GARY CLAY
The TRUE Beginning … Buck’s Story

Many years ago I was asked to take over the management of a dude operation located in the heart of the Phoenix Mountain Preserve. It was in association with one of the larger resorts. I had never done anything like this before so I embarked on it as a worthy challenge.

Since I was a National Level Professional, my ego said that this couldn’t be all that hard to do. Little did I know! The stable accommodated over 10,000 riders, mostly between the months of November to May when the weather is cool and required 80 head of dead broke horses; horses that pretty much anyone could ride. Because of the large number of head needed, I sent out calls to all the horse traders I knew. They would bring me a truck load at a time. As with all horses, I would test them out myself and spend several days getting to know them.

One such horse came to me in this way and changed my perspective forever. He was an 8 year old buckskin mustang gelding named BUCK. He stood 15" 2' hands and weighed 1200 pounds. He had steel cold eyes, a hardened face, lots of scars from many untold battles and was always ready for a fight. I worked him off several days in the bullring and thought it was then time to try him out. Placing one of my better wranglers on him, we worked in the small ring for a few minutes. He seemed calm and relaxed so we went to the larger arena where without warning, BUCK… immediately lived up to his name. He sent the young man flying into the air doing summersaults along the way and landing with a loud crumpled thud. As soon as he had catapulted the boy, Buck then suddenly stopped in his tracks, turned and stared. I thought “What in the world was going through this horse’s mind?” Little did I know what was really going on in his head.

As standard practice with all new horses, they are brought up to the hitching rail brushed and saddled every day and tied in the middle of the action so they can adjust and capture all the noise and energy around them. Knowing that Saturdays in season were very busy and required lots of extra hands we were always hiring new people to help water, feed and bring the horses to the mounting area. On this particular morning, we had 30 riders ready to go out for the breakfast ride. The activities were rushed as the group had arrived late and we were under a time schedule, so people were scurrying around, mounting riders and heading out on the trail in small groups.

As I was in the office registering folks, I looked up and saw that BUCK was in the string headed out on the trail and on board was an elderly woman who had never ridden a horse before. She had the reins dropped on his neck while holding on to the saddle horn with a look on her face that said “I'm scared to death, Lord help me”. Holy jumping sweet Joseph! My first reaction was to mount my horse and run out screaming for her to get off BUCK. Something intuitively though, told me not to do so. To this day, I'm not sure what it was, but a voice inside me told me be still and watch.

I mounted my horse and followed them close by for the entire trail ride. I looked into BUCK's eyes and face; he seemed to be smiling at me. His head and his ears were flopping in rhythm as he walked and his neck was dropped. He was watching the trail and where he placed his feet with great care and intensity. The lady would lose her balance and slide dangerously close to falling off and with each occurrence, BUCK would slow down shift his weight and wait to go until she was ready to proceed. The entire time I could hear her talking to him with this sweet and trusting tone.

I quickly realized that BUCK was “talking” back in the same gentle loving way.

Needless to say, a wrangler never tried to “make” him again and BUCK's name change to LUCKY and he became one of the best babysitters we had. LUCKY was sold to a young girl and became a gymkhana champion.

This was the humble beginnings of what I call T.R.U.E. When you have mutual trust, respect, and understanding, excellence in all things is the end result.

Since that time, I have coached and worked with the physically and mentally challenged, young adults in prison, and folks who have suffered serious traumas. This same philosophy has allowed me to train riders to maximize and realize their TRUE potential and performance. This teaching applies to all disciplines and levels from beginner to professional. Learning to Trust ones self, Respect others and have compassion and Understanding for yourself, your horse and others will lead to Excellence in life and success in all things