So my original plan included seeing Peter Gabriel and Sting in Seattle, but, unfortunately, my timing was off and I wasn’t able to go. I wanted to fill that event with something else, so I started to look around and couldn’t believe how lucky I was to be close to a Buck Brannaman Horsemanship Clinic. Now, I know absolutely nothing about horses, but since seeing the documentary Buck a couple years ago, I knew that at some point I had to get to one of these clinics to see him lead. If you haven’t seen it before, at minimum check out that trailer on the site I linked above – and then check out the doc itself on Netflix – you won’t be disappointed. Thankfully, Buck was conducting a clinic in Ellensburg, Washington and I was able to get there to check things out.

If I remember correctly, Buck said that he had been working with this particular horse for about two weeks.

There was no doubt as to whom was in control, as everybody was hanging on each word coming out of Buck’s mouth. In the bottom pic, one of Buck’s assistants works with a horse that was proving to be a challenge for its owner. The clinic was for both new and experienced horse owners – and the goal was to help each person do a better job of starting their horse.

While I was fortunate on the whole trip, this was just flat out a wonderful opportunity and I’m so happy that I was able to spend a morning observing this whole process. He’s a wonderful teacher and I’ve learned a lot from his approach, which certainly is geared toward starting horses, but reflects much more on his philosophies. One of my biggest takeaways from the documentary, which I use with my students as we take a look at the theme of “how we treat others,” is: Gentle in what you do, firm in how you do it.