The Year of the Horse is said to usher in a new rhythm—one that’s fast-paced, full of energy and the urge to move toward something new.

Its characteristics line up perfectly not just with the animal itself but with the people who make horses their life’s work: enigmatic cowboys, brazen rodeo stars and deeply attuned trainers.

In South Dakota, Brady Jandreau grew up on horseback—but his status as a certifiable horse whisperer was the outcome of hard work at home on the range and in the rodeo ring since he was three years old.

“Horses got me through a lot in my life,” he says. “Purpose was something that I struggled with a lot when I was growing up. But when I ride horses, I'm good at it because I don't put any pressure on myself to be good at it.”

“When a horse gives you his trust, it surpasses loyalty. It’s a true connection, the two of you become one.”

A near-fatal rodeo accident at age twenty could have changed everything. Instead, when Jandreau got back in the saddle, his transcendent connection with horses—and struggle to recover from his injury—was immortalized in the 2018 film The Rider. “For people, it's very hard to commit fully to something because we are constantly questioning, critiquing or fearing,” he says. “But a horse, once it learns and knows that it can trust who is in control, they commit fully.”