# Get true results with the Clinton Anderson method



## bsms (Dec 31, 2010)

Whatever.

If I had a TV show, my method would work with every horse on the TV show too! 

Lots of folks seem to like CA, so I assume he has helped a lot of folks. I'm glad for them. No one "method" works for all horses and all riders, any more than any one method of raising kids or training dogs is universal. But if CA 'clicks' for you and your horse, I'm happy for you both.


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## TessaMay (Jul 26, 2013)

I borrowed some of his videos and watched them with my partner once. He has since been the butt of more than one joke in our house. 

I sum up his ground work method as "hit a horse with a stick until he does what you want, then stop." Sure, that method can work for some horses, but it won't create the kind of partnership with my horse I want. 

I don't care for him at all.


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## verona1016 (Jul 3, 2011)

I haven't seen a lot of Clinton Anderson's videos, but I have liked most of what I've seen. However I think with any training method, it has to fit the horse and the trainer/rider. There's no technique out there that will work with all horses, and it's very hard for a person to exactly emulate any specific trainer.

To me, training is largely about having goals and techniques in mind, but altering them based on the horse you're working with and the responses it's giving you. You can get some ideas of how to read a horse from training videos but ultimately it's hands on experience that will tell you when a certain technique is appropriate for a horse and you eventually get a feel for the timing and energy required to use those techniques effectively.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Joel Reiter (Feb 9, 2015)

One of the knocks I hear most often on Clinton Anderson is that no one method will work on every horse. But CA spends a lot of time describing how he adapts his technique to different horses. In the fundamentals kit he demonstrates everything with two different horses, one very sluggish and the other highly reactive, to show how to suit the training to the horse. He also did a whole series of TV episodes retraining an off the track Thoroughbred. He explained how Thoroughbreds are trained, and how to use his method to help them learn to respond to a different set of cues. I think the "one-method" critique is off the mark.


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## bsms (Dec 31, 2010)

Joel Reiter said:


> ... I think the "one-method" critique is off the mark.


I don't. He may be trying to explain differences, but what no DVD can do and a live person can is observe the horse. WHY is the horse doing X? And timing is critical, and few people relying on learning from DVDs will pick up the timing part.

It is just far more complex than "reactive, non-reactive". Is the horse yielding, or is the horse manipulating the owner? I'm sure Clinton tries to explain it to folks, but it is very hard IMHO to pick it up off a DVD.

In the videos I've seen - and I haven't seen them all because I don't want to watch them all that bad - he comes across as very dominant. That works until you find a horse who won't be dominated, or worse, a horse who can dominate the human because...well, because the human isn't Clinton Anderson and doesn't have the confidence and experience to make things work. That isn't a knock on CA specifically, but on pretty much any DVD trainer.


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

I think he has assembled some training concepts that are very helpful to a large majority of riders. It's not always the best approach for the horse, but the rider can get to controling the horse better and having less frustration, and better rides. 

I've seen him work with colts in "The Road to the Horse" competitions in a way that makes me upset to watch. it works, it gets results, but it could have been done with more consideration for the horse. however, the RthH is not the best place to judge any trainer, since it is very rushed. that said, Chris Cox got his colt through it without the harsh approach . it can be done, it just takes a lot of feel and finesse.


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## Joel Reiter (Feb 9, 2015)

bsms said:


> In the videos I've seen - and I haven't seen them all because I don't want to watch them all that bad - he comes across as very dominant.


I suspect most of what you've seen is RFD-TV episodes, which tend to be about retraining problem horses. In his colt starting series you can see what he does with an unspoiled horse.

I can understand people not liking CA because they don't like his accent, or his ego, or his marketing, or whatever. I don't understand people who don't like him for his training when they haven't even seen enough of his training to know what it is.


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## boots (Jan 16, 2012)

He talks too much. All clinicians talk too much. I would fire them by noon on the first day.


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## bsms (Dec 31, 2010)

Joel Reiter said:


> ... I don't understand people who don't like him for his training when they haven't even seen enough of his training to know what it is.


I bought and read one of his books, cover to cover. I've watches some videos. His approach would not have worked well with Mia, IMHO. It probably would work well with the new guy, Bandit. But I plan to pay more attention to Tom Roberts and my own experiences as I adjust Bandit's training to my goals in riding.


