the way you have, when would we be able to start with the whips again? Would we be able to start tomorrow or would we have to wait till next week?”
She had no idea what she was saying. It was the most bizarre thing I’d ever heard, and from a woman who appeared to be so sophisticated. How could she say something so uncivilized?
I couldn’t take it, not after what the little horse had been through. “Some of you can go to church on Sunday and claim to be holier than thou, but the other six days of the week you’re torturing horses and committing crimes against them. You make me ashamed to be a human being.”
But that wasn’t all that bothered me. That little horse had made a friend that day. He appreciated what I had done with him — I know he did. Yet I went away with a sick feeling, wondering if maybe I had done him wrong. On one hand, I had helped him, but I had also showed him there was something good in life that he would always miss.
I later learned that he went back to his same life. In that world of barbarians, defense was his only means of survival, and I worried that I might have taken it away from him.
Your horse will respond to your kindness. Build a trusting relationship with your horse with your horse’s relaxation as your goal. You and your horse will both be the better for it.
As the little horse stood quietly with his head in my arms, a lady in the crowd who owned a local Arabian farm of her own spoke up. Buck, now that you've gotten this horse coming around the way you have, when would we be able to start with the whips again? Would we be able to start tomorrow or would we have to wait till next week? She had no idea what she was saying. It was the most bizarre thing I'd ever heard, and from a woman who appeared to be so sophisticated. How could she say something so uncivilized? I couldn't take it, not after what this little horse had been through."Some of you can go to church on Sunday and claim to be holier than thou, but the other six days of the week, you're torturing horses and committing crimes against them. You make me ashamed to be a human being. But that wasn't all that bothered me. That little horse had made a friend that day. He appreciated what I had done with him. I know he did. Yet I went away with a sick feeling, wondering if maybe I had done him wrong. On one hand I had helped him, but I had also showed him there was something good in life that he would always miss. I later learned that he went back to his same life. In that world of barbarians, defense was his only means of survival, and I worried that I might have taken it away from him. This is a quote from the book, The Faraway Horses by Buck Brannaman. Welcome to the Almost Daily Second Half Horsemanship Podcast, where we talk about using your mind more than your muscles on the path to better horsemanship in the second half of life. The podcast features a thought for the day on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and a more in depth discussion or interview on weekends. I'm your host, Paul Sherland. In this section of his book, Buck talks about working with an Arab show horse, which had been imported from Europe for more than a million dollars. At that time an Arab had to show spirit to win a halter class, and trainers and judges interpreted terror as spirit. There was an Arab halter horse at one of my boarding barns years ago, and the owner used to take this poor horse out into the arena at night to spray aerosols at him to induce this kind of terror. Buck talks about other tactics, including using cross ties to make a horse stand in water, and then hooking electrodes to his neck. These terror tactics had made this horse unsafe to work with. In his book, Buck describes how he worked with the horse to get him to turn loose of his fear. He says, The horse became so quiet and relaxed. Some of the crowd began to worry that he couldn't win a halter class looking the way he did without the look of terror that's often confused with what they think is spirit. Hearing them say that made me realize how hard it was to understand how seeing a horse in a relaxed frame of mind could be any cause for worry. These people were as different from me as any people I'd ever met. In the last podcast I mentioned going on that riding vacation in the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming. I did that for two years and during the second year, my mount was a big paint horse. Our relationship had a bit of a rocky start when he tested me by crow hopping on our first ride. But he proved to be a dependable and sure footed partner over five days of riding through rough country. Because he had white skin around his eyes, he had developed sun burn. So every day I treated those areas with sunblock to help them heal. I also dismounted and walked with him periodically to give him a break, and when we had to climb hills thick with boulders, I walked with him to make it easier for him to navigate through the rock fields. I think he recognized what I was doing and appreciated me for doing it. On the last day of the ride, we camped at a fairgrounds outside of town and the next day held a barrel racing competition between all the riders. I hadn't barrel raced for more than 30 years, but the paint and I won. We even beat the trail guide on her personal horse. The trail guide told me my horse wasn't the fastest horse, but he handled the turns better than any of the other horses. I believed he performed the way he did because he appreciated the way I had cared for him on the ride. I tried to buy the paint, but the owner of the trail ride wanted a lot of money for him, and I was unemployed and a graduate student in Virginia. I wish I could have done better for that horse. Your horse will respond to your kindness. Build a trusting relationship with your horse, with your horse's relaxation as your goal. You and your horse will both be the better for it. Thanks for listening to the Almost Daily Second Half Horsemanship podcast. 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