The future

I took this picture of my hero about 3 years ago... even though cameras weren't allowed. BUT I got the photo none the less. (This was actually the first time I saw him, the second time I saw him I was about to go up to him and tell him how awesome he is... but I freaked out and couldn't find the guts to say hi... he was only 10 feet away from me.) 

Who is this man and what does he have to do with horses? 

The future.

Yes... you heard me.... the future. More specifically horses' future. 

I've talked about why horses are so awesome and how much they have given us as a society and sacrificed for our benefit, but now how to we reciprocate the love?

WELL let's start with Buck Brannaman. He believes that mans old method of beating down the horse and conquering them is wrong, in fact if we just understood how amazing and understanding these animals are we wouldn't need to beat them down and since their ancestors have helped us so much, it's time we helped them.

Now if you don't believe in his qualifications, well let me tell you this... you know the movie AND book the Horse Whisperer, yeah you know the one... with Robert Redford... that's based on Buck's practices. Buck was even on the movie set directing ROBERT FREAKING REDFORD on how to handle horses. There was a scene where one of the Hollywood trick horses wouldn't complete the scene and he used his horse to do the trick and they were done with the scene in a matter a minutes. Yeah so him AND his horse were in the movie. 

But anyway... in my pitch I talked about what we are doing now to help these amazing creatures. Buck teaches that we have to respect them and use methods called natural horsemanship. I'm not talking about that health cleanse you're on, but its just a different way of training horses than from the conventional practice. Natural horsemanship builds on creating a relationship with the horse and not beating them down as we have in the past. Being patient and understanding is key to being a good horse trainer.

There are many horse practices still in place for training that are torturous to these animals that have been with us for 6,000 years. 

People who use the methods of "biting up," or having a less than gentle touch end up beat their horses a lot of the time if they mess up. In 2013 a horse in Southern California was killed because it had broken one of it's bits so the trainer started beating it... the blows were so heavy and strong the horse died.

Personally being in the showing business I know how nasty it can get. I know a man (he used to be a family friend) who owns a show barn in Southern California... one of his horses bit him when he wasn't looking so in retaliation he got his gun and shot the horse (the horse probably bit him in the first place because he was angry and distressed).

 Practices such as shackling hooves together and places grounded up hot pepper around the nose and eyes to make horses seem more aware are prominently used today. 

Overall, this is not how people should treat the animals that have sacrificed so much for the human race. A lot of people I know joke around about how stupid horses are and how they are like any other livestock. All I have to say is... you don't understand. You don't know what it's like having an animal that can't speak your language and yet know everything you want to tell it. You don't know that feeling when you have worked months... no years on accomplishing a goal whether its winning a race, event, or show. You don't know what it's like to walk into a barn and hear all your horses whinny at you in joy. You don't know what it's like to reach amazing speed on your horses back and feel like your flying. You don't know what it's like for a little girl going through her parents divorced and visiting the barn everyday to tell her horse about all her problems and have your horse comfort her and sense how upset she are... seeing in her best friend's big brown eyes that she knows your upset and she is there for you. You just got to experience it. 

Horse therapy shows that horses heal us.... they make us feel awesome. 

Now we have to return the favor.