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## Saskia (Aug 26, 2009)

I like Clinton Anderson in the way that he explains things quite clearly and shows people what they can do straight away. Other horsemanship followings often seem to require specialised equipment, or lessons from their trainers or something, or are just so cheesy or gimicky. Clinton is rather straight to the point and clear and practical. I also like his focus on respect, and I do think is this vague way a horse home trained with Clintons methods is probably safer than one trained with certain other methods. 

However, I'm not a huge fan of his techniques. He goes for high intensity, high energy encounters. The horse gets stressed. Yes, it gets responses, but while it may work with him I don't think it's the right or safe way for amateurs to behave around horses. I've achieved far more success on my own keeping things calmer, compared to when I played around with Clinton's ideas. 

However, of course, different horses require different techniques. 

I'm a fan of reading and watching as many trainers as I can. Because one day I might have a horse where my method isn't working and I'll have a whole range of experiences to draw on to find the right way that works. That way might Clintons.


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## lostastirrup (Jan 6, 2015)

A friend of mine's Friesian Perch was trained on his very high stress high contrast method. Did wonders for her. Took one look at it (borrowed her DVDs) and knew it would not be a fit for my mare. I think he has good 'truths' and does a fair analysis of horse psychology at it's basis. It's a lot of common sense. ie. So your horse tries to run you over...well the horse needs to stop doing that...so do as you did with the school bully and stand up for yourself.


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

The part where you temper your approach to the animal you have in front of you is the heart of good training.

CA and the rest aren't making all these videos (and their money) to teach people to become good horse trainers. They're making them to turn a buck by taking people from absolute clueless novices to some minimal level of skill where they might be able to get responses from horses rather than just getting hurt or killed.

People who are good enough to be really good trainers will learn the feel and get their good training in person and will be able to temper their approach, by definition. IMPO, criticizing CA or the others for cookie-cutter approaches is a bit like criticizing a paint-by-number picture for not having any artistic depth... it's absolutely true, but artistic depth was never really the point in the first place.


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

I loved paint by number when I was a kid!


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## Palomine (Oct 30, 2010)

After the horse was killed at his ludicrously overpriced academy in TX 2 years ago, have no respect for him, nor would I ever want to see him or read his claptrap.

Have seen more than a few people talk about how cruel he was and is as well.

And his excessive bending around of horse's nose to stirrup, is nothing more than cheeking one.

He's mean, and turning out rough, mean trainers with no sense, who have paid a fortune to learn to be cruel. And secretive.

If one of us came on here and said "I'm sending my horse to a trainer but they said I can't come see my horse, or even call about the horse, and when I go get it, I can't take anyone with me"...there is not one person on here who would be okay with that. 

Much less if we were told 7 out of 10 horses will be badly galled.

But that is exactly what this guy says.


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## SEAmom (Jan 8, 2011)

I've met him, worked with him at a clinic, and see him at a couple of other clinics. I wasn't impressed then nor am I impressed now. He's a nice guy, I'll give him that. He's not working miracles, though. I do agree that he gives the zero knowledge owner a simple start, but that's about it.


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## Roman (Jun 13, 2014)

It seems like most big trainers are close to the same. CA has a halter and stick, Parelli has their stick. The porcupine game, to my understanding - I could be wrong, is just the same as yielding. 

Parelli wiggles the lead. CA does the same, taps the air, taps the line, etc. 

Now if there was a good trainer that offered stuff for really cheap, I'd be interested.  Can't afford this high dollar stuff.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Joel Reiter (Feb 9, 2015)

Palomine said:


> After the horse was killed at his ludicrously overpriced academy in TX 2 years ago, have no respect for him, nor would I ever want to see him or read his claptrap.


When you don't like somebody, it's tempting to believe bad things about them. People who don't like the current president believe he is secretly a Muslim. People who didn't like the last president believe that he was behind the 9/11 attacks. And people who don't like Clinton Anderson believe he killed a horse.


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## carshon (Apr 7, 2015)

Really the method for all natural horsemanship is to get the owners to work with their horses.  That is the fundamentals behind Clinton Anderson, Parelli and others. They have to get the owners to engage with their horses. In this day and age of short cuts people do not train they jump on and ride.


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## Textan49 (Feb 13, 2015)

I am glad to hear that the OP is pleased with the method they have used on their horse and the results. C.A. is not one of my favorites but I also like to pick and choose between several trainer's methods and don't have any particular one that I say that I follow.


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## Zexious (Aug 2, 2013)

Wow, all this negativity xD

I'm neither here nor there with CA (I'll stick to "regular" lessons with "regular," circuit trainers xD) but if it works for OP, then good for her xD no reason to knock him in this thread.


