The Faraway Horses

by Buck Brannaman with William Reynolds

• ISBN13: 9781585743520
• ISBN10: 1585743526
• Format: Trade Book
• Copyright: 2001-12-01
• Publisher: The Lyons Press

Summary

Nearly every week of the year, Buck Brannaman is on the road, conducting horsemanship clinics in which he teaches horse owners how to better understand and work with their animals, creating a relationship based on trust and respect rather than force. His methods are grounded in communicating with horses, on reading their body language and making them feel secure so horse and rider can achieve a true union. Buck''s skill at starting young horses off right and reforming troubled horses has become legendary (indeed, the main character in the best-seller and movie The Horse Whisperer was based largely on him), and part of the reason is that he knows firsthand how a frightened horse feels. Growing up with an abusive father, Buck often feared he wouldn''t live through the night. Rescued by a foster home, he found his calling - and salvation - in working with horses. In The Faraway Horses, Buck recounts his moving, inspiring, and often humorous adventures along the way. He writes of the horses he''s learned from -,including Bif, the dangerous outlaw who eventually became one of Buck''s most trusted and useful mounts. He tells of the owners he''s taught (from the good to the horrifying, such as the trainer who used abuse to make her show Arabians look "spirited"), and share stories of the horse-rider relationships he''s changed. "These principles are really about life - about living your life so you''re not at war with the horse, or with other people," Buck writes. At heart, this rich and rewarding autobiography is ultimately a prescription for living a positive and harmonious existence - whether it involves horses or not. (6 1/4 x 9 1/4, 272 pages, color photos, b&w photos)

Author Biography

Buck Brannaman is a horse gentler -- not a horse "breaker" -- who has started more than 10,000 young horses in his clinics over the past eighteen years. He served as advisor on the set of Robert Redford's movie The Horse Whisperer. He is also a lifelong trick roper who performed around the world as a youngster. When not traveling on his busy clinic schedule, he lives with his wife, Mary, and their three daughters on the family ranch in Sheridan, Wyoming William Reynolds is the associate publisher of Cowboys & Indians magazine and the author of The Cowboy Hat Book. He lives with his family in Santa Ynez, California

Table of Contents

Foreword	ix
Bill Reynolds
Introduction	1	(2)
Growing Pains	3	(32)
The Buckskin Gloves	35	(20)
On My Own	55	(28)
Learning to Listen	83	(14)
The Fall	97	(20)
Welfare	117	(14)
Down the Road	131	(32)
Playing Polo	163	(12)
Farther Along the Road	175	(24)
Horse Problems and People Problems	199	(20)
Mary	219	(10)
Whisperings	229	(24)
Afterword	253