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2014 Buck Brannaman Clinic

22K views 81 replies 27 participants last post by  cgwiley 
#1 ·
I am going to ride this year in a Buck Brannaman Clinic. I am wondering if anyone call tell me their experiences and what I can expect? I will be in H1 class, which is 3 hours per day.

Also, I am wondering if you have to use a snaffle in this clinic?
 
#2 ·
I have never been to one, but I'm riding in the H1 class at a clinic in April, i do know the bit you use depends on the level of your horse, so if he's still a little green, a snaffle. If he's a full bridle horse, than a curb or bit like that. Somewhere In the middle, a bosal. At least that's how buck trains. (My trainer is best friends with him)
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#11 ·
personally, I think you can learn more from auditing his clinics than riding in them. the one I saw was SO big, I cannot imagine riding there and getting all that much out of it. he can only help a very small number of the participants, so you do a lot of work on your own, and he spends a LOT of time talking, so being an auditter, you get the info anyway. I appreciated being able to just watch folks trying the things he asked them to do and the corrections he did make. it was very crowded and not everyone could control their horses, so it got a bit chaotic at times.
He has a lot of "groupies" that come with all the right garb and equipment to look like him, but many of them can ride not better than the person dressed in levis and a Tshirt.

I did, however, get a LOT out of watching the clinic for just one day. fortunately, my own teacher has already taught me many of the concepts he is talking about. if it were 100% new to you, I imagine you'd be very confused. a lont time back, I posted some notes that I wrote from my one day observing. let me see if I can find them (runs off into the dark recesses of my computer . . . . )
 
#12 ·
the "notes" from my auditting Buck clinic , ,OR, the longest post I have ever made

The participants started with their horses saddled on the ground on rope halters with leads, many persons with flags. He talked about how many people say their horse is so good at home, then not when they go away. That’s because their calmness at home is reliant on their surroundings, which are known and comfortable. When they leave those, they have nothing to rely on. They need to take their comfort from the rider. How to do that? By, “me causing you to move your feet.” (a direct quote from Buck). So, that was part of him explaining the value of groundwork.

He mentioned that he doesn’t like to see people lunging a horse round and round and round trying to wear down the horse ‘cause “it’ll get fit faster than you will”. That lunging should be
“Accurate and calculated movement”.
He talked about not liking to see people swinging the tail of their rope a lot and hitting the horse a lot. He said he rarely hits a horse. And he said that applying any kind of corrective measure, like hitting the horse, when it is looking away from you focused out ward is likely to result in it kicking outward. Get the horse to look at you if you must apply any corrective pressure.

He firmly reminded people when he works on the ground that the horse must stay out of his space. He says , ‘I don’t have any backward steps in me” . He walks always toward the horse when lunging, well, not straight toward it, but kind of walking on a circle with it, never just standing still in the middle. And never backing away. If the horse comes in on you, he said be sure to use your flag or whip or rope to move the shoulder away from you before it got so close in on you that you have to choke way up on the flag and are unable to extend it and protect your space. He said draw an imaginary line around you and say “Do not cross this line.”

Then he worked on a bit of desensitizing with the flag and using it to move the horse. First to be sure that the horse is not afraid of the flag. So, he would hold the rope in his leading hand, in a “neutral” position. Neither leading the horse forward, nor stopping it from walking forward on the circle if it needed to. Then he would start putting the flag on the horse. He said to be sure to start behind the driveline (or balance point , as he put it) because if the horse is scared and needs to move, you want it to move forward, not backward. Always forward, forward, forward. So you start putting the flag on the horse and if the horse moves forward, you continue following it with the flag neither taking it off nor upping the energy. If the horse tries to flee you , you “corner him”, meaning bump the rope back toward his hind end such that he moves his head around and his hind disengages. Then you start again. Eventually, the horse will choose to stop. Do this until the horse can stand with the flag all over it. THEN, using a feel in you leading hand, you ask the horse to move forward with the flag on it. Can the horse tolerate the flag while he is moving and standing? Eventually the horse will understand the difference between you moving the flag just to move it on him, and you moving the flag to ask him to go forward, and in neither case will he be fleeing the flag in fear. He suggested people do this with ropes too, and showed ways to move the rope around the horse’s body , lift up feet, make them move, rope around belly and others.

