Vegas tourcation - No Worries Club

Transcription

THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE
OF CLINTON ANDE RSON
VOL. 4 NO. 3 Fall 2010
JOURNAL
Once in a Lifetime Horse
Mindy’s
last Dance
Best Lesson
Learned
With Ian Francis
Lunging
for Respect
Stage One—Prepping for
a Safe Ride
Dealing
with A
mouthy
horse
VegasA Tourcation
tour unlike any other
WWW. N OWO R R IESCLUB .CO M
Downunder Horsemanship featuring Clinton Anderson
Premiering January 2, 2011 on Fox Sports Net
PRESENTED BY
Sundays at 10:30am
Check your local listings to watch Downunder Horsemanship on Fox Sports Net in your area.
Need help finding FSN in your area? Visit our TV page at www.downunderhorsemanship.com.
Downunder Horsemanship is also available on RFD-TV, DirecTV® channel 345 and DISH Network® channel 231
J OURNA L
FALL 2010
18
Vegas Tourcation
NWC Coordinator: Melissa Barnett; Writer: Rachelle Wilhelm; Graphic Design: Elaine Baker
14 A Boot for every horse
Sizing and fitting Legacy Boots
64 Signature Horse
Gary Conrad and Brady
36 Exclusive: Members Only 70 DUH Team Spotlight
CONTENTS
96 A Lesson learned
Feel and Timing with Ian Francis
104 Lunging for respect
Awards and VIP Party at Vegas Tourcation
Terry Arrington, CFO
44 Member Spotlight
76 Competition for the Ages 112 Desensitizing mistakes
A Look at the Upcoming Road to the Horse
5 Common Errors
48 Blind Faith
86 A Case of the nibbles
120 Q & A with Clinton
56 Last Dance
92 Unforgettable
124 Most Valuable Lesson
The Singing Horseman
Working with a Blind Horse
A Tribute to Mindy & Her Final Tour
Dealing with Mouthy Horses
10-Day Clinic Experience
Stage One: Preparation for a Safe Ride
Answers to Your NWC Forum Questions
Keeping Your Cool
FALL 2010 - No worries Journal 3
CLINTON’S CORNER
O
ver the years, I’ve noticed
most people, as a general
rule, have low expectations when it
comes to working with their horses.
They accept mediocre performances
when their horses are more than
capable of putting in more effort
and reaching the next level. Because
of that, there’s a real disconnect
between what I think is good
enough and what my customers
think is good enough. If you’ve ever
participated in a clinic, you know
firsthand what I mean. My definition
of good is often different than most
horse owners. It’s an easy trap to
fall into, and one I’ve certainly
been guilty of myself. You may
think that your horse is yielding
his hindquarters with energy or
sidepassing well when you press
his side with your leg, but is he?
When we released the June club
DVD that featured me working with
Ellen and her mare, we received a
A New Way to Test Yourself
lot of positive feedback from many
of you saying how helpful it was
watching me grade Ellen on the
Fundamentals exercises. Ellen came
to the filming session thinking
that she had the exercises done
well, but the reality was that they
were just OK. Not that Ellen was
doing a horrible job by any means,
but she needed to expect more
out of her horse. She was happy
when the mare was turning in a ‘C’
performance when she was more
than capable of an ‘A+.’
Many of us fall into the trap of
accepting whatever our horses give
us. If your horse shuffles backwards
four steps in a relatively straight
line, you think he’s doing a great
job. Or, if he only half picks up his
shoulders while changing directions
in Lunging for Respect Stage Two,
you think he’s brilliant. My job is to
inspire you and show you how to
raise your expectations. When you
ask your horse to back up, he should
pick his legs up with energy and be
straight from his nose to his tail.
When you’re changing directions
while doing Lunging for Respect
Stage Two, he should suck back on
his hindquarters and jump his front
end through the turn with energy.
If you’ve ever gotten the chance
to work with me, you know
the importance of raising your
expectations, and what your horse
is truly capable of. However, unless
you come to a clinic, you’re not going
to make that connection. That’s
why we’re introducing a new tool
(for members only) that will help
you test your knowledge and your
horse’s ability to do each of the
exercises in the Method. I’ve invited
three club members to come to
the ranch and practice each of the
Fundamentals exercises in front of
me while I grade them. Those videos
will be posted online so you can see
firsthand what a ‘B+,’ an ‘A’ and an
‘A+’ look like. By seeing an example
4
of what an ‘A+’ looks like, you’ll
know firsthand whether or not
you need more work, and it will
help you decide if you’re ready to
move on to the next exercise or
even the next level. Until you’re
a ‘B+,’ you shouldn’t move on to
the next exercise. Not only that,
but you’ll also get a realistic idea
of you and your horse’s skill level
before applying to an advanced
clinic. Eventually, we’ll have
videos posted for all three levels
of the Method—Fundamentals,
Intermediate and Advanced.
