Buck: The Real Horse Whisperer Storyville

How are you doing there, buddy?

See? That feels good, doesn't it? Huh?

All right. I'm off to the office.

To start off, are there any of you that have any particular

problems you'd like to tell me about?

Don't be bashful. You're among friends.

Let him be because he's taking time to settle in with you.

'A lot of times, rather than helping people with horse problems,

'I'm helping horses with people problems.'

And for a lot of people, they want it all to be fuzzy and warm

and cosmic, but it is no different with a horse than with a kid.

You can't always be the kid's best friend.

First, you have to be the parent.

A horse like this ain't any different to the kid that takes

everybody's milk money on the way to school, beats up old people.

Maybe it ain't the kid's fault. Maybe the parent ought to be in jail.

Boy, do you feel like a fool and kind of like a failure, you know?

It's all right.

'People bring a lot of baggage to the table when they come.

'sometimes they're here for a different reason other than

'getting to where they ride the horse a bit better.'

If you find a way to fit this thing right here, it'll make you better.

It'll make you better in areas that you didn't think related to horses.

Good job, buddy.

'Horses are my life and because of some of the things I've been through

'as a kid, I've found some safety and companionship in the horses.

'I was just looking for a kind of peaceful place to be where

'I wasn't threatened, where my life wasn't threatened,

'so I have an empathy for horses that

'when something is scared for their life, I understand that.'

He's a pretty nice horse, six years old,

making some good progress anyway.

Just a youngster, just telling him I want him to be aware of me.

If I slow down, I want him to slow down.

See, if I go like this, I have to practise my old man walk,

so when I'm really old, it might take me an hour to get over there.

He ought to be able to just go with me,

as slow as I want to go and not crowd me.

Might be a little slower to what he'd like to go.

If I stop, he ought to stop. If I go back, he ought to go back.

And I ought not to have to beg him.

Right now, I'm walking at a little faster pace,

but I'm always testing him to see if he's with me.

When I first seen him, I thought, "What kind of voodoo stuff is this?

"How are you getting this done?"

He walks him around and in five minutes he's got

a horse following him around like a dog.

Most of us have a bag of tricks, and Buck has an arsenal.

Hey, boys.

-Hello. How are you doing?

-Great.

-Good.

'Colt starting is always interesting

'because most of the youngsters have never been saddled,

'never had anyone on their back or a bit in their mouth.

'So there's a lot of fear in both the horse and the human.'

The way I do these colt classes, you guys, you'll have to get them

exposed to a lot of things that seem perfectly normal to you,

but it doesn't seem normal to the horse.

You walk up to them smelling like a Big Mac, you know,

or something. Your diet is going

to make you smell different to the horse.

And then you're going to tell the horse, "Don't worry.

"I want to crawl on you." LAUGHTER

In a similar posture to how a lion would attack and kill a horse -

they jump right up in the middle of them

and reach their front claws around and as they're biting

down on their spine, they're cutting their throat with their claws -

you're asking the horse to let you be in that posture and crawl on him.

And about the time he says, "All right, maybe,"

and then you say, "Oh, one more thing.

"I want to strap some hides of other dead

"animals around you before I crawl on."

LAUGHTER Damn sure have to have some trust.

He's got to believe in you to let you do that and amazingly enough,

they'll let you do it.

Now the first thing that I'm going to show you is leading the horse by.

Step in here, send the front over like that,

then he'll go on forward, around me.

This takes some practice to get good at.

Your horse might be afraid to move.

It's a real trust thing between the two of you.

What's your name here? Martha? OK, Martha, you want to go the other way.

You've got your horse leading by good, just the wrong direction.

That's all right.

Tap her. Don't be afraid of tapping her with that flag.

You're not going to hurt her. It'll be like you getting spanked

with a sock. There. Yeah.

Lead with the right hand. Yeah, it's in your left hand.

The other left.

Walk to the hip. No. Walk to the hip. You're at the head.

That's the eating end. This is always a hard one for folks.

Walking on you. Your horse is kind of naughty.

You guys make a big old circle around me.

This horse, it knows to get away

because she's pretty careful.

Oh, you won't get away.

She said, "I thought I had the angle on you there."

See that head slinging to the outside? That's unacceptable.

She doesn't know the difference.

She should have up to this point have had some pretty damn good luck

with that technique. See there, where she went to run me over?

I mean, she's trying to protect herself.

But when I get done,

I will not have to close my hand on the end of this rope.

I touch her here on the neck, I say,

"You'll find out this flag won't hurt you.

"Nobody's here to hurt you."

One of the things that really struck me was that you grow up

hearing about breaking horses and breaking broncos, or something.

There's a whole element of abuse really.

It's, "Man is stronger than this big animal. We can break them down,"

almost like Parris Island and a drill instructor.

And I think it first clicked for me

with Buck at the whole concept of starting.

My early exposure to horses was severe.

Tying horses to posts with an inner tube tyre so that

when the horse pulled back, they would slam back into the post.

It was really brutal, really truly brutal. It was heartbreaking.

I didn't know any different, I was a child, but I remember crying a lot.

I felt very, very bad for the animals.

So when I met Buck, I was the instant convert.

You can't be a good guy when you leave the barn and a bad guy

when you get to the barn.

I treat animals this way, try to treat people that way too.

We all know the answer to that.

I met Buck probably at his first clinic that he gave.

If I wasn't in his first clinic, I was probably at his second.

There. That was a nice change.

First time I saw it, it was amazing to me. It just blew my mind.

It just blew my mind that it could be done in a way that the

horse would cooperate, like the people, and not be scarred up

and afraid for life.

I couldn't believe what that man could do with a horse without

anything on it.

I mean, he could load horses in a horse trailer without touching them.

I mean, the horse has never been in a trailer. That's phenomenal.

Why let an animal live in fear?

Why not fix it?

That's pretty good.

You notice how I don't have to have a death grip on the doggone lead

rope now.

In this particular discipline, if you want to be great,

you have to be a sensitive person.

That vulnerability, that sensitivity,

to feel the subtle change is what makes you great.

That's why so many of the folks that are really good at this

are...sometimes they're tortured souls, you know?

I've seen some kind of dark things in my life.

But everybody has a bit of a burden to bear of some sort.

It's all relative.

It's all I ever wanted to be was a cowboy. I grew up as a trick roper.

That wasn't necessarily by choice,

but the first thing is we were entertainers, my brother and I.

I started doing rope tricks when I was three years old.