If the horse , when doing the desensitizing work, backs up away from you, he said don’t pull back , but go with him. You continue using the flag to drive the hind, asking continually for forward, and you might bump the line “forward” but you don’t’ try to anchor the horse by pulling back equal to him. You continue asking for forward. If he tries to turn, you bump him the other direction with the line. Eventually, he will choose to go forward rather than backward, and you give a slight release.

He said to be careful about bringing the flag up from the ground toward a horse’s chest, because that is their blind spot and they might strike at you.. He held his flag more up, he said, “like a tennis racquet.”

Now he went into the” full circle exercise” which is basically lunging ., but not like on a long line. The horse is very close to you. You use your body, or flag or lead line to ask the horse forward. Wait, I forgot some important parts!
The first thing you do is to move the horse’s front quarters away from you onto the circle. So, if you are going to circle the horse to your right, the very first thing you do is ~YOU MOVE YOURSELF TO THE RIGHT. So, you put your right hand out to the right and you step to the right (on your circle) and the horse should step away from you , kind of mirroring you, and this brings his balance point to your access, so you can put some pressure on to create forward movement, on around the circle.
You want the horse to follow the feel of the rope to go forward; you do not want to pull the horse forward. You put the forward feel in the rope (by extending your hand in the direction you want him to go., keeping a drape in the rope). If the horse doesn’t follow, you drive him forward.
You want the horse to ,maintain this “float” in the rope. The horse does this my keeping his nose tipped to the inside, and stepping under himself with his inside hind as he goes around. This is the “accurate, calculated movement” But, you don’t pull the horse into the bend (my mistake much of the time. I do this too much!). You ask the horse to keep that position with his body and his mind. If he goes too straight and tries to “leave” you, then “corner” him with a bump back toward his hind quarters. If he falls in on you, point at his shoulders and drive him out on the circle. This way he keeps the bend himself.

Buck mentioned that if the horse has little life in him, that he uses the flag more than cornering to bring up the life. If the horse has more life, he uses more “cornering”
Having the horse go forward, with a bend in his body, and eventually the next step was to ask the horse to untrack his hind (disengage the hindquarters), but to do that the horse must be moving forward. He said you “cannot get a horse to “turn loose” to you unless you have forward first”

So then he had the participants circle the horses each direction having them disengage the hindquarters by walking around toward the hind and driving the hind if necessary, bumping the head back if the horse tried to just flee straight away.

Then, he had the folks do the “half circle exercise”. They were to walk forward with the horse walking around them from one side to the other , changing direction when they were on the side of the walker, so a kind of figure eight on each side, while the rider /walker is moving forward. This causes the horse to really have to reach under itself with its inside leg as it’s walking around you. You have the horse in a continual bend, going first one way then the other, never straightening out at all. This was difficult and after he demonstrated it on his gray filly, he said, “usually when I watch folks do this for the first time at these clinics it makes me want to throw up in my mouth a bit.” That got big laughs.
And, it was a bit of a circus. But, nobody got kicked and everything went ok. He said one trick was to start the change of direction when the horse’s flank passed right in front of you, you have to change your hands on the rope and start the disengagement, so it ends up happening on the side of you, never behind you. This is hard to explain in words, but seeing it makes sense. I look forward to trying this myself.

As he was watching the participants work on this he kept up a steady stream of advice that was sometimes hard to figure out to whom it applied. But he said “humans don’t learn as fast as horses do, and that’s weird” when talking about how hard it is to teach people how to do some of this stuff.
He repeatedly said to not pull the horse into the bend but to have the horse maintain the float in the line , thus the bend in the body, he said the horse’s mind has to be in the bend. Regarding using gadgets for bending: “if you make the body conform to a certain shape without the mind – you are in danger~!”

