Top 90 Buck Brannaman Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “Timing is everything.”

— Buck Brannaman

2. “Gentle in what you do, Firm in how you do it.”

— Buck Brannaman

3. “Your Horse is a mirror to your soul.”

— Buck Brannaman

4. “If you miss the beginning, the basics, then you are destined to go back and visit the basics.”

— Buck Brannaman

5. “Well you learn from making mistakes. It’s that simple.”

— Buck Brannaman

6. “Whether it’s horses or whatever it is you do, it doesn’t become an art until your soul goes into what you do.”

— Buck Brannaman

7. “When you find that the horse is compelled and interested in you, something in you changes. That can be healing or move you deeply.”

— Buck Brannaman

8. “There are things that the horse did for me that a human couldn’t have done.”

— Buck Brannaman

9. “You allow a horse to make mistakes, the horse will learn from mistakes no different than the human. But you can’t get him to where he dreads making mistakes for fear of what’s going to happen after he does.”

— Buck Brannaman

10. “Not all horses are going to be show jumpers, not all horses are going to be dressage horses. So you have to sort of find where the horse physically fits into what might suit him, but all horses can be comfortable and all horses can have good, solid fundamentals.”

— Buck Brannaman

11. “With the horse I always consider that if I do too much in too little time and I’m not patient, he’s gonna shut down and I won’t get anything done.”

— Buck Brannaman

12. “I’m still on the move, I’m getting better because I’m still studying. I still want to be a better horseman.”

— Buck Brannaman

13. “I don’t want the horse to get trained, because training the horse is absolutely finite. But if you get the horse to where he operates as if to be your legs, an extension of you, you’ve far-exceeded that whole training notion.”

— Buck Brannaman

14. “A lot of times, rather than helping people with horse problems, I’m helping horses with people problems.”

— Buck Brannaman

15. “You’re trying to figure out a way to meet a horse to where he can understand. And to me, it’s not to train a horse, it’s to try to get the horse with you where it’s one mind and one body. You may spend your whole life chasing that, but it’s a good thing to chase.”

— Buck Brannaman

16. “If I had a horse buck with me now, I’m a little disappointed. It’s not the end of the world, but I’m a little disappointed if I couldn’t keep the horse out of trouble, whereas it used to be a source of pride, and now it’s sort of source of shame if I let the horse get lost.”

— Buck Brannaman

17. “I’ve always wanted to do the right thing by a horse, that’s never changed, its just that as my knowledge grew I’ve been able to offer the horse a better human being, as time has gone on.”

— Buck Brannaman

18. “It is all about the quality of the communication, not the quantity.”

— Buck Brannaman

19. “My work is my play. I found a way to make my passion to be the same as how I make a living.”

— Buck Brannaman

20. “You can’t make something happen with a horse, but you can fix things up and let it happen.”

— Buck Brannaman

21. “Like Tom Dorrance said, ‘It boiled down to one thing: observe, remember, and compare.’ Do something, observe what you did, remember what you did, compare it to what you were doing before, and adjust.”

— Buck Brannaman

22. “Nobody has to lose for me to succeed and that is a unique job. Everybody wins, horse wins, people win, I win.”

— Buck Brannaman

23. “That’s the cool thing about horses – they don’t have prejudice. They don’t care if you’re tall or thin or if you’re dark or if you’re light, or if you’re rich or you’re poor, if you’re handsome or not so handsome.”

— Buck Brannaman

24. “It’s amazing what a healing effect horses can have on kids, particularly troubled kids, that might bridge the gap that a well-intended human just can’t do.”

— Buck Brannaman

25. “If the human isn’t responsible for their role in the horse human relationship, horses just don’t get along very well. So that’s why I say it’s all about the human meeting the bill to fit the horse in any given situation. But don’t expect the horse to always fit the human.”

— Buck Brannaman

26. “Controlling your emotions is the biggest challenge for a horseman.”

— Buck Brannaman

27. “They say nerves heal real slowly. Lots of things about us heal real slowly.”

— Buck Brannaman

28. “You try to do as little as you can, but you need to do as much as is necessary to get a result. When you get a result, you do less.”

— Buck Brannaman

29. “Horses are very sensitive and perceptive. You don’t have to be physical with them.”

— Buck Brannaman

30. “When riding, ask yourself what will my horse get out of it if I get what I want? Many times, human nature is to take and to not give anything back.”

— Buck Brannaman

31. “The comforting thing to the horse is, is as you become more and more accurate, he knows you’re aware of him, and pretty soon because of that he’s aware of you more and more of the time.”

— Buck Brannaman

32. “In life, we don’t know why things happen. I believe God is not responsible for the bad things that happen to you. Sometimes I think He’s responsible for the good things, but sometimes it’s something you shape up for yourself.”

— Buck Brannaman

33. “The horse is a great equalizer, he doesn’t care how good looking you are, or how rich you are or how powerful you are – he takes you for how you make him feel.”

— Buck Brannaman

34. “Someone might steal your childhood, but they can’t steal your will. There is a point where you’re given the opportunity in life to stop blaming everyone else and start taking responsibility for your life.”

— Buck Brannaman

35. “It’s a matter of timing and of patience. Although it may seem nothing is happening on the surface, there may yet be profound changes occurring a little deeper. Waiting isn’t bad.”

— Buck Brannaman

36. “The horse responds to comfort, they respond to peace better than about anything else you could do. All he wants you to do is just leave him alone. So if the horse responds to you and you give him a little peace and comfort that means more to him than anything.”

— Buck Brannaman

37. “It’s not about how much pressure you put on, it’s how good you are at taking it off.”

— Buck Brannaman

38. “There have been so many times over the years where people have said “Man, I thought I was just coming to this deal to get a little handier with my horse” and I’ll say “Well, in the beginning, I thought that’s all you were coming for too. But it turns out it’s about something else.””

— Buck Brannaman

39. “Horses are very keen on body language, and what I refer to as “presence”, and expression. They know quite a bit about you before you ever get to ’em. They can read things about you clear across an arena.”

— Buck Brannaman

40. “That absolute pure honesty of the horse, man that’s just the greatest thing there is.”

— Buck Brannaman

41. “With a horse, if you make it easy for him to do the right thing, that’s what he will logically do, but it’s not necessarily true with the human. You will see humans that will beat their heads against the wall rather than open the door and walk through it.”

— Buck Brannaman

42. “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.”

— Buck Brannaman

43. “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 clear ’cross the arena. Sort of an invitation from the horse to come to you.”

— Buck Brannaman

44. “You have to plan ahead so that rather then seek revenge for the horse’s misbehavior, you see his aggressive behavior shaping up and can redirect it. You change his mind before he’s acted and move on to something else.”

— Buck Brannaman

45. “All your horse looks for is the thing that matters most, peace and contentment. Give it to him.”

— Buck Brannaman

46. “Someone who doesn’t know anything about the ways of the horse could be fooled into thinking the approach is all cosmic or mystical. It’s not. Anybody can do it who has a passion to do it and has put in enough time. These people are horsemen and horsewomen, not whisperers.”

— Buck Brannaman

47. “The horse is a gift to us, to humanity. And for that, there comes responsibility. If the horse is gonna work for you and work with you, then the best thing I can do for the horse is to make it as good a life possible.”

— Buck Brannaman

48. “There are things that change all through your life the way you deal with people, the way you approach problems.”

— Buck Brannaman

49. “Whether one was going to have a horse, or a dog, or a child, with that comes a great responsibility to raise them.”

— Buck Brannaman

50. “Every time you interact with a horse, you are teaching the horse.”

— Buck Brannaman