I want people to make the
connection at home that what
they’ve been expecting and
what they should expect are two
different standards. By the time
you come to a clinic, you’ll be more
prepared, and not only that, but
you’ll get a better performance out
of your horse. Remember, horses
only know what they are allowed
to get away with. If your horse is
allowed to chump you, that’s what
he’ll do. Or, if he knows he has to
put forth his best effort every time
you work with him, it’ll become
second-nature to him.
This new tool is a handy way to
test yourself and your horse. The
better able you are to execute the
Method, the better I’m doing my
job. We’ve been receiving a lot of
great feedback from the monthly
DVDs featuring student lessons,
and we plan to feature more “real
life” cases in the future. The more
opportunities you get to see other
students apply the Method and
improve, the better horseman
you’ll become. When you apply
the Method correctly, you can fix
problems and turn any problem
horse into the greatest horse
you’ve ever owned.
Brought to you by
Discover the Method
It only takes two days to become a better horseman. Begin your journey
toward real horsemanship, attend a Walkabout Tour stop near you.
Call for tickets
OVER $6,000 IN PRIZES GIVEN AWAY AT EACH TOUR STOP!
children 12 and under admitted free.
Presented by
remaining 2010 tour date: Nov 6-7, 2010 Murfreesboro, TN
May 7-8Rancho Murieta, CA
June 4-5 ST. Paul, MN
July 16-17Seattle, WA
Aug 27-28Columbus, OH
Oct 15-16Katy, TX
Dec 10-11 Scottsdale, AZ
D ow n u n d e r h o r s e m a n s h i p.c o m
•
8 8 8 - 2 8 7-74 3 2
Downunder News & Updates
See Clinton Live in 2011
Clinton will be bringing his Walkabout Tour to six locations next
year, hosting five clinics at the Downunder Horsemanship Ranch in
Stephenville, Texas and participating in two events. 2011 will be the first
time Clinton takes his Method overseas. If you want to see the Aussie
horseman in action and witness the difference the Method can make,
mark your calendars for these dates:
Tours:
May 7-8Rancho Murieta, CA
June 4-5St. Paul, MN
July 16 - 17Seattle, WA
August 27-28Columbus, OH
October 15 -16
Katy, TX
December 10-11Scottsdale, AZ
Clinics:
April 19-29
May 16-26
June 13 - 23
June 29 - July 9
November 1 - 11
10-day
10-day
10-day
10-day
10-day
Clinic
Clinic
Clinic
Clinic
Clinic
-
Stephenville,
Stephenville,
Stephenville,
Stephenville,
Stephenville,
TX
TX
TX
TX
TX
(Fundamental)
(Fundamental)
(Fundamental)
(Intermediate)
(Advanced)
Events:
Feb. 25-27Road to the Horse - Murfreesboro, TN
March 12-20EXPO - Equitana - Essen, Germany
Downunder Horsemanship Honored with Bronze Award
Clinton’s original Downunder Horsemanship TV Show
was recognized with a Bronze Award for Educational
Programming in the 31st Annual Telly Awards. Telly Awards
recognize the best in television, video production and
internet content from around the country. Over 13,000
submissions were received from the finest ad agencies,
productions companies, TV stations, cable companies,
interactive agencies and corporations. Thanks to the hard
work of Downunder Horsemanship’s video producer, Scott
Anderson, and television editor, Katie Lang, the company
was recognized for an episode of the Cider Rescue Horse
series. The hour-long Downunder Horsemanship TV show airs
two times weekly on RFD-TV.
6 - News & Updates
Phoenix Joins the Elite in Harrisburg
A year after joining the Downunder Horsemanship Team, Clinton’s miniature
horse, Phoenix, finally got his chance to step into the ring and perform in front
of a sold-out crowd. The little chestnut gelding always accompanies Diez on
the road, and usually helps hand out tour programs and then waits in the barn
for Diez to return from his advanced groundwork and riding demonstrations.