So, that was pretty much what they did in the morning. The afternoon session was mounted. I did not take notes this part, so working form my memory is harder.
He talked about flexing the horse’s head and the importance of doing it correctly. The three parts of flexing were: Elevation, poll must be above the withers, though it needn’t be a lot.
Head must be vertical, meaning the ears do not tilt, but are both level to the ground, nor does the chin of the horse turn more around than the rest of the face
And lastly, the nose is vertical in the other plane; such that if you hung a plumb line from the horse’s forelock, it would hang straight down the middle of the horse’s nose, and hang straight off of the nose, no angle, no bend.

Of all of them start with elevation . Then keeping the ears level (no tilt), then lastly vertical on the face (chin not behind the vertical nor in front of it). Bringing the head around with a tilt to the face puts the horse off balance and does not stretch the muscles that you need to stretch. He wants the flexing process to be done without causing the even weighting of the legs to change. If the horse tilts its’ head in order to reach around, then it will weight the front more than before the flexing. If you ask the horse to flex and he does tilt his head, you ask for a little less bend and you don’t release the rein until the horse changes something in it’s position that moves it more toward that vertical position, then you reward. You are “showing” the way to a correct flexion, but you may have to go back to smaller flexions that are more correct to start with.
He said you cannot do too many of these. The object would be eventually for your horse to get so good at this, at following the feel of your rein, that it “gives” you it’s head.
He talked about “the one rein stop” and said he doesn’t want to see the horse stop still leaning on the rein. You should ask the hind end to step totally under and over (disengagement) and the front end comes to a total stop. Then you give a loose rein. If the horse walks off, do the whole thing again, but you never allow the horse to stop with it’s head cocked over leaning on the rein. Follow through with the disengagement and give the rein. “See if he will honor the stop”. If he walks right off again, go into the hind again.

He went from there into having the participants walk forward, disengage the hind, and then step the front over in a 360 degree turn. He would say, “Give me the hind, now give me the front”.
He said think of it like a dance, “hind two three four, front two three four”. In counting the rhythm of it. When you get the hind quarters to step under, your hand comes out from your hip toward the inside, asking the front legs to step across, but your hand does not go in front of your leg for this maneuver, just straight out from your hip. And in disengaging the hind, your hand should never go behind your bottom, or up to your chest or shoulder.

When asking the hind to step under for the disengagement, if you time your asking with the inside hind stepping under, the horse will comply better and be better balanced, and when stepping the forequarter over, try to “catch the inside front and lift it up and put it down with your inside hand” (but of course, never in front of your leg!) If the horse hurries that inside hind over in bringing the fore quarters across, then it was not in good balance to begin with and that is usually due to not having the hind quarters properly set up.
He really broke down this movement into Hind/fore. He’d say “move the hind to your right, fore to your left”, which was confusing to me.

After doing this 360 degree turning, he’d have them do it going forward, so walk forward, hind over, front over (360 degree turn) go forward, do it again. Then turn to the inside, and go other direction.
Then he went to the center and called everybody to come in around him again. When they went too slow, he said “hurry up, don’t be so slow!” and they all trotted in.
The worked on backing and getting a soft feel on the rein. The horse should flex to the rein, you lift it at about a 45 degree angle from the bit (so the rein forms a 45 degree angle to the ground) and look for the horse to elevate his head and to give at the poll. You don’t want it to just flex at the poll and he talked about some horses that just kind of “jerk” their face back and dive down. This is an evasion, not a follow of the soft feel. The feeling you want is the horse following your hand UP. You want to feel a lift in the wither area, as the horse lifts up its rib cage and the base of its neck through its shoulder blades. The horse will perhaps even rock back a bit.
So the participants were to practice this, and he said “if you see me looking at you like this (showing a kind of scowl and intense focus) then it means I am lookin’ at you wondering why you aren’t doing something? Why are you just sitting on your lazy *** doing nothing”. He made fun of it, but he was trying to get this rather passive group to get busy trying these things.

Which reminds me of another thing he said at the beginning of the clinic and that was that to get things good with your horse you have to WORK at it, a lot. Repeat them a lot. People don’t realize how much work he does with his horses to get them where they are, but it’s a lot of work so don’t be surprised at how much work it takes. And to do a lot of it.
But he also said, don’t overdo things. Don’t drill the horse. If you do something, and you get it good, move on to something else.

