The Faraway Horses

Nearly every week of the year, Buck Brannaman conducts 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. This work recounts his adventures as a horseman.

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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 shares 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.