Grant Golliher's sitting with his legs crossed underneath a two-year-old horse named Ruby. The 800 pounds and change above him, should she decide to activate her muscular legs and rock-hard hooves, would pose a threat to most any human being in Golliher's position. But the proprietor of Diamond Cross Ranch is demonstrating the trust he and Ruby share. "I'm making myself vulnerable," he tells the crowd in front of him. "Horses are attracted to humility."

It's one of many things Grant said that day that felt like a lesson in much more than horsemanship. Golliher is good at that, saying things you feel like you've heard before, in a way that makes you feel like you're hearing it for the first time. And yes, he's literally talking about working with horses. But the lessons his audience walks away with will be invaluable, even if they never see another horse again.

In fact, while most of his clientele walks on four hooves, horses aren't the only creatures benefitting from Golliher's wisdom. Leaders of all sort seek out Golliher's perspective. And he's got a lot of it. A whole book's worth even. Grant left home at 19 with a little money in his pocket and a pretty open-ended plan. He just wanted to go where people, ranchers, needed hands. Along the way he stared death in the eye—not once, but twice. The second time was while he was living alone in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of winter. Except thankfully he wasn't alone, because after a long trek through a blizzard that exhausted him beyond standing up, his dog came searching for him in the snow and was able to wake him up. Eventually he met his wife, Jane, whose family homesteaded the Diamond Cross Ranch in 1912. In his book, Golliher says "I'm the lucky cowboy that showed up and married the rancher's daughter."

Everything changed for Golliher, though, when he met a horse whisperer named Ray Hunt. Hunt taught Golliher that you could teach a horse by letting it use its own free will. It's why to this day Golliher says at Diamond Cross that they don't "break" horses, they "start" them. He leverages this philosophy today when the CEOs come calling. And it applies to parenting, too. And being a good friend. Like I said, Golliher has a way of saying things you already know but make you feel like you're hearing it for the first time. It's just that you've never heard someone talk about it in the context of training a horse but knowing they're talking about something greater.

Golliher lets you use your own free will to fill in the lines. So you can go forward fueled by your own empathy—a.k.a thinking like a horse.

Photographs by Kevin Wells

Photographs by Kevin Wells

Video by Voca Films.

Low-Key Legends: Grant Golliher Is More Than a Horse Whisperer