You wouldn't think that a three-year-old could be doing

rope tricks, but I was doing rope tricks.

I turned professional when I was six

and as far as I know, we were still the youngest kids to ever get

a PRCA card, which it was the RCA in those days, Rodeo Cowboy Association.

We went to fairs and rodeos and performed all over.

But we really enjoyed the attention of the crowds.

We were kind of childhood celebrities.

We were the Kellogg's Sugar Pops kids.

'You know, fancy roping takes hard work,

'plenty of sleep and good nutrition every day.

'Here's a good hardworking breakfast.'

It must have been 1970-71, right around there.

It was just before my mom passed away.

That was quite a thing. And all I remember about that commercial,

it should've been real fun because it was a big thrill to all the kids in

school that we were on national TV doing these TV commercials.

All I really remember about that is my dad beat us

unmercifully for not putting on a perfect performance and then he drove

us home and heck, he couldn't even wait till we got home,

he stopped and knocked on us a little bit more.

I remember my mom would drop us off at school.

The last couple of years she was alive,

she was working as a waitress in Ennis, Montana.

And I would beg her not to leave, and every day,

I would cry and every day, she would cry,

because I was just terrified of the fact that

I was going to be five or six hours alone with our dad

when we got home from school before my mom would get home.

Because things always went better when she was around.

But then when my mom died, I knew my life was over, as I knew it.

And I no longer had my protector.

Well, after my mom passed away, my dad really fell apart

and night after night after night, he would come yank us

out of bed in the middle of the night and make us

sit at this kitchen table, this oak table.

I could draw the grain in that table for you to this day

because you'd just stare down at the table because...even to

just...look at my dad when he was ranting and raving

and in a drunken stupor, he would take that as an aggressive expression

and one night, I just said, "I'm not going to get beat up again tonight.

"I just can't do it."

And I made a mad dash outside,

not thinking about the fact that I wasn't very well dressed for being

outside in the middle of the winter,

because this cold is something between ten and 20 below zero.

Damn, then I was really stuck because I knew if I went back inside,

he was going to beat me half to death and I just couldn't go back in.

I just couldn't.

We had a dog and his name was Duke, and I loved that dog.

It sounds real trailer park, I know,

but he lived in a 55-gallon barrel with straw in it for his bed.

And I crawled in that 55-gallon barrel with that bloodhound.

It wasn't warm, but it kept me from freezing.

And I finally, after two or three hours, went back in the house

and he just looked at me like, "Where you been?"

Reata, I can't believe you answered your phone. Where are you?

Oh, cool! What are you doing?

For your mom or for school? All right.

Well, I'll call her back and then I'll talk to you tomorrow, huh?

OK, love you, buddy. Bye.

I was watching Oprah. I don't know if I should admit to that!

But I was watching Oprah

and she said that the greatest aphrodisiac there was for a man was

to have a vacuuming through, actually run it in the presence of his wife.

So...she knows quite a bit. So I thought, "Well, it can't hurt."

You know, you never know where you're going to get some information.

Hey, you.

Going to put the smaller one in the back. There's not quite as much room.

We've got 27 years in now.

Yeah, 27 years.

I get to ride on him, not worried about what day it is.

All I know is it's just all in four-day intervals for me.

I don't know.

You get in a rhythm of doing this and you... After just a few

days of being somewhere, you're kind of ready to go to the next one.

Hey, it's just me.

Good. What are you doing?

Got the clinic done here and didn't make anybody cry.

Talk to you later on. All right, Mary. I miss you.

I do this 40 weeks out of the year. The rest of the year,

you could say, Where are you going to be on such and such a day?"

And I could tell you where I'm going to be till about Thanksgiving.

Walker Town, North Carolina. Huntsville, Alabama.

Limerick, Maine.

Bay Harbour, Michigan.

Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Longmont, Colorado. Thermopolis, Wyoming.

Bend, Oregon. Bozeman, Montana. Libby, Montana.

Yeah, there's some loneliness.

It's truck stops and driving late at night.

Just trying to get to your next spot and you're alone, that's

when you really miss your family

And you want to be home and you think of what it would be like just

walking barefoot across the living room and going to bed.

But there is no way that's ever going to be anything other

than what it is.

Hey! How are you?

She's going to make me a Manhattan.

I can make more than one, if somebody wants one.

Here in the back.

Were you in that clinic in Ellensburg when it was

-so cold with Bob Blackwell?

-Yeah, that was 17 years ago.

That was my first clinic with you!

And they brought them in, these horses in stock trailers.

Literally. Opened up the door and they went in to their own pen and there was 15 or 17 colts.

And he roped every one of them.

A mutual friend invited me

and I was pretty sceptical about the clinic and the approach and I went

pretty convinced that I wasn't going to appreciate anything that I saw.

And then he started working with all these babies.

And I was...blown away. I mean, I couldn't believe what I saw

and the rapport that he had with them.

It just kind of stopped me in my tracks.

My whole life has been encompassed around Arabian,

half-Arabian showhorses, from the time I was a little girl.

I was showing horses and thinking that everything was cool,

the way I was doing things and the way I saw things being done.

And I'm proud of a lot of those prizes that I won,

but I'm equally ashamed of a lot of them too.

Horses are put into forced positions that they're neither mentally

or physically prepared to handle.

And these practices aren't used nearly as much

now as they were years ago.

But the horses would be put into hock cobbles that would go from the

hocks, up through the snaffle,

and back down so that every time he took a step with his hocks,

you know, it'd take a hold of his face,

to teach him to stay in to that fixed position.

But there's no connection for the horse,

there's no understanding of that, except for - it hurts.

So they're going to stay away from those pressures and learn to

enfix themselves into those positions through intimidation.

I just thought that's the way you did it

and that's what the horses had to do to be showhorses.

You don't realise how unjust it is

until someone shows you a different path.

Let's say the horse needed you to be firm.

There's a difference between firm and hard.

Let's say I needed to take a hold of the horse with 20 pounds,

the way I go about getting to 20 pounds is going to have a lot

to do with whether you're successful or not.

Hold on to that.

I'm going to pull on you, so don't let me get it away from you, OK?

So close your hand on that or it's going to come away from you.

And don't give to me.

Let's say I needed to pull on this horse about that hard.

The way I took a hold of you, wasn't really offensive,

wouldn't make you afraid.

But let's say I was abrupt and had hands like a butcher

and I took a hold of the horse like that.

Now I'm pulling about like what I said.

But it's how I got there, be ready.

