Full disclosure: This should probably be called a Netflix review rather than a DVD review, but I can’t link to Netflix on Amazon.
Full disclosure number two: I’m not a horseman. I’ve ridden some, and generally managed not to fall off, and my brothers and I had a pony when we were kids. But I know I’m a tenderfoot. I qualify in no way to evaluate the horse training methods discussed in this excellent documentary.
It sure makes a good story, though.
Buck Brannaman, the subject of Buck, is one of the most famous proponents of what might be called the “new school” of horse training, an approach that concentrates on understanding the horse’s fears, calming those fears, earning the animal’s trust, and then becoming its thoughtful master. Buck seems to be able to take all but the most damaged animals, and fairly quickly to gentle them and get them doing what he wants them to do.
He was one of the inspirations for the book The Horse Whisperer, and served as technical consultant and stand-in for Robert Redford’s movie adaptation. Nowadays he travels the country nine months out of the year, conducting four day seminars on horse training.
The most remarkable and moving aspect of this film is its treatment of the abuse Buck and his brother suffered at the hands of their father, after their mother’s death. Fortunately they were removed from his care and placed in a loving foster family where they gradually learned to trust grownups again. Buck explicitly links this experience to his approach to horse training, feeling that he understands the horses’ fears (they’re essentially afraid that we’re predators trying to eat them) on a profound level.
With all I’ve heard of “Horse Whisperers,” I was half prepared for a lot of new-agey, PETA-style sentimentality and romanticism in the the film’s treatment of horses. I’m happy to report that there’s none of that here. Buck still considers himself a cowboy, and an important part of his technique is getting the horse (and its owner) to understand who’s supposed to be the boss. A dangerous horse must be put down, for the sake of humans.
This is a fine, moving documentary. I recommend it. I think there’s a little rough language, but I don’t have a strong recollection of it.