But when Diez was unable to perform, Phoenix was called into action. Clinton
demonstrated to the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania crowd how to start groundwork
and the importance of pressure and release. Phoenix worked his heart out and
left the ring to a round of cheers from the audience.
“Phoenix is a great little horse and I was impressed with his ability to step up
and try hard for me this weekend,” Clinton said after the tour. “I think it was a
great way to show the audience that the Method works on all horses, no matter
their breed or size.”
New NWC Condo Unveiled
at Harrisburg Tour
The club kiosk where Clinton’s fans can sign up to become
members of the No Worries Club and existing members
can get questions answered, got a makeover. Dubbed “the
condo,” the new kiosk features on-the-spot registration so
that members are able to instantly enjoy benefits of being
part of the club community. Be sure to check it out at a tour
near you!
Downunder’s Master Halter
Tier Reaches Milestone
Zach Wahrer, Downunder Horsemanship’s
halter tier, reached a milestone in his five-year
career with the company this summer. As of
August, he has tied 80,623 rope halters. With a
personal mantra of quality over quantity, Zach is a
walking testament of Downunder Horsemanship’s
commitment to quality products and results. His
hardworking attitude and ambition has earned
him Clinton’s nickname of the highest praise,
“a freak of nature.” To
learn about Zach and his
affinity for rope tying, read
his profile in the Fall 2009
Journal.
Award-Winning Series in Horse and Rider
If you subscribe to one of Clinton’s sponsors, Horse and Rider magazine, then you’re familiar with the
monthly how-to column Clinton writes with Jennifer Forsberg-Meyer. In June, the series—“Clinton
Anderson’s Do-It-Yourself Training” was recognized with an award at the 40th Annual American Horse
Publications Awards Contest. The series, which ran from January 2009 to May 2009, received second
place in the Instructional Series category with circulation over 20,000. American Horse Publications is
a non-profit association that the equine publishing industry, and its members include equine-related
publications, professionals, students, organizations and businesses.
Patience Poles for Everyone
If you follow Clinton and his Method, you know
that safely tying a horse up for long periods of
time accomplishes many important things in your
training. “A lot of people ask me where the best
place is to tie their horses and how they can make
sure they are safe and won’t get into any trouble,”
Clinton says. Facing the same issues himself,
Clinton created Patience Poles – 12-foot long steel
poles set in concrete. At the top of the pole is a
hub, and welded to that is a solid ¾-inch tube that
extends down about a foot and has a loop at the
end for attaching the horse’s lead rope or heavy
duty chain. “The idea behind the Patience Pole is
that if the horse walks around the pole, the hub
spins around. So the horse can move his feet all
he wants, but he’s just going to go around in a
circle. After a while, the horse realizes that no
matter how much he moves, he’s never going to
go anywhere, so he might as well stand still and
relax,” Clinton explains.
Now you can buy Patience Poles directly from
Downunder Horsemanship. The 12-foot long poles
will ship directly to your doorstep and are easy
to unload. Besides attaching either a heavy-duty
chain or rope to the pole to tie your horse to, all
you have to do is set the pole in the ground.
“I love the convenience of Patience Poles,” Clinton says. “After a training session, the best thing
you can do is tie your horse up because it teaches
him not only respect and patience, but gives him
a chance to think about and absorb what you’ve
just taught him.”
Visit the Downunder Horsemanship website
www.downunderhorsemanship.com to learn
more about Patience Poles and how you can get
one for yourself.
8 - News & Updates
Introducing our newest
Clinton Anderson Certified Clinicians
Dale Cunningham
Jennie Wentworth
Now Clinton Anderson’s Method is more accessible than ever. No more long waits or
trips away from home. Clinton Anderson Certified Clinicians are ready and waiting
to bring proven, easy to understand training expertise right to your area.
Special Introductory Rates
Call to schedule a clinic or private lesson
Jennie Wentworth
573-707-0642,
jenniew@downunderhorsemanship.com
Dale Cunningham
303-809-2006,
dalec@downunderhorsemanship.com
Three Day Fundamental Clinics
-$500 per person*
Private lessons, only $750 per day
with up to six participants
PRESENTED BY
“I’m so confident you’ll be happy with their instruction that I’m offering a money back guarantee
on all private lessons” -Clinton Anderson
* Limited to 12 participants
D o w n u n d e r h o r s e m a n s h i p. c o m
•
FALL 2010
Summer
2010--No
Noworries
worriesJournal
Journal 99
8 8 8 - 2 8 7 - 74 3 2
Meet some of the 2010
offspring of Clinton’s stallion
Jag (Chicoutmyblingbling). Jag
stands at Texas A&M University
in College Station where Clinton
gives the public a once-in-alifetime opportunity to raise a foal
sired by the son of a longstanding
performance genetics lineage.