It's how I got there that could be rude to the horse.

Now, watch Robert closely.

I'm just riding with bad hands.

Oh, you brace.

I didn't hit you. Why did you do that?

He's protecting himself.

Once I've done this a few times with him, he'll brace all the time.

Like that, see him brace? You can't help yourself.

And I'm even telling you I'm going to do it and you still can't help it.

But if I took a hold like this, you might give to me

and then I give to you. But it's the way I go about it,

and whenever you're ready, maybe you'd give to me.

Otherwise, I'll just wait here.

Nobody's going to get any lunch today.

When you started to soften, so did I.

And you both feel together.

If you were real sensitive to me, when I feel of you here,

you'd already be giving.

That means something to my horse.

That's a soft feel. That's what I do to get a soft feel right there.

And I want you to get at least a mental picture of what a horse

operating on a feel is.

Hopefully, it looks good to you, that you'll want that,

that you'll strive for that.

So this is one example of a feel. See?

I could even take on this rope right here like this. See?

That's operating on a feel. See? I could do this, take it back.

And I could do this and say get over.

Without touching him, your energy moves the horse.

'Most people think of a feel as when you touch something or someone and what it feels like to your fingers,

'but a feel can have a thousand different definitions.

'Sometimes, feel is a mental thing.

'Sometimes, feel can happen across the arena.'

That's what I'm looking for there.

'Sort of an invitation for the horse to come to you.'

It's not always physical. Sometimes it's mental.

When you have the physical working for you when you're younger,

you ride with 90% physical and 10% mental.

But if you could learn how to use 90% mental and 10% physical,

you'd be better off.

I'm looking for the horse to learn how to follow the feel.

They're supposed to take that much.

A little bit more. There.

Left. Right.

Left. Right.

Left. Right.

Everything's a dance. Everything you do with a horse, it's a dance.

Now I'll open him up a little bit here.

The problem is when a lot of folks can't get a horse to

operate on a feel. They'll get a little more shank on it.

Drive a spur through the horse's shoulder. Then tie his head down.

Then get a bicycle chain over his nose.

It doesn't stop. It becomes medieval.

I'm going to tip the life up in him here, we're moving on a feel.

A horse is pretty sensitive,

a horse can feel a mosquito land on their butt in a wind storm.

Every movement you make on a horse, there is

a perfect position of balance that takes no energy from the horse.

He doesn't feel like he's pushing you along with him

or dragging you along with him.

He's built to fit a horse. God had him in mind when he made a cowboy.

I've never actually seen him whisper to a horse, but I guess

if there's a horse whisperer out there, it's Buck Brannaman!

I don't know!

You know?

Originally, I got connected to The Horse Whisperer through Nick Evans.

He said, "I'm researching some characters for my book.

"And I'm trying to find a way to bring this character to life."

I was doing a clinic in California and kind of a hippy-looking

guy came up and he said, "I'm a movie producer.

"I was wondering if you could meet with me and Bob."

I said, "Bob?"

In my business, artificiality is part of the business.

You look for authentic people.

So when I met Buck, my first thought was, "What the hell is this?"

Guy walks into an office in Santa Monica,

he's got a big hat on, he's got his vest and so forth.

He looks like he's got a costume on.

"Oh, my God!" And his compatriot was with him in the same outfit.

I thought, "Oh, what have I gotten in to here?"

And then, the etiquette...the politeness...the humanity

that kind of came off real quick, kind of erased that.

We sat in the office for about an hour and a half

and talked about things that were authentic.

And so I realised that I was really dealing with what

I would call the real deal. No nonsense guy. No nonsense,

whether with the animal or people.

He was an adviser that I brought on that slowly worked his way

into the core of the film-making because he just knew more.

So Buck contributed everything, as a model and also as a player.

I used him as a double.

So he was a huge part of the fabric of the film.

And he was able to do things that the hired trainer could not do.

There was a scene that Scarlett was supposed to go into the stall

with the horse and it was her first time being near the horse

since the accident.

And the action for the horse was he was supposed to sort of paw

the ground and show a little aggression,

and then come to her,

and respond to her and more or less put his head in her arms...and...

It was.. Oh gee, it was a real touching scene.

And they couldn't get the shot because the horse was a trick horse

and they are trained to not take their eyes off the trainer.

The horse nuzzled the wood, the horse nuzzled the frame, the horse

nuzzled the boots of the trainer, but wouldn't nuzzle Scarlett.

The metre was ticking and, you know, time is money and all that stuff.

So I was going into a panic.

They said, "What are we going to do?" I said, "What do you mean?"

He said, "We never got that shot."

I said, "Yeah, we sure spent a long time at it too."

He said, "Yeah, eight hours.

"Have you got any ideas?" I said, "Yeah, why don't we use my horse?"

And at first, everybody said, "Well, you don't understand, Buck.

"We use Hollywood trick horses for this because they're performers and

"they can do things on the mark,

"so we can pull a focus on a certain place.

"You just don't understand. Not downplaying your thing, Buck,

"but he doesn't know how to work on a mark, he's not an actor."

I said, "No, he's a horse."

I said, "What do you have to lose?"

So I got my horse and got him where I could lead him

by the front foot with a rope on him

and I got him where I could jiggle that rope and he'd paw the ground,

on the mark.

HORSE NEIGHS

'So he came up and he just put his head right in her chest

'and she wrapped her arms round that horse,

'laid her head on his forehead and everybody was crying.'

Within 15-20 minutes, it was done.

So Buck played a greater role than a lot of people realise.

He contributed to everything.

There was a humanity and a kind of gentleness of spirit that

I adopted for that character because of Buck.

When I saw the finished product, he looked good.

I told him, "There is some potential there, Bob,

"if this movie thing doesn't work out for you.

"I think I could probably get you to where you can make a living doing this."

-This what you want me to take right here?

-Yeah.

-OK, Reata. I might have you check and see if he's eating.

-OK.

'I've been travelling with Dad during the summers,

'usually from the end of June till end of August.

'It's been two months since I've seen my dad.

'My dad's on the road nine months out of the year and it's tough,'

but I'm kind of used to it now. I've been doing it since I was...

Well, forever.

We've got a few sacks of feed to schlep across here.

Reata, you and Nevada need to go and wrap up all the saddles.

Nevada's going with me. My partner in crime.

I just started travelling with them last year.

I spent a month with them.

Sometimes maybe we're in the way because he has like, a way of doing things.

What are you doing?

-Bringing you breakfast.

