Buck

Buck is a self-centered, action-loving stallion who serves as a major character in Disney's 2004 animated feature film Home on the Range. He has a mind of an action horse with martial art skills. He then reforms at the end and helps the cows after he discovers that Rico, his idol, is secretly working for Alameda Slim.
==Background==
===Personality===
Buck is Sheriff Sam Brown's impetuous and egotistical horse who is always hungry for action and adventure in the town. He is best friends with Rusty, the Sheriff's dog, and they both seem to enjoy playing tic-tac-toe together. Buck has a tendency to act immaturely at times, but he can also be very helpful when he wants to. Being a stallion, Buck usually has a mind of his own.
Buck's ego and selfishness makes him rather unethical, in that he sets out to prove himself to Rico, his hero, by capturing outlaw Slim without a care for the cows, who had the same goal in order to save their farm, going so as far as to mock and even attempt to sabotage them. However, upon finding out that his "hero" was a phony, Buck redeems himself by helping the real good guys. This proves that, despite his hotshot character, Buck stands for justice and will not forsake that for anything or anyone.
==Role in the film==
Buck is first seen with his owner Sheriff Sam Brown hammering a wanted poster of Alameda Slim. Later, Sam rides on Buck to give Pearl another bank notice, explaining that the banks are going to auction off her farm if she can't pay the full amount she owes them, because they are losing so much money due to cattle rustlers leaving behind so many bankrupt ranchers. When Mrs. Calloway asks Buck if he is proud of reporting this horrid news, the horse arrogantly replies, "As a matter of fact, I am." When Sam suggests that Pearl sell off a few of her livestock to pay the debt, she, after explaining that she would never sell her farm animals because they're family, chases the Sheriff off her property in a fury, sending him and Buck running.
Buck is later seen having a daydream of fighting bandits. Buck uses his reins to knock the guns out of the bandits' hands, then defeats them all with his martial art skills. After gloating by making a few victory poses, Buck gets snapped out of his fantasy by Rusty's voice who reminds Buck that it's his move at tic-tac-toe, which they were seen playing together. Buck becomes distraught, complaining that he will never get a chance to fight bandits, but Rusty tries to reassure him that there are other things in life besides being a hero. However, Buck still thinks otherwise and then annoys Rusty with his foolish karate moves.
Sometime later, Buck is distracted by Rico, a supposed bounty hunter and the horse's idol, whom Buck claims to be one of the best. When Rico tells Sam that he needs a fresh horse to help him capture outlaw Alameda Slim, Buck begins immaturely showing off behind them and Rusty, trying to prove that he was the perfect horse. Rico eventually selects Buck, much to the horse's delight, and then saddles him up. Buck exclaims happily that he's wearing Rico's saddle, and the two ride off together.
At a cattle drive, Buck encounters the farm cows who had the same idea and gets into a brief argument before they leave him to wallow in his self-pity when Rico chooses another horse to assist him on his "mission", because from the way he saw Buck's exchange with the cows, he interpreted it as Buck being "too skittish around cows." He then tries to enlist some ranchers to return Buck, only for the stallion to escape the ranchers and run off to prove himself to Rico again.
Buck later decides to travel to Echo Mine alone and capture Alameda Slim himself. Upon arriving there, Buck comes across Junior the Buffalo who refuses to let the horse pass and says that the only critters that get by him are cows. Maggie, Mrs. Calloway, and Grace then show up along with Lucky Jack (a jackrabbit who helped the cows reach Echo Mine), and Junior lets all four of them pass. When Buck questions Junior about this, the buffalo states, "They're cows," and when Buck brings up the rabbit, Junior replies, "Well, obviously, he was with the cows." Buck tries convincing Junior that he was with the cows too, but to no avail.
Sometime later, Buck manages to trick the same horse from before into leaving his post (claiming that Rico will break out the horsewhip once he nabs Slim) so he could get back with Rico. However, when Buck gloats, he is overheard by Junior who snorts angrily, as he had been right behind him. Junior is later seen chasing Buck around Echo Mine until he is saddled up by Rico, to which Buck happily gallops off with him. The chase eventually ends when all groups collide with the train.
When Slim reveals that Rico is actually a mercenary who was working for the outlaw all along, Buck is left feeling betrayed and heartbroken. Seeing the cows being forced into the train by Slim's goons, the horse turns on his traitorous rider by flailing about wildly and manages to buck Rico off his saddle. When Rico attempts to shoot Buck afterwards, Maggie, Grace, and Mrs. Calloway manage to take out the fake bounty hunter. Buck then switches sides by accompanying the cows and helps defeat the Willie Brothers and Mr. Wesley. He also frees all of the stolen cattle that Slim and the Willies had been harboring in Echo Mine.
Later, Buck, Lucky Jack, and the cows hijack a train to get home, but it gets in the path of another oncoming train. Lucky Jack rides on Buck and attempts to use the horse's reins to flip the switch that reverses the train track, but it breaks in the process. Buck, thinking fast, wedges Lucky Jack's wooden peg leg in the switch's opening and pushes him down like a lever, thereby saving the cows from a possible collision while the driver of the oncoming train yells, "Roadhogs!" Lucky Jack tries to pull his peg leg out of the lever while he and Buck wish the cows good luck, and the two eventually arrive at Little Patch of Heaven after Slim is arrested when his disguise is removed.
Sometime later, Buck is seen returning to Pearl's farm with Maggie, Mrs. Calloway, Grace, Pearl, Sam, and some of the farm animals with blue ribbons for winning at the state fair.
Buck is last seen teaching the piggies karate and dancing with all the other farm animals as they celebrate Pearl's farm being saved and re-opened.
==Gallery==
==Trivia==
*Buck is very similar to Chance from the Homeward Bound films, in that they are both impetuous and act immaturely.
*After Buck and Sheriff Sam Brown deliver the auction notice to Pearl, Mrs. Calloway angrily tells Buck, "I hope you're proud of yourself!", to which Buck retorts, "As a matter of fact, I am." This is never explained, as the film never establishes why Buck had it in for the farm and never seems to resolve this case.
*Maggie's derogatory nickname for Buck, "Stallion of the Ci-moron", is a reference to the 2002 animated film .
*When Buck jokingly says, "Got milk?" to the cows, his dialogue is based on featuring the humorous tagline: "Got milk?"
fr:Buck (La ferme se rebelle)
Category:Disney characters
Category:Home on the Range characters
Category:Males
Category:Adults
Category:Horses
Category:Farm animals
Category:Neutral characters
Category:Characters
Category:Animated characters
Category:Anthropomorphic characters
Category:Characters in the Disney animated features canon
Category:Tritagonists
Category:Heroes