Ok, backing up the horse. He said you ask them to flex, both hands lifting the rein, and then kind of take your legs off the side of the horse to give him an “open door “ to move into. When do you quit? “ When the horse feels free” in its movement. Keep the elevation (poll no lower than withers)
He said if your horse cannot back straight this will tell you something about their ability to canter on a certain lead. So, say your horse backs on an arc to the left, he will have trouble cantering on a right lead.

You know, there was more after this, but I kind of lost the train of thought, and shortly after this we left for home, too cold and wet to stand it any longer.

I am sorry this is in such a disjointed format. Not only was it a lot to absorb, but I am really tired now. I wrote this now for fear that I would not remember tomorrow, but my brain is pretty fried right now. Thank you for making the best out of this garbled mess.
 
#13 ·
Wow, thanks Tiny!!! That was awesome. While I have heard from someone else as well, about the riding being too chaotic and observing was more beneficial.....I feel that I have always audited and really want to be in the middle of it instead, especially since it is Buck.

I am not new to the concept and feel that I have a good base with my horse already. I feel that I am one of those that do 'get it' and am not one that you have to tell over and over again a certain concept. So, I would like to build on that base, hopefully, and being there where I am actually practicing while it is being said, works better for me than the taking actual notes for later. Did I say how freaking excited I am!!!!!!!

Jaydee...no video allowed....but I hope there will be lots of pics! I hope to have some of my friends at our ranch there as auditors and hopefully they will snap a few shots!

.....Did I say how freeeeeeaaaaaaaking excited I am????????!!!!!! lol
 
#32 ·
Is there any equipment I should have, or useful if I did have with me for the clinic? Snaffle, macate reins, flag?
I have not attended his clinic but I should think you need to set yourself up just the way you would if you went to a show. So, you would want grooming equipment to start with, feed/water, maybe a light sheet to keep dust off once your horse is cleaned up), rope halter with lead (I suspect the 11' one would do; have a 15' along as well just in case), protective boots (if you use them), some sort of carrot stick/buggy whip just in case (from the little bit I've seen of him he tends to use his lead line more than his stick), a plastic bag and duck tape just in case, saddle blanket/small tarp in case there is any sacking out to do, your usual riding equipment (if you use a curb bit bring a snaffle). Don't forget yourself - appropriate footwear, layered clothing to adjust to the weather of the day, helmet, gloves.
 
#25 ·
I would love to go to one of his clinics, but I'd rather pay the money to sit in my saddle rather than sit my bony butt on a bench for 3 hours LOL.

Maybe someday when he'll be within driving distance from me.

I wonder what a person has to do to sponsor a clinic for him :think:.
 
#27 ·
I appreciate that, but I found what I was looking for by browsing around on his site. Apparently, I'd have to go and participate at a clinic and meet Buck first before he'd talk to me about sponsoring one.

Of course, this would be something that would likely happen a couple of years down the road as I'd also have to rent an arena for the event and all that jazz LOL.

Sure would be nice to have one within driving distance of me though so I could take a horse and have some fun and learn some new stuff...or refresh some old stuff :D.
 
#29 ·
I'm on day 2 of auditing and (photographing) a Buck Clinic here in NZ.
It's not really my bag but I know most of the participants worship at the alter of Buck.
Like most trainers, some things he says are great and a lot of things are so long winded I get lost in the middle of it and find myself wondering why sheep don't shrink in the warm rain.
Here's a couple of priceless photographs you might enjoy from yesterday's clinic. I get the feeling the horse is trying to interpret Buck-speak for all the horses in the clinic... ;-)

Bridle Horse tack Rein Halter Horse


Horse tack Horse Bridle Halter Rein
 
#30 ·
I'm on day 2 of auditing and (photographing) a Buck Clinic here in NZ.
It's not really my bag but I know most of the participants worship at the alter of Buck.
Like most trainers, some things he says are great and a lot of things are so long winded I get lost in the middle of it and find myself wondering why sheep don't shrink in the warm rain.
Here's a couple of priceless photographs you might enjoy from yesterday's clinic. I get the feeling the horse is trying to interpret Buck-speak for all the horses in the clinic... ;-)

View attachment 354993

View attachment 355001
Very cool and funny Merlot. Thank you.