-What is it?

-Sticky buns.

I might just have one. I don't want the....

That'll do me. Thanks.

I guess you've got a lot of songs transferred for me on my iPod.

'Travelling with dad, it can get really stressful sometimes just because he is like a travel Nazi.'

Make sure you plug that in.

'Because he has his own way of how he does everything

'and we kind of mess up the process sometimes.'

Oh, Reata! You put the top on backwards!

But then, when it comes to like cleaning pens and saddling

his horses and stuff like that, I think he kind of appreciates us.

-How'd you do?

-Nasty!

-Hey, Reata. Bring me back a sack for trash.

-Sure.

'I ride every summer. I usually take one of my horses.'

Step up here and stop my horse.

'I learn a lot.'

'Every clinic that we go to during the summer is different.

'The horses are different, different people.'

There, he followed my feel.

'The horse road can be pretty cliquey.'

Well, we don't go for cliques around here.

'There are probably some people here that it's just pittance,

'pocket change for them to come.

'And some of them save all year long

'just to be able to go to this clinic.'

Put on my Madonna microphone.

How are we fixed here? Are you getting his chin down a little bit?

You want to release as quick as you can.

He's going to give in a second. There. There. Pet him.

That's the way. My daughter, she had a hard time releasing him.

I'd say, "Reata, your arms," and she'd go like that.

Spread your hands a little more. Get them a little lower.

There you go. Nice.

You want that horse to be an extension of you,

but then you don't control your legs, you think you're just controlling this part of the body.

This is a body, the whole thing is a body.

If all of you didn't have a horse here and I was trying to talk to you,

wouldn't that be weird if you said,

"Hey, I don't have control of my legs"?

All of a sudden they just tear off you, like, "Oh, geez! Sorry!"

Waiting on the coffee.

He's got to have his coffee.

Black. I'm sure that comes as a big surprise.

He'll have a coffee and then he lets down and it kind of smoothes out.

-Going to Sheridan, Montana.

-Sheridan, Montana.

There, and we're up here. Probably seven hours. Not too long.

It's a great bunch of folks at this place.

Good to see you. Welcome to Montana.

'A lot of them I've known since I was a kid.

'Some of them I went to school with.

'Some of them, I went to school with their parents.

'It's coming home for me, here.'

It's going to be a busy week

because Mom's going to be in Sheridan.

-Hi.

-How are you?

-I'm good.

'I haven't seen Mary for a couple of months.'

Hi, Dally. Hi, buddy.

'So it's been a awful long run.

'Mary, she doesn't like to travel as much,

'but I'd sure like her to go with me a little bit more,

'and she may go with me a little bit more once Reata goes off to college.'

-So this is Twyler, Rudy, this is Dally.

-Hey, Rudy.

Rudy's grown a little bit since I left.

I don't know how many dogs you need before you have enough dogs.

They work their way up the food chain past me.

But my wife loves them and I love my wife,

so if it makes her happy, it makes me happy.

I actually do like travelling on the road.

It's fun, it's really fun.

You get to meet a lot of different people,

see a lot of different, beautiful places,

like this place, is amazing.

But I like staying home, too, though.

OK, are there any of you that have any real problems with them

-that you'd like to kind of mention?

-He runs me over!

He runs you over? OK, lovely.

Well, maybe they're not trying to be pushy.

They might be sort of crowding you just a little bit

because they still might be scared.

They come to think that maybe if they get real close to you,

they'll get some comfort.

The big thing, you guys,

is don't be overly critical of them.

They're just babies.

If he feels like you're angry at him at all, he will shut down.

I don't know where Buck draws his real personal strength from,

because he's lived through a lot.

I mean, he came out of such dire straits,

and was virtually plucked from his home

in the middle of the night, sort of a thing.

It's a real hard story to tell,

because, you know, you see him now and...

I don't even think about that.

Ace was real hard on those boys.

You knew there was something wrong there, maybe,

but you weren't for sure what.

He kept it hid pretty well, I guess,

until the point when Coach Cleverly...

You know, seeing his back.

That's a hard story to think about.

Bob Cleverly was a typical football coach that you loved but feared, too, you know.

He would actually make Buck shower in PE

when he didn't want to shower.

He told him that, you know, "Get undressed and get in the shower."

So as Buck started taking his shirt off,

he's seen the whip marks,

and the thing of it is,

he just basically told him,

he said, "Your dad will never beat you again,

"I'll make sure of that."

Then that's when Johnny France kind of started the ball rolling

to get Buck and Smokie to a safe place.

I was present when the boys were forced to disrobe,

and on their legs and their little buttocks

were these big whip marks

where their dad had beat them.

When I looked at these little boys,

I said, "No, we'll have none of that."

I took them to the Shirleys.

They were two frightened little boys.

But it wasn't too long before the two boys were just,

they just turned into Shirleys.

My mom had just died.

-She was very loving, wasn't she?

-Yeah.

-She was a very loving lady.

So she became my new mom,

and boy, it was something I really needed.

They have a wonderful relationship. She's a guiding force.

God bless and watch over you.

There is no sense that, "OK, you're raised, you're gone."

She's their mother. She's truly their mother.

I think Betsy raised something like 23 foster sons. All boys.

When our kids were little,

it was like a zoo.

It was every man for himself,

and survival of the fittest.

My motto that's stood me in good stead is,

blessed are the flexible for they shall not get bent out of shape.

My foster dad taught me how to shoe horses. I was 12 years old.

When I first went to live with him,

he told me,

"Kid, you might not ever amount to much,

"but you'd better learn how to ride a colt and shoe a horse,

"and then you'll always be able to eat.

"Even if you can't get much of a job,

"you'll always be able to eat."

So he taught me how to shoe a horse over a period of time.

There were so many things that I learned

while I was with my foster parents.

When I first got dropped off at the Shirley ranch,

I was so terrified of men.

My foster dad-to-be,

he pulled in in the truck, and gee, he was tall,

six-four, just looked like he was made out of rawhide and barbed wire.

He walked right up to me and he said, "You must be Buck,"

and I shook his hand but I couldn't even speak. It's real.

You can be so scared that you can't say anything, no words come out.

I just sat there. My little knees were just about knocking together.

I was a little guy.

Then he spun around, walked back to the truck and opened the door,

and my heart just stopped,

because it is almost like a colt that's had some trouble.

You don't have to do too much to make them suspicious.

Just even move in a little bit of a way that they don't understand

or can't comprehend,

and that quick, they think they need to save themselves.