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## Rainaisabelle (Jan 2, 2015)

I am glad that the OP has found something that works!

Honestly though I feel that most of these trainers have the same methods and principles but dressed up differently. I do like bits and pieces of each training method but you have to really adapt it to the horse you have.


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

the trainer I have been working with is so different from CA, it's night and day.

however, I think CA is a good teacher. he has a knack for making things approachable. and he gives people confidence. that's a pretty nice thing!


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## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

As a trainer I can say that I 'killed' two horses in my time. 

One was a pony that had something seriously wrong with it. One minute as sweet as could be, the next a killer. It dropped its rider and turned to attack her, I managed to hit it hard and it took off along a track and attacked two people walking along. When I caught it it was as sweet as could be.

I never even tried to do anything more with it and had it, with the owners permission, shot the next day. 

The other was a four year old that dropped dead under me whilst cantering. 

It happens. Words went around that I 'killed' the pony without giving it a chance, my answer to that was that would they want that small pony for their child? 

It will always be that a trainer can turn out 1,000 good horses, a dealer can sell the same but the moment one is 'bad' - their reputation will be slated. 

From what little I have seen of his training I have deduced that it is a matter of get it done as fast as possible. Many things are not clear to the horse which I don't like.


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## mmcleodk (May 2, 2015)

I have his DVD's (fundamental series and his online stuff) and love 80% of it. It really shows that his background was mostly working with brumbies. I've been using a good part of his methodology with my mare, though I've softened up a lot from a few of his techniques (particularly concerning backing up etc) as she's never needed that firm of a hand.

I think like any approach that works it has its positives and it has its negatives. He is exceptionally talented at breaking things down to a point where just about anybody with a brain between their ears can understand his concepts. He is a bit more aggressive with his horses than I feel is necessary for mine (though it might be required for others).

Deffinitely watch and use the things that work for you, but also watch and learn from other trainers to pick up other perspectives, no one perspective is 100% correct and there is always things you can pick up from different sources (just don't treat any one thing as gospel because it closes your mind to other concepts and ideas if they differ)


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## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

I watched his TV stuff, some videos, some written stuff with an open mind and he just seems to me to be no different to the type of UK dealer that breaks/re-trains horses for a quick sale. 
Not all bad, not all good but not people that I'd kneel down and pay homage too
He's a good rider, a confident horseman from years of experience so knows when to react and where to place himself by instinct - the novice owner can't do that so easily so a good chance they'll come unglued when they try some of his methods on a difficult horse
He is rather too 'cookie cutter' - horses come in lots more than two varieties
I find his methods rather rough, risk taking and looking for quick results.
We often used to get horses sent to us for re-training that had been broke/trained by riders who were very capable but got results by bullying the horses into submission - once back with someone who isn't that brave on the ground or experienced in the saddle they soon reverted back to being problems


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## beau159 (Oct 4, 2010)

His trailer loading DVD was tremendously helpful for me with Red, with both his trailer loading and ground work. I like that he explains exactly what he is doing, why he is doing it, and when. It makes it very easy to understand his thought process. 

While I can agree that he can be "firm" with a horse, it clearly works for him and I can still learn positive things from him that I can interpret to use with my own horses.


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## carshon (Apr 7, 2015)

I think that other posters hit it on the head when they said he is "firm" I think what he is trying to teach owners is to be firm with their horses. I have seen so many owners "untrain" very well trained horses because they treat them like big dogs.

As much as we love them it is hard to really understand that they do not "love" us back. yes,. they may be affectionate but their instincts will always be their driving force


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## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

But there is a happy medium between being firm all the time when its borderline 'harsh' and being too soft and sloppy with them - most horse owners do treat their horses more like a pet than like a pure working or competition animal or a horse that's just with them for a set number of weeks for re-training but it doesn't mean they allow them to misbehave and fail to set clear boundaries


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## ZombieHorseChick (Jun 5, 2014)

