AS you may know I´m a big fan of the dog whisperer , not only is he amazing at training dogs but I think He does just as much if not more work on their owners and you can glean some real life lessons from his work.

Well, I received Buck Brannaman documentary for Christmas and what a gift it turned out to be. Buck tells the story of the original horse whisperer, Buck Brannaman, who has an almost Zen like approach to training or “un-training” horses and as you probably guessed it, from their owners.

I couldn´t help be amazed by his mastery with the animals but also the deep understanding of how humans behave and how we learn by either fear or positive motivation. As Robert Redford explains in the documentary “Buck had been seriously abused as a child but had understood that he didn´t have to follow that cycle of behaviour and treats horses with the deepest respect and kindness”.
Most people will unconsciously follow the same patterns of behaviour that they witnessed when they were children and never take that hard long look in the mirror to uncover them.

One of the scenes in the movie showed Buck Brannaman being brutally honest with a lady who owned her “killer” horse. (you will see her in the clip). He speaks his truth and helps her understand that the crazy behaviour of her horse is a reflection of what is going on inside of her… she breaks down and cries.
What struck me about that moment was that owning a stud is very hard for anyone to handle but this lady had eighteen on her ranch. “You should join the navy seals if you want that much excitement” he tells her… (paraphrased)…” why do you need so much drama in your life?, why not be happy?” This is profound because she had created that situation in her life unconsciously, in order to experience pain and drama. How many of us are doing that right now?

“Whatever results you’re getting, be they rich or poor, good or bad, positive or negative, always remember that your outer world is simply a reflection of your inner world. If things aren’t going well in your outer life, it’s because things aren’t going well in your inner life. It’s that simple.” T Harv Eker.

Tension In Your Body

A simple lesson from buck, about “soft feel” when holding the horses rope, turned out to be profound too. He very gently applied a pull to the rope a man was holding but then to show what most owner would do he tugged with tension. Well the result was the man tightened up ready for the stronger pull by Buck. Buck Brannaman explains “Within a few pulls you are now holding a constant tension ready for that uncomfortable pull!”

This is exactly how we absorb trauma in our own human bodies… we experience something we don´t like and then subtly and unconsciously armour ourselves by tightening, for the possible experience. This micro-holding then becomes who we are… and people read it unconsciously.
Well, there you go, a great documentary on horses but with so much more to offer on a self-development or spirit level.

If you get a chance to work with or ride horses I would highly recommend it for getting to know yourself and your mind. If you have a monkey mind so will the horse unless you get a wise one :p… then they will be kind and help you to calm down.

cheers Rob

you can get the documentary here…

Buck