So when he went back to that truck and opened the door,

I didn't know what to do. Scared me to death.

He came back and he threw me a pair of buckskin gloves.

He said, "Here, you're going to need them."

Gee, they were just beautiful.

They fit me perfect.

I was so proud of them, and, uh...

..he looked over at that ranch track and he said, "Get in."

So we got in and he always had fencing tools in the truck.

So we took off and we built fence all afternoon,

pounding steel posts into rocks and pulling wire.

But I wouldn't wear those gloves.

There was just that token act of kindness,

just giving me something like that,

oh, gee, it meant so much.

I didn't want to get them all tore up, so I kept them in my pocket

and I just worked through the barbed wire with my bare hands.

He realised that I didn't need someone to just pity me

for what I'd been through.

He knew I just needed something to do.

I needed a job to do.

That's when things started to head in the right direction for me.

So I learned that about the horses, years later.

I thought, "Oh, yeah, that's kind of what Forrest did with me,

"come to think of it."

NEIGHING

You see the expression on that horse?

He moves but he's crabby?

Flagging the tail, it's annoyed.

Just like asking a kid to go take the garbage out.

They take the garbage out

but they flip you the bird on the way out of the room.

It's without respect. A little respect isn't fear. It's acceptance.

He bucks whenever I saddle him.

Not when I saddle him, but when I get him to go through transitions.

'I've never started a colt ever in my life.'

I've always been around really well broke ones,

so this is my first shot at it.

He's got a little bit of Buck in him.

You must be Bill.

'That's why I asked Bill Seaton to ride him,

'because Chief needs a confident rider for that first ride.

'I bought Chief about a year and a half ago. He was one.

'He had never had any human contact.

'Born out in the field, wasn't touched, handled - nothing.'

It's just a rodeo and disaster waiting to happen.

It's not his fault.

He's like a kid that just didn't have any good parenting.

He just doesn't know what's to be expected of him.

I want to check your horse out. If you're going to do anything shocking,

I'd rather you did the shocking stuff right here.

Right here, step over. He says, "Well, I'd prefer you beg me."

Not a chance.

There's the good deal offered.

There's not so good a deal.

That's the thing with a horse.

You can't just love on them and buy lots of carrots.

Bribery doesn't work with horses.

No different than trying to bribe a kid.

All it does is make a contemptuous, spoiled horse.

But you don't want them afraid of you.

You can be strict, but you don't need to be unfair.

Like I say, it's not personal. I don't feel any different about him

than I do my own horse I just stepped off. We're not mad at you.

One of the biggest challenges of a horseman is to be able

to control your emotions,

because a person might be quick to get all mad.

There you go. That's better. Let's go this way. I said that way.

'You allow a horse to make mistakes.

'The horse will learn from mistakes no different than human.'

But you can't get him to where he dreads making mistakes

for fear of what's going to happen after he does.

Sometimes I'll just move this flag around and I don't want him

to be afraid of it. I am saying, "Just live with that."

See? Now we'll start again.

There's a change.

Attaboy.

Buck says when you start handling horses,

your own personal issues start coming out.

I was so anxious to see the saddle on Chief, I rushed into it.

Now I've built...

I feel like I have built this fear and insecurity in him.

But see, I'm an insecure person, so horses, they mirror you.

They can't lie.

There! Good boy.

Horsemanship, fine horsemanship, becomes a way of life.

It's not about controlling the horses.

It becomes how you treat your spouse,

how you treat strangers.

Will you give people a chance,

just like you give the horses a chance?

It becomes how you discipline your children.

You can discipline and discourage, or you can discipline and encourage.

You can say, "I see you tried that.

"What do you think you should try instead?"

Tentative, but he tried.

And I'd pet him with this.

You can just leave him be for a little while,

just kind of hang with him, let that soak in.

That's a more building sort of approach than,

"That's wrong, that's wrong, that's wrong."

All right, it's time. Going out that end, going round the corral.

We're going to go for a little ride here.

How are you getting along, Bill?

-Great.

-Pretty good.

Sure does, doesn't it? See if you can get all low.

Good, well done.

-Coming through.

-There you go. Way to go.

-I'm sure that felt pretty good to you, Bill.

-It did.

That kind of where you end up on your ride on the horse is so important, you guys.

It's a little bit like when you guys were younger and you were dating.

That last two minutes of the date can be a real deal breaker.

With these horses, it's the same thing.

You've got to quit on a good note. That was a good day.

All right, I'll see you guys tomorrow.

-Raspberry and peach cobbler. Which would you like?

-Going for raspberry.

Hey, Buck, why don't you do some rope tricks?

This is kind of a trick you want here.

This is the move I always used to do for Mary

while I was trying to trap her.

'He was just a very ordinary boy.'

Didn't show signs of early genius.

Thanks, Mom.

It was one point he thought maybe his trick world

would be his avenue to success.

But when he first saw Ray Hunt doing his thing,

he was so fascinated, he focused on that.

Pretty much anybody that's been involved in the horse world knows Ray Hunt.

Ray brought this style of horsemanship to the world.

Tom Dorrance is sort of the godfather of all of this.

Tom Dorrance taught

Ray Hunt. Ray Hunt taught Buck Brannaman.

That's kind of the lineage, as it were.

I met Ray right after I got out of high school.

One of my teachers told me about this guy that could start a horse

and get on him in just a few minutes and ride him around, no bridle on.

I thought, "Right..."

I'd grown up on a ranch, I was pretty punchy.

Rode a lot of colts. Pretty fair broke-rider for a kid.

I thought, "Yeah, another song and dance man, some horse show dude."

I had an opportunity to go

and get this cowboying job at a place called Madison River Cattle Company.

They said, "Well, in order for you to get hired, you're going to have to go and talk to the manager,

"and he's at a Ray Hunt clinic."

I thought, "Oh, great, here's this Ray Hunt guy again."

So I go into the fairgrounds,

sat about as far away as I could

so that I could show that I was not interested in this.

And then in come Ray Hunt.

I saw him do more things with a horse in a couple of minutes

than I'd ever figured anybody could do with a horse.

He worked with a colt that was pretty touchy,

and I'd been around enough to know what a touchy horse looked like.

You could tell the horse truly understood

what he was expecting of her.

He could take those feet anywhere he wanted. They were his feet.

It was just an extension of him.

It was like a beautiful dance.

I took right to it as soon as I saw it.

I thought, "I don't even know what it is,

"but whatever it is, I need this."