I mainly do CA training with my mare, but I adapt it for our personal needs, no one trainer is 100% with ALL horses, I personally really dislike CA, he can be a huge jerk, coming from someone who has watched a lot of his videos and read some of one of his books, and tons of online articals. Personally for me I'm assertive when I need to be and gentle when needed, but I will not let a horse walk all over me, and neither does CA, I do agree hi methods are for more of the aggressive trainer/rider, one with confidence, when I was younger my sister tried to teach me to train an I just wasn't assertive enough ( I was 8....lol) so they basically threw me to the curb and said I would never get it... Well now they say I'm better then they ever were hah. And they trained for a few people. So far I've been able to adapt for the needs of the horse, I've worked abuse cases, pleanty of "spoild" horses, a wild Belgian, and this one gelding we had, he was a perfect gentlemen for me because I took the time to whip him into shape, but anyone else even dare mess with him and he would swing his butt at you and take off, he was fine of you had a halter though, my older sister, she got on him and he went full bronco and threw her, I got on and he was fine, odd, odd odd horse. We hardly had him for 4 months, she ended up selling him since she bought him for her husband, who is a total beginner and been on a horse maybe a total of 10 times in his life... It was a case of "ohh he's so pretty!" Anyway! Got a little Of topic...


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## Carrie94 (Dec 2, 2014)

I'm the type of person who doesn't just strictly follow one person - I think if you get closed minded about it, you will end up failing with one horse or another. That's why when I do go to listen to another trainer, I listen with an open willing attitude, but I make sure I don't get brainwashed by them.

I've used Clinton's method for years now - on hot spooky horses, dominant aggressive horses, pushy horses, foals, older horses, drafts, Arabs, etc. and have had huge success. Liberty, tricks, and a great riding partnership is all within easy reach. That's why I'm positive his method works with all horses, every type and every breed. 

But, I vary my teaching technique a bit. I teach my horses the same exercises as he does, as a general rule, but I alter my teaching strategy. I too find that he is too firm a lot of the time. It's difficult to say exactly how I change the strategy, but I have a feel for what the horse needs, and I make sure he gets it. So if that means a good whack on the nose, sure, by all means. But if all he needs is to come into my space and get rubbed on with his head in my chest, I'm more than happy to comply. There's a certain level of awareness that goes into training - you can't blindly follow a method, you have to pay attention to the horse. So if my horse is telling me he's afraid and tense, a whack on the nose would ruin his confidence and he'd end up worse. But, if my horse is telling me he's about to run up and attack me, a good hard whack on the nose is exactly what he needs.

After a while, even though my horses all have different personalities, I have trained them to have the same willing attitude, confidence, responsiveness, and suppleness. I can classify each horse under the naturally "hot" category or the naturally "cold" category, but they are now all just "warm." Not hot and spooky, not dull and lazy. Responsiveness with confidence.

Those of you who haven't completely invested in the Method won't be convinced, because it's kind of like the Bible - you can't take parts of it, you have to take the whole thing. When you do take the whole thing, it makes sense. When you take parts of it, you end up confusing yourself, the horse, and then, because of that confusion, you distribute your negativity on forums such as these.


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## BreezylBeezyl (Mar 25, 2014)

Well. I'm not what you would call a fangirl by any means but I do like his method. *In my personal opinion*, he is straight and to the point and I believe most horses appreciate this. 

A lot of people don't like him, but people are complicated - horses aren't. They like clear, consistent direction from a single leader - whereas many people begrudge leadership because they don't like being told what to do. Human society and interaction is quite complex and honestly, people are easily offended, hence why we have this ideal of "political correctness". 

I don't own any of his stuff nor have I participated in his training program. I have seen a few snippets of his official training videos and have used this snippets in my groundwork with results... Results that do NOT produce a scared or grudging animal. Just an animal that understands. 

That's just my experience with him. I think CA is human and can and has gotten frustrated with some horses he has worked with. He may get a little rough sometimes, but he always seems to try to do what's best in the end: making a horse safe and sane for the rider/handler. He always says he puts human safety first.


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## Textan49 (Feb 13, 2015)

ZombieHorseChick said:


> I mainly do CA training with my mare, but I adapt it for our personal needs, no one trainer is 100% with ALL horses, I personally really dislike CA, he can be a huge jerk, coming from someone who has watched a lot of his videos and read some of one of his books, and tons of online articals. Personally for me I'm assertive when I need to be and gentle when needed, but I will not let a horse walk all over me, and neither does CA, I do agree hi methods are for more of the aggressive trainer/rider, one with confidence, ...


 I think the key is to be able to adapt a trainers methods not duplicate them. I don't mean just to our individual horse, I mean to ourselves. I have seen people fall short on something and then say "but I saw so and so do it with a horse they were training and it worked" Maybe it did, but that was not your horse and you are not them. Study the concept and find your own way.


