Buck

You couldn’t get more western than Idaho Falls.  Established along the Snake River, the town had the Cowboy Bar and even one armed bandits when my folk arrived in the 50’s.  I wore my boots from age five and wouldn’t take them off even at Niagara Falls.                              
        Growing up in Idaho, I just assumed I was carrying the cowboy genes.  Now this intriguing documentary comes along about a modern day horse whisperer and I realize I was masquerading as a city slicker.  Sure, I thought I had the right pedigree.    

                                                                                                                                                                                                      But this guy Buck showed me real cowpokes have 6 legs—two you walk around with looking like your lined the top half of your pants with a hula hoop and the extra four from you horse.

There’s even a heart wrenching backstory about how Buck and his brother were brutalized by their show business father.  Apparently Buck was the Michael Jackson of rope tricks.  The brothers landed on the cover of Wheaties while the dad laced their backs with welts.  A concerned football coach and great foster parents intervened and the boys got a second chance.

Somehow the abuse gave Buck insight into the brutalized practice of breaking horses and he found a gentler way of soothing these steeds.  When Robert Redford met him during the making of The Horse Whisperer he knew he was the real deal.

The fellow spends 40 weeks out of the year crisscrossing the country and giving seminars from the saddle—it’s homespun knowledge mixed in with a little psychology.  You come away thinking we could all use a Mr. Ed in our lives.

The one sour note is when you realize there’s not much concern for how the cattle are treated. Buck relishes his time with a daughter at the rope steering events but those calves look just as terrified as the horses did before Buck worked his magic.

Horses and dogs have figured out that the one way to survive is to serve the two legged animals that look so stupid standing up.  They always need a lift and a friend. If the cows could just come up with an angle, Redford could do a film about them too.