So that was the beginning for me.

I went to Ray's clinics

if not every week, every other week for the next four, five years.

I was right down in the arena, hanging over the round corral,

watching this guy lift a rein or move a foot.

I might not have known all what he was doing, but I was seeing it.

We got to be very close.

Even though he said it wasn't that important that I pleased him

or that people pleased him,

I looked for his approval

in the same way you would a father figure.

Later on, when Ray passed away,

I shed way more tears for him than I ever did my dad.

SPEAKING IN CLINIC: 'You guys don't have to ride like Ray Hunt or talk to horses,

'but that's a choice I made.'

First clinic I ever did, probably wasn't a real effective teacher.

I was a pretty decent hand by then.

I could get a little bit of stuff done with a horse.

But I'm sure I just sounded like I was parodying Ray Hunt.

I didn't have anything original of my own to really talk about,

and I was so introverted at the time.

I felt so uncomfortable.

I committed right then that I was going to do enough

little local clinics to conquer that.

Buck has worked so hard to overcome his shyness.

The clinics were so small when he first started,

he would offer to haul the horses for free

just to get them to go to his clinic.

He couldn't have eye contact with you. He was very shy.

To see him work that hard to overcome that,

I think it amazes him to this day

that people want to even listen to what he has to say.

Ray used to say that he thought horsemen were born.

But an average person can be extraordinary at this.

But if you don't have any guts, if you don't have any try,

you'll be damn lucky to be ordinary.

MOOING

You're going to find out what it's like to actually use a horse

and how nice they can be when they get used.

To work a horse properly on a cow,

that's the coolest feeling there is.

Let the games begin.

I want you to build and learn things and do things in real life

if you were on a ranch, where you have a job to do.

It's one turn and then a raise. One turn and then a raise.

Give them a job. Figure out how to build on the horse's pride.

Make him feel good about himself.

I wasn't just talking about the horse.

That's good.

Mary.

As long as you can stay between your cow and the herd,

you're in charge.

Dang! Out. I'm out.

See what happens when you're married to him?

Britt, you're up. Go move that cow.

There's really nothing more fun than chasing cows at top speed

and just trying to react. That's crazy fun.

But that's not really what you're supposed to do.

So it's this constant battle to bring you back

to some place that's controlled.

Stop. Now, see you turned without stopping.

That's the other half of why this is a really interesting thing,

because it carries over into every other aspect of your life,

and I think it's made me a more resourceful and balanced human being,

on top of just less likely to get killed on a horse.

I love working cattle with my dressage horses.

I think it's fabulous for them,

because dressage is a sport where there are really fine, ballet-type movements

that you're asking the horse to do.

It gives meaning and purpose to the dressage work.

And then when you take that purpose back into the dressage ring,

the horse says, "I'm practising working cows,"

and it makes sense to the horse.

And then he will do it with a greater joy,

because it has meaning to him. It's not simply an exercise.

And I think that dressage work gives the cow horse skills

that even cowboys could use.

MOOING

There you go.

Horses get discouraged by riders who shut the doors.

Buck's really good at opening doors.

When you get to artwork or anything else that you do,

you start to look at it for open doors.

And then you learn to walk through those.

You guys want to throw a few heel shocks?

I knew that Buck was really a special guy.

Because of his background, which I learned about,

and the abuse he had suffered as a kid,

it was even more impressive that he could come through that abuse,

and, rather than repeating it, that he went the other way

and decided, "I'm not going to have that in my life."

-Bill, I'll start with you first. What's your stage name?

-Smokie Brannaman.

Smokie Brannaman. And how about you, Dan? What's your stage name?

-They call me Buckshot, and I'm seven years old.

-Who taught you to perform?

-Our father did.

-Yeah.

-And that's Ace Brannaman, right?

-Yes.

-Did he ever do this type of thing?

'The way that my dad treated me when I was little,

'and the way he approached us as kids,

'I wouldn't attribute any of my positive virtues to my dad in any way whatsoever.

'I know you're not supposed to hate anybody,

'but the hurt that he caused me, I've never really got over it.

'So I live in the moment. I like to live in the moment.

'You worry about yesterday or last week or 20 years ago,

'it's not going to work out too good for you.

'You can't live in two places at once.

'You never forget, but you don't have to keep living in the past.'

There's a whole bunch of things I learned from all the dark stuff that happened to me.

There was a hell of a lot of things I learned.

I wouldn't necessarily recommended it to anybody.

But it made me what I am.

It got a little warm there for a while today, didn't it?

'Thank goodness, my daughter -

'She's never gone through anything like that.

'And now she's almost grown up, so...'

You can just saddle him inside the round corral.

'I think if a kid is living in an environment like I was,

'the way you protect yourself is you just don't communicate with anybody

'and you try your best not to be noticed.

'And you just sort of withdraw.

'And you'll see a horse sometimes - that's been mashed on by somebody,

'and you just look in their eyes and they look like they're dead.

'Yet that's the time you try to encourage your kid

'to be outgoing and gregarious.

'And be able to talk to - not only other kids - but adults.'

And just see if you can lope him right out of his tracks.

Cos that's what you might have to do

if you're going to jump out of your tracks on a cow or something.

THEY LAUGH

He kind of got it done in spite of you, didn't he?!

Oh, dang it!

Make a cowgirl out of you, yet!

I'm not doing this so you can laugh!

'Reata and I are an awful lot alike.

'Thank goodness, she kind of has her mother's looks.

'Mentally, she's a lot like I am.

'Mary'll say - sometimes, in frustration - "She's just like you!"

And I think - "What's the downside to that?"

But she may not be seeing it just that away at the time, but...

If I look at her the way she's developed

and I think I probably could have been that way when I was her age.

That was in there all the while.

There.

That was a little better!

Yeah, I could feel it.

Either, before you get settled, or when you get settled...

You signed these books last year and I need a translation of Spanish or Latin.

Latin.

"Solvitur en modo, firmatur en rey."

Gentle in what you do, firm in how you do it.

Good words.

How are you, Charlene?

Hello. It's good to see you. I wanted to tell you,

I was all signed up to ride with you in a couple of weeks

then I found out I'm having a baby!

Well, all right!

Good for you.

-I always learn, even when I'm watching.

-Good. All right.

OVER PA: OK, you guys, come on over near the round corral,

where you can get a good chance to see.

I'll work with this one first here.

Evidently, he's a little naughty.

I guess you can see a little disrespect there, huh?

