Staying Fit
Directed by Cindy Meehl
Rated PG, Runtime: 88 mins.
Stars: Buck Brannaman
On the surface, Buck is a study of horses, but it’s also a portrait of Buck Brannaman, a man who possesses a deep reserve of empathy that allows him to connect with four-legged creatures as well as the two-legged ones that ride them.
See also: A sanctuary for retired thoroughbreds.
The 88-minute documentary follows Brannaman, who inspired the main character in the novel The Horse Whisperer, as he traverses the country, holding four-day clinics for horse owners seeking help with training. In scene after scene, he performs his alluring dance in dusty corrals and wind-swept pastures. Wearing fringed suede chaps and a cordless mike, he offers pearls of wisdom to the animals’ human keepers: “A lot of times, rather than helping people with horse problems,” he says, “I’m helping horses with people problems.” No boisterous Dr. Phil is cowboy Brannaman; his admonitions are often pointed but always quiet, sometimes diluted with smart humor.
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During the three months of each year that he’s not on the road, Brannaman, 49, lives with his wife and three daughters on a ranch in Sheridan, Wyoming. A student of the natural-horsemanship pioneers Ray Hunt and Tom Dorrance, Brannaman practices a method of training that calls for encouragement rather than punishment, and for earning a horse’s respect rather than “breaking” it. The film makes it clear that Brannaman applies the method in all his relationships.