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## ZombieHorseChick (Jun 5, 2014)

Textan49 said:


> I think the key is to be able to adapt a trainers methods not duplicate them. I don't mean just to our individual horse, I mean to ourselves. I have seen people fall short on something and then say "but I saw so and so do it with a horse they were training and it worked" Maybe it did, but that was not your horse and you are not them. Study the concept and find your own way.


Indeed I agree with this.


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## Palomine (Oct 30, 2010)

Joel Reiter said:


> When you don't like somebody, it's tempting to believe bad things about them. People who don't like the current president believe he is secretly a Muslim. People who didn't like the last president believe that he was behind the 9/11 attacks. And people who don't like Clinton Anderson believe he killed a horse.



Had no feelings one way or the other about him until the Friesian incident.

And even after reading about it, still was siding more with his "students", as those are the ones that killed the horse by low tying it in the sun.

It was after his ill advised "looky loos and sticky beaks" rant on his blog that I changed my mind completely about the whole thing. Which he took down the next day or so, but I got it saved. Very eye-opening, and he admitted the horse died at his Academy, so hard to not believe it, when he admitted it. 

Are you actually familiar with any of this? Or just worship him?

But the ranting and raving on his own blog, done by him? Made me question him and his methods.

Which led to me looking at his FAQ's on his Academy site. In which he states 7 out of 10 horses come home galled. Which to anyone would be a warning sign things are not done right.

And that no one can come see their horse, and when they do come to pick it up? No one can come with them period. Because "they might see things they don't understand." And no phone calls either.

Not sure what your post had to do with any of the facts, nor how you come to the conclusion I just don't like the fool, and believe the worst.

Might want to do more investigating instead of just pawning off the idea I don't like the prat, and am looking for reasons to bolster that feeling.


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## Joel Reiter (Feb 9, 2015)

Palomine said:


> It was after his ill advised "looky loos and sticky beaks" rant on his blog that I changed my mind completely about the whole thing. Which he took down the next day or so, but I got it saved.


You said before: "After the horse was killed." Now you're telling me that your opinion is based on a blog post that was on the internet for 24 hours "or so" and taken down.



Palomine said:


> Are you actually familiar with any of this? Or just worship him?


Careful, isn't inflammatory language what you don't like about CA?

Palomine, I don't want a fight. You said "horse was killed." If you had said you had zero respect for Clinton Anderson because of his flippant response to the situation, I would have accepted that. You have a right to your opinion, and if I had read what you read, I might feel the same way.


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## Smilie (Oct 4, 2010)

Sharpie said:


> The part where you temper your approach to the animal you have in front of you is the heart of good training.
> 
> CA and the rest aren't making all these videos (and their money) to teach people to become good horse trainers. They're making them to turn a buck by taking people from absolute clueless novices to some minimal level of skill where they might be able to get responses from horses rather than just getting hurt or killed.
> 
> People who are good enough to be really good trainers will learn the feel and get their good training in person and will be able to temper their approach, by definition. IMPO, criticizing CA or the others for cookie-cutter approaches is a bit like criticizing a paint-by-number picture for not having any artistic depth... it's absolutely true, but artistic depth was never really the point in the first place.



I have not read this entire thread, but this is similar to my thoughts.
I don't follow, read , watch any of the NH clinicians to any great degree, but do read their articles, when they appear in horse publications that I read
They all have found their niche , training people to train horses, with the horses themselves, more props as a needs to an end
Not saying they don;t serve a purpose, far as introducing some common horse sense to people that never had the chance to grow up with horses, or be exposed to those that truly make their living, training horses, and not people to train horses
There is a huge difference.
I like following, taking clinics , from those trainers that produce great horses, and I'm not talking just show hroses, as of course, this a a major component, but horses that go on to make great youth and non pro horses, and horses that stay sound in mind and body
CA, as least, puts some of his training to application, even if he is not that successful. He does show in reining
I have heard (of course these are rumors ), that horses used in some of these training demos, by not just CA , but other NH clinicians, are at times pre selected, and thus, not too different from some 'reality shows'
If I had to chose between CA and parelli, it would be CA, hands down.
Horsenality is about the greatest crock to come along in along time!