Had to stick his nose right in my face.

So I'll work with him...

Dan, this guy's a paint, and he was an orphan as a baby.

He was oxygen-deprived, apparently.

Dan, do you want to...?

Which way you guys want to bring him in?

Did you talk to Buck?

See if he wants him or not.

Cos that horse may hold up the whole progress of the class.

-So wait until noon?

-He might want to wait.

-Maybe at lunch?

-Even after?

BUCK OVER PA: I think we have a problem child, we have to work yet.

Can you bring that one on in, Dan?

They make it sound like they're bringing in a Siberian tiger.

WHINNYING

Was he hard to catch even in the trailer, Dan?

Just kind of wanted to be a little aggressive.

Bite, maybe.

-Uh-huh.

-Just a lot of threatening, you know.

-How old is he?

-Just three.

How much have you worked with him?

..I got my back broken in two places. So he has not been handled.

So he was more or less raised like an orphan?

-Yeah.

-Those can be the worst kind.

The orphans are always the worst

because they don't learn anything about respect

that they would have learned from their mother or other horses.

They don't respect anything or anybody.

People thought I should maybe put him down.

That maybe he had some brain damage.

He's extremely dangerous.

And he attacks cars.

I'm sure you're anxious to get that one in here, Dan.

Kit, step in behind him there.

When he was an orphan, I didn't have a barn because my house burned down and my barn burned down,

so I raised him in the house - it was cold.

So I bottle-fed him every couple of hours

and I... How do you say? ..potty trained him.

It started out a good relationship,

it's just somebody else has to come in and help me.

He's different.

And he's a stud, too?

Yeah. I'd do that the sooner the better.

It looks to me, the last thing you need is a damn stud.

If you're going to have one, a lot of you guys,

you'd just as well get you a grizzly bear, an orang-utan.

I've known Buck for over 20 years.

And I've seen one other horse besides Kelly the stallion,

that stands out.

But I've never ever witnessed anything like that...

that dangerous and unpredictable.

-Is somebody planning on trimming his feet some day?

-Yeah.

Any shoers here?

Come on, you cowards!

You want to shoe him right now,

or would you rather I got him a little better?

Your bluff!

Cos Dan's going to saddle him and ride him round here in a minute.

A lot of you that don't understand much about a rope,

you'll find out I can stop him.

And that's going to come in handy for you, Dan.

When you're on him, you're going to be real glad I can stop him.

I want you to understand how much more control

I have by a hind foot than I would by a halter on his head.

You already know you can't control him with a halter on his head.

Cos he's been chewing on people and being aggressive,

and wanting to attack people.

I want you guys to understand you can't hold it against him

for how his life has been.

He'll lead soft...

OK, Dan, if you come on in.

We're just going to kind of love on him, right now.

Just kind of ease up beside him. Pet him.

Come on over with your blanket.

Just go up and rub him.

Good, good... Go get your saddle.

While his frame of mind is humble like that, you can cuddle him,

love on him, too.

So just pet him on the hind leg, see if you can gently pick up the hoof.

That's the way. You can go round the front.

Rub him on his face there, when he's being a good guy.

Watch him though - block him if he wants to bite... Block! Block!

That's he biggest thing - nobody's ever blocked him.

We had to put up a sign that says Attack Horse

because if somebody did walk into the pasture,

he would have taken them out.

One time some people started teasing him

and I went up to him about 12 feet away, in this golf cart,

thinking that would bring him away from the fence,

and instead he looked back at me, pinned his ears, ducked his head -

did the aggressive horse behaviour, and came right at me!

Going, striking feet, everything,

and he pretty much came up over the golf cart and nailed me.

Go for a little walk with him.

Now we'll stop.

Pet him.

You're the good cop, there, Dan.

You just love on him.

Rub him down that hind leg.

Looks good. Just get on him like he's Grandma's horse.

Pick your rope up so it's not dragging there.

So you can bend him if you need to... to the left.

Pet him.

Rub him all over like you're totally in love.

There you go.

OK, walk off again. Go ahead.

Yeah, go ahead, say, "Come on, let's go, Yeller!"

There you go. Pet him.

Pet him when he goes. You've got to remember that.

Now maybe we can lope him.

You got an opportunity.

Go ahead. Go on.

Pet him. Pet him!

Rub him on the back.

Don't want him thinking when he feels anything back there he's just going to get whacked.

Good job. I'm going to stop you now.

OK, you can step off him nice and clean.

This isn't open for discussion - at this point,

Dan is the only one permitted to lead this horse anywhere.

And then later on, a little short evening session,

you can work him on the end of your lead rope in here,

when it's just you and him by yourself.

I was really embarrassed cos he said no-one should have a stud horse

and I'm thinking, God, if he only knew I had a whole pasture full at home!

And that he's said not letting him get his head over to bite...

Well, it's healed up pretty well,

but I'm going to have that the rest of my life. Yeah.

You know, I have thousands of horses under my belt

and lots of experience,

and hell, the safest place around this sonovabitch is on him!

You felt fine when you were on him.

But around him on the ground...

he's treacherous.

Because of what he's...gotten to be.

And he could hurt Dan or me or you or anybody else

just in being spoiled.

He doesn't want to be that way...

..but he doesn't know any other way to be.

He's as close to having been

turned into a predator as you're going to find.

Cos he's been wrecked.

I'd want to give the older horses a chance to get him some manners.

He's run with some studs.

You're nuts for having that many studs running together.

Lady, I'm telling you that.

Most people don't need studs, and for God's sake they don't need 18 of 'em!

I don't know what you're trying to prove.

And if you've got a lot going on in your life,

probably a lot of it is a lot bigger story than this horse.

LOUD WHINNYING

You oughta be a SEAL team member, or something,

as much risk as you like to take.

Why don't you learn how to enjoy your life?

Life's too damn short.

This horse tells me quite a bit about you.

So this is just an amplified situation of what is.

Maybe there's some things for you to learn about you.

Maybe the horse is going to be the only damn way you're going to learn it.

Cos you might not listen to somebody else.

Well, that's all right. Sometimes I don't either, and I should.

Ask my wife.

I love the horses,

but I have a responsibility to my fellow human too.

If I think maybe it might do something

to get yourself hurt and you don't even see it coming,

if I see it coming, you know,

I have a moral obligation to say you're in big trouble here.

Sound fair?

OK.

He's right. I mean...

He's right. I've...

You know.

He's right. And I'm not... It's not just the horse.

He's right about my life.

