To celebrate Father’s Day, we talked with some famous father-daughter duos about life, lessons, and love.
For more than 40 years renowned horseman and clinician Buck Brannaman has hit the road nearly every weekend of the year from his home base in Sheridan, Wyoming, conducting horsemanship clinics based on working with their owners to create to better understanding of, and relationship with, their equine partners. This is a relationship not based on force, but on trust and respect, and Buck is legendary for being able to reform troubled horses, as well as starting young ones off right. He was inspiration for The Horse Whisperer book and movie and is also the author of several books on horsemanship and creator of many specialty DVDs on horse gentling.
The victim of severe child abuse, Brannaman found a way to translate his own pain to create bonding and transformative kinships with horses. “There are lots of ways to make a living,” he says, “but sharing with others the healing that happened to me — that’s something special.”
At 60, Buck has started to mellow a bit, and his 27-year-old daughter, Reata, has taken up the reins in a big way. As the youngest instructor in the history of Montana State University, she taught colt starting and has worked with colts at ranches all over the West. Reata, who began shadowing her father at the age of 6, now raises all-natural beef cattle along with ranch horses. A producer of the Brannaman ProAm Vaquero Roping Event in the Santa Ynez Valley, she’s at the forefront of the California vaquero tradition. And she’s currently both a Yeti Ambassador and spokesperson for SunBody Hats, which now shapes the same hat she wore in Buck, The Movie and used to shape herself and sell at her dad’s horse clinics.
“Reata’s always had my back,” dad Buck says with a proud fatherly smile.
Cowboys & Indians: Tell us about some experiences in the West that made you grow close.
Buck Brannaman: You never know if your child is going to have the same interests as you have, so I really felt blessed that Reata has had the same interest and passion for horses that I have had. When she was really young and got out of a school for the summer she would travel with her little pony and me to clinics across the West.
C&I: What are some favorite things to do together?
Buck: Obviously our favorite things to do together revolve around horses and riding together. Reata's married now and lives at another ranch north of Sheridan a bit away from where Mary and I live.
C&I: What’s an important life lesson you wanted to instill in your daughter?
Buck: I think that any dad who has a daughter or daughters would agree that the most you can hope for is that she respects, has confidence, and feels good about herself.
C&I: What makes your bond special?
Buck: Reata and I are so close and have such a great father-daughter relationship that I can't say anything negative. I love her to death.
C&I: Like father, like daughter — how are you alike?
Buck: Reata, like me, is very strong-willed, and we do have disagreements. Then I’ll remind her that she’s acting like her dad and perhaps she’s forgotten who she’s talking to.
C&I: How about sharing a fun or special memory from when she was little.
Buck: I think back to when I would take Reata to the clinics and she was just 3 or 4 years old. She sometimes picked several blades of grass, tied them together in a knot, and would sell it for a buck to those attending my clinics.
C&I: Were there any experiences in the West that made you and your dad grow close?
Reata Brannaman: Growing up and traveling with my dad everywhere made us really close. I was able to learn from his clinics and educate myself in horsemanship. I also got to travel with him to different ranches and even learned how to brand cows. And where I’m living now — the OW ranch in Montana, with my husband and children — is where I grew up and got my first pony. We now own the ranch. It’s amazing how things go full circle.
C&I: What are some mannerisms or behavioral traits that you share with your dad? And a difference?
Reata: I went to school for marketing and really believe in it. But for the longest time, Dad was against it and calls Facebook “Wastebook.” In a way it’s something I admire about him. But I’ve encouraged him to step into the 21st century, and he now texts. We do have a lot of similarities in the way we say things, and I’ve been told that we have the same sense of humor. We’re both opinionated, but we try not to argue and instead just ‘discuss’ our opinions.
C&I: What’s a perfect ride with your dad?
Reata: A good day is being able ride out and brand calves where there is no pressure and to see how he enjoys his horse surrounded by the people he loves.
C&I: Tell us about an experience or two in the West that made you grow close.
Reata Several experiences include my dad teaching me how to rope, and that is a skill I’ve continued throughout my life. We sat around roping a dummy every night from the time I was 6 years old, just trying to get better. It was a continuous event in my life.
Next Dads and Daughters duo: Terry and Erin Bradshaw
From our May / June 2022 issue
Photography: Kelly Gorham/Montana State University News Service