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## Smilie (Oct 4, 2010)

Disclaimer, reading further

I have not gone to any blogs, read on those controversies, know nothing about any Freisen, and am merely going as to what i see on the surface, far as any NH articles I happen to read, that appear in horse Mags that I get
I personally do not understand as to why, when people discuss good horse trainers, no names are mentioned ,m, besides these NH trainers.
It is as if people like Lynn Palm, Bob Avila, Dana Hokana, Larry trocha, and even Stacy Westfall, who kinda falls in between actual NH and traditional, don't even exist!


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## Smilie (Oct 4, 2010)

Getting back on topic, far as 'True Results'
You don't get them by following any cut and paste, or Paint By number, watching videos or these NH clinics
You get those by actually riding lots of horses, taking actual clinics, with your horses, given by those that have proven themselves , , taking from each of those clinics that works for you and your horses, formulating a solid training program that works for you, and proving it does, by actually putting your training to the test.
Certainly, competing against your peers is one method, but not the only one.
The other one is to turn out not just one horse, but many horses that you sell, and that go on to being great youth and non pro horses,whether that be trail riding or as a show horse.
It takes time, actually riding your horse, having some independent knowledgeable person guiding/critiquing you, that truly helps you to develop feel and timing, being able to adjust approach to the type of individual horse, and no ABC DVD series , or watching youtube sessions by these NH trainers will get you there.
There are mAny, mAny great trainers out there, that just don't mass mArket themselves , but go quietlY about the business of turning out greAT HORSES.
Thus, tapping into this resource, is a great addition many people just locked onto NH trainers, should assess.


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## Joel Reiter (Feb 9, 2015)

Smilie said:


> I personally do not understand as to why, when people discuss good horse trainers, no names are mentioned , besides these NH trainers.


Better marketing. I think John Lyons, going clear back to 1980, was one of the first to sell video of his presentations, and to publish his own newsletter. Parelli started gaining notoriety in the mid 80's, but his fame really took off ten years later after he married Linda. Monte Roberts had his own successful promotion machine with his best-selling books, especially _Shy Boy_. 

After finishing third in the Australian National Reining Futurity in 1997, Clinton Anderson relocated to the US. He studied the marketing of the other clinicians and figured out to improve on it. He was the first on RFD-TV and still has the top rated horse show on that channel. He also has one of the best horsemanship web sites.

Bob Avila is a great horse trainer, and his focus is on training horses for competition. The famous clinicians are out to train people. They don't have the time to beat Bob Avila in competition and Bob Avila doesn't have time to make DVDs and write books. So the book with Bob's name on it is written by Juli Thorson of Horse and Rider and his DVDs are produced by Professional's Choice, the tack company.

Stacy Westfall burst on the national scene with her bareback and bridleless reining win, and followed up by winning Road the the Horse. But Stacy has kids to raise and has neither the ego nor the ambition that fuels CA and Parelli. So she has fun competing in cowboy action shooting and takes life a little less seriously than the other guys. She is a sweet person and a skilled trainer, and she will never be as famous as Parelli and CA and my guess is that's just fine with her.


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## Joel Reiter (Feb 9, 2015)

Smilie said:


> Horsenality is about the greatest crock of 's''t to come along in along time!


I don't know if I'd go quite that far -- there are a lot of dumb ideas competing for that title. But I think "horsenality" is too complicated to be useful. I would agree that the idea of marketing bits according to horsenality was a crock, but fortunately Parelli seems to have abandoned that particular racket.

I find it interesting that Parelli seems to have more numerous and more intense haters than Clinton Anderson. Of the two of them, Parelli seems like a nicer guy to me.


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## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

What I dislike about Pat Parelli is the fact that he seems to be continuously nagging at a horse. I dislike all the rope flicking and swinging when a horse is just standing. 
I dislike his lungeing of continually pulling at the horse to retain its attention. 
It all seems to be to show people how to be 'nice' and a 'friendly' leader to the horse.

What I have seen of CA he is more to the point. He will take direct action and if the horse needs a correction it gets one and that is it, over and done with. 

Could it be that I train more along the CA method as in being direct and to the point rather than nagging?


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## EliRose (Aug 12, 2012)

Clinton Anderson himself just rubs me the wrong way. He acts like his stuff doesn't stink and that drives me up the wall. CA's method is useful, but I think too harsh in some cases. I don't think laming up horses is the best way to train them . . . And I've seen that happen with quite a few CA followers who don't know when to stop.

Pat Parelli is far more likable in my opinion, although I don't even remotely follow him. His wife is a different story.

Warwick Schiller has got to be my favorite though. He's got a little bit of the CA edge (and accent) with a little more humor and humanity.


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