Today was the fourth and final day of the Buck Brannaman Clinic. Most people have improved so much over the last four days and I definitely learned more than I ever imagined I would.
In the first class, Buck demonstrated an exercise called the teardrop. There are three progressions of it. The first: reach across and flow through a half circle with lots of leg; the second: once you have a soft feel going straight, draw the nose to bend a half circle with a soft feel; the third: a half circle combination of soft feel, flexion, and a leg yield. The most important thing that stood out to me in that class was when Buck said, “You have nothing to work with until you can stay on course with a loose rein.” He also emphasized that it’s what you do at the walk that influences what you can do at the trot and lope. Your horse feels back to you when you can get this down.
Buck also took a moment today to talk about verbal cues and why he doesn’t use them. He stated that verbal cues allow someone else to influence your horse. This disrupts the horse’s ability to listen to its rider. He also made a good point that when it’s winter and -20 degrees, you won’t be able to cluck loud enough for your horse to hear.
In the second class, the riders mostly worked with the cows, so there wasn’t much to write down. Melissa and I observed the different techniques that all came together from the foundation horsemanship class. Both bending and reaching were necessary to hold a cow and for making those tight turns. Buck said, “Reaching without bending isn’t worth three rotten eggs.”
In the end, I learned so much more than I had ever hoped. I can now take what I’ve learned and put it to work back at the ranch with both Jenn and Zach to coach me. It was a great opportunity and experience to be able to watch one of the greatest horse trainers (and one of my idols) in action with his horses.
Oh, and the best part: Jenn introduced us to him. I’m still freaking out about it.
In the first class, Buck demonstrated an exercise called the teardrop. There are three progressions of it. The first: reach across and flow through a half circle with lots of leg; the second: once you have a soft feel going straight, draw the nose to bend a half circle with a soft feel; the third: a half circle combination of soft feel, flexion, and a leg yield. The most important thing that stood out to me in that class was when Buck said, “You have nothing to work with until you can stay on course with a loose rein.” He also emphasized that it’s what you do at the walk that influences what you can do at the trot and lope. Your horse feels back to you when you can get this down.
Buck also took a moment today to talk about verbal cues and why he doesn’t use them. He stated that verbal cues allow someone else to influence your horse. This disrupts the horse’s ability to listen to its rider. He also made a good point that when it’s winter and -20 degrees, you won’t be able to cluck loud enough for your horse to hear.
In the second class, the riders mostly worked with the cows, so there wasn’t much to write down. Melissa and I observed the different techniques that all came together from the foundation horsemanship class. Both bending and reaching were necessary to hold a cow and for making those tight turns. Buck said, “Reaching without bending isn’t worth three rotten eggs.”
In the end, I learned so much more than I had ever hoped. I can now take what I’ve learned and put it to work back at the ranch with both Jenn and Zach to coach me. It was a great opportunity and experience to be able to watch one of the greatest horse trainers (and one of my idols) in action with his horses.
Oh, and the best part: Jenn introduced us to him. I’m still freaking out about it.