LOUD WHINNY

So, Dan, if you feel safer just roping him? Just rope him.

I need to get my horse warmed up a little bit.

Dan! Dan! DAN!

< HEY! HEY! HEY!

Get out, you're bleeding really bad. >

He got you in the head. Get out.

That's it.

I'm done.

You got it?

Dan, hop down, will you?

Just hop down.

I need to stay here.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

It's all right.

He needs sutures. It's a huge hole.

That's pretty bad, y'all. You carry something with you, just in case?

'I'm going to have to put him down.'

Aw, look what he did to my hat!

He bit you in the head?!

-Holy shit!

-It knocked me over.

-Hey, go sit down in my mom's car, right there.

-Why?

Cos I'm taking you to get stitches, it's deep.

It's deep. You could see the bone.

Mr Brannaman, you need to talk a little sense into Dan.

I figure you're probably the only one that can do it.

Dang!

About the third tine I got the saddle blanket up over his back,

boy, I didn't even see him, man.

He hit me with his teeth, knocked me flat.

Get it stitched up.

Know what you're going to do?

We're going to have to have him put down.

I won't give him to somebody who'll beat him to a pulp with a 2x4.

It's not something you do. And he's dangerous.

I'm going to put him down and that's the most humane thing to do for him.

Yeah.

-KELLY HITS CORRAL

-Dale, get out of there.

-MAN SHOUTS:

-DAN! DAN!

-Do not get close to him!

-Step back away from him.

-Is Buck coming?

-Yeah.

-Please, step back away from him.

< Come on, Kel.

LOUD WHINNY

How is he going to get him in that trailer?

-Come on, Kel. Come on. Up!

-Just sit still.

-Come on, Kel. Come on.

-Just wait.

Come on. Come on.

-Come on, Kel. Come on, Kel, come on. Up.

-Sit still. Just sit still.

Just sit still. Just don't do anything.

OK, we'll see if you have any questions here.

Well, I'll talk to you right now.

The colt, when it was born, was not breathing when they got to it, and they didn't know for how long.

So they figured the horse had been oxygen deprived for quite a long period of time.

But he still could have made it in spite of his handicap

that he was born with. He could have made it.

If you just would treat this as if that horse,

because of the oxygen deprivation, had a learning disability.

Well, number one, they should have worked with him

like you might work with a disabled child and said,

"Look, you might need a little bit of extra education,

"because of where you're coming from."

So you could have taken that disabled child and turned him

into something of value to himself and everyone else.

And he may have ended up just a kind, nice little horse

that didn't have a lot to offer mentally, but was just kind of OK with people.

And he might have packed someone around. He might have been the absolute opposite of what he is.

But, you know damn good and well, she would go home

and she would either get hurt, get killed,

or someone else would get hurt that was totally innocent.

The human failed that horse. The human is that X factor.

That horse is a mirror. All your horses are a mirror to your soul.

And sometimes you might not like what you see in the mirror.

Sometimes you will.

What were you thinking when you were just being so kind

and patient with that horse, to get him in there

instead of just, "You're no good", shut the door and go?

To have contempt for the horse never would even occur to me.

That's not... Maybe, maybe 30 years ago it would have, maybe.

One of the biggest challenges of the horseman

is to be able to control your emotions.

And it's, uh, you know, probably more of a challenge for me.

It has been, you know, not so much now

but it has been because my dad had a violent temper.

He was a terrifying person.

So, that kind of followed me around a little bit, thinking,

"Am I going to be just like that old fart, no way!" No.

You got a choice, you can make choices,

you can't blame the whole damn thing on somebody else.

And I can't help but think that all you guys here,

when you have a youngster that you are going to be thinking,

"Oh, I've got some responsibility.

"I'm going to take care of things and make this as good a life for him

"as I can and not let things get out of hand and teach him something."

I hope. I hope.

So, we're heading from Chico to Red Bluff.

To the stock horse ranch roping contest there.

The Californios is the deal every year in Red Bluff.

Buckaroo-style roping, this is it.

Reata's doing the kids class, they call it the heritage class.

She's really looking forward to that and this will be her last

year to do the kids class, and then she will be too old.

The Californios is one of the highlights of my dad's season because

he has been on the road travelling, living in his horse trailer,

meeting a bunch of new people, having to memorise their names,

so I think it is definitely one of his highlights.

INAUDIBLE ANNOUNCEMENTS

That's about the most fun for me, is out there roping with my daughter.

She wants to be, she emulates everything her dad does,

she wants to be just like him.

She is her father's daughter.

We did teach her how to ride, but it was already in her.

She could ride from the very beginning, I mean, the very

first time I watched her rope I thought, "Who has been teaching you?"

-ANNOUNCER:

-OK, we're good to go, Reata Brannaman and her lovely assistant.

FEMALE VOICE: Yes, lovely assistant.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

She's a handy kid, she outropes most men now.

There will come a time when she will be beating me. That will be fine.

It will be time to turn it over to her.

And I will just sit around in the grandstands

and talk about all the stuff I used to be.

But hopefully that'll be about another 30, 40 years.

People say they're too old when they are, like 40, and you think,

"Shut up! Too old(!)"

Bill Dorrance was roping when he was 94.

That's how I want to be when I grow up, if I ever do.

It's always neat to see them after I have been gone for a long time.

But it's always hard to leave, too -

once you're around them for a few days, you start getting used

to being around them and then you go back to your life of solitude.

So, I am still on the move.

I'm getting better, because I'm still studying,

I still want to be a better horseman.

I've learned so many things

and I thought originally I was just going to be there to figure

out how to get a colt started, how to be a little better cowboy.

That's what I thought it was about.

I came to find out that wasn't what it was about at all.

'Out of a group like this, there might be some become artists.

'Or you become creative and you use your imagination.'

Now, that was a thing of beauty.

You look like one mind and one body.

If you got a taste of it, if you got a taste of what I'm

talking about you couldn't get enough of it.

You'd rather do that than eat.

You may spend your whole life chasing that.

And that's possible.

But it's a good thing to chase.

This is Buck's favourite joke.

It's a pirate scene, and the guy up in the crow's nest says,

"One enemy ship coming on the horizon."

And the captain says,

"Quick, bring me my red shirt because if I get

"wounded in battle the blood won't show and my men will fight on."

So they had the battle, and after a bit,

the guy in the crow's nest says, "Ten enemy ships on the horizon."

And the captain says, "Quick, bring me my brown pants!"

LAUGHTER

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