I am not a 'worshiper', but I definitely respect him a lot. I can relate with him on so many levels and say I get it....not just with horses. I am a little scared that I will be disappointed in person, but I will never know if I don't get in there and try.

You were allowed to take pictures then?
 
#33 ·
Supposedly, from what I read on his website, all participants are supposed to have a snaffle with mecate rein set and some sort of flag stick as well.

I'm not sure I agree with that, but I suppose I can understand why he wants everyone to have the same equipment so he doesn't have to take the time to specialize his instructions for anyone riding in a curb or a bitless.

Copied directly from his website:

What to take to a clinic: As a class participant, you will need the following: A 3/8 or 5/8 width egg-butt snaffle bit, mecate-style reins set-up, a training flag and a rope halter with a 12 foot lead. If you are new to the mecate-style reins and have the equipment, Buck's assistant can usually help you set it up before the class.

As a spectator: Check with the seating at each clinic venue to see what is provided. Many spectators prefer to bring their own folding chairs for the best viewing location. Bring food, water, hat, sunscreen, coat or anything that will keep you comfortable in the outdoors for a full day.
 
#34 ·
Yeah, I can understand too about having the same equipment since it is a certain 'type' of training. I guess that would be like me using mecate reins and a curb bit to go to a clinic where they trained in a dressage style. I'm guessing that other disciplines kept their usual bridle etc. since it was so different from what they usually use. Idk.

I'm going to use what it says to be compliant. I did find one of my old sweet iron single jointed eggbutt snaffles. I have the rope halter and the 12' tied lead rope. I got rid of my mecate reins, so I'll buy so inexpensive ones. My reins have the thick slobber straps, they are just not mecate..they are the John Lyons reins...that I love btw. The flag I have doesn't only attach at the corner like his....
 
#35 ·
I'm going to audit the one in April in Red Bluff. Can't wait. It's a 2 hour drive for me so not bad. I'm just not sure how many days I want to go and watch. Is one day enough?? My trainer uses his techniques. I have a 15 year old horse who has some respect issues and I've been ground working him now. When she ground works him, she makes it look SO EASY and he is good about most of the stuff. He's getting better with me but she tells me, "I can't do all the work for you because YOU are the one that needs that relationship with him. He HAS to respond with you working him." But she shows me what to do and how to do it. I'm still kind of clumsy tho.
He's good with moving his hindquarters but shoulders... he's still pretty sticky.
 
#36 ·
I'm going to audit the one in April in Red Bluff. Can't wait. It's a 2 hour drive for me so not bad.
I'm going to be riding at the clinic in Red Bluff, and it's about a 45 minute drive for me though
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#39 ·
You know, I guess I don't understand the fad with the yacht rope mecate rein sets that are so popular with all the trainers these days. Those reins are so darn heavy and on the rare occasion I used one, I could feel a marked difference in the balance of the bit just with my hands...so I know the horse could feel it in his mouth. The near side that had the lead coming out of it always felt so much heavier than the off side and I hated that feeling.

The tradition of horsehair mecate ropes makes sense because those are incredibly light so there is hardly a difference in the balance at all.

BUT, I don't like horsehair reins (my hands are weenies and I won't wear gloves), so that's why I always stick with leather split reins. They seem much handier and more practical to me. However, I don't really follow the traditional vaquero bridle horse training methods either LOL.
 
#41 ·
My favorite reins of all time, before I decided to use my leather split reins so I could pop my mare in the hiney at times, are my John Lyons reins. They have the heavy yacht rope and slobber straps. I loooooove them. I feel like the weight allows me to just use half halts a lot. They feel great in my hands too.

I was told that the slobber strap weight helps the horse to feel that something is being asked without you having to go directly to their mouth. I was also told that this concept works better with the single jointed snaffle and not the double jointed, because you don't want to weigh down the double jointed since those bits drape over the tongue already. We will see. I do know that when I use the reins with the lighter weight leather straps on the ends or the clips, that it doesn't give that same feel for sure. I do like them weighted all the way around.

Redrose....any auditing would be nice to see. However, if you attend multiple, you can see any progression or lack there of...lol.
 
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