Jewels, a filly registered with the AQHA out of the mare MS Wimpy
Chex. Foaled in Texas on March 5, 2010 to John Mosley.
Abby, a filly registered with AQHA out of the mare Weavers Ima Penny.
Foaled in California May 20, 2010 to Nancy Shanks and Teri Scheibel.
Jag
Babies
10 - Jag Babies
Sassy, a filly registered with the AQHA out of the mare Jills Flo Jo.
Foaled in Oklahoma on April 13, 2010 to Chris Hopwood.
Carmalita, an Appaloosa filly out of the mare Gypsy Silk. Foaled in
New Mexico on May 25, 2010 to Candace Hyslop.
Texas, a colt registered with the AQHA out of the mare Pic A Tango.
Foaled in Utah on March 26, 2010 to Sonja Kuehnel.
China, a filly registered with the AQHA out of the mare Turnit Chex.
Foaled May 5, 2010 to Bob and Norma Moriarty.
Precious, a filly registered with the APHA out of the mare Jets Princess
Te. Foaled in Texas on March 13, 2010 to Sarah Stubbs.
Chic, a filly registered with the AQHA out of the mare UGA lil Badger.
Foaled in Georgia May 12, 2010 to Kimberly Hall.
Prince, a breeding stock paint colt, out of the mare Venus Lexis Amigo.
Foaled in Texas on March 26, 2010 to Claudia Smith.
Cody, a colt registered with the AQHA out of the mare Keyhole Bonita
Tie. Foaled in Arizona on April 19, 2010 to Carol Eldred.
Jasmine, a filly registered with the APHA out of the mare Riateafancydewdrop. Foaled in Texas on April 25, 2010 to Stacey Rodrigue.
Smart Chic Olena
X Princess in Diamonds
Share in a three-generation legacy of
NRHA and NCHA champions.
Make these elite bloodlines
your own.
VISIT OUR WEBSITE.
12 -
V I S I T clinton a nderson .com or D ownunderhorsem a nship.com for more info
Innovation
“If you want to
make something
of yourself,
you have to
work harder
and smarter
than anyone
else.”
Clinton
Anderson
A Boot for Every Horse
Support Boots can benefit any Horse, not just the Performance Horse
D
o you use boots on your horse? If you’ve
always been under the impression that
boots are only beneficial to the performance
horse, then you may want to read on to learn
what boots can do to protect your horse.
Or, maybe you always use boots, but are
unsure if you are using the right ones and
fitting them correctly; if so, then you may
find some helpful information here, too.
Protective boots can be thought of as an
economical form of insurance for your horse,
protecting against injury and preventing longterm complications. “No matter what your
discipline, any horse can benefit from wearing
support boots,” Classic Equine Marketing
Director Billie Bray says.
Benefits of Splint Boots
Though there are many types of boots, here we
will discuss the purpose and benefits of support
boots, one of the most comprehensive forms of
protection and support for your horse.
14 - Boot for every horse
Innovation
While it’s important to protect your horse’s
automatically be reserved and cautious when
legs, it’s imperative that you choose a boot
following your direction. A loss of confidence
that doesn’t interfere with your horse’s
can mean that the true capability of you and
natural movement. For this reason, Classic
your horse may never be realized.
Equine created the Legacy System Support
Boots, which are designed to give natural
The Legacy Support System
reinforcement to the horse’s legs to provide
While there are a lot of protective boots on
protection with the least restriction. “Our goal
the market, it is important that you choose
is to make protective equipment that provides
a boot that fits properly, allows airflow and
the greatest comfort for the horse,” Billie
is structured for optimum protection. That’s
says. “We dedicate extensive time, research
why Classic
and field testing
Equine has
to make sure we
devoted over
have a product that
fifteen years to
No matter what your
very effectively
designing and
does its job and
developing the
discipline, any horse can
then we just keep
Legacy Support
improving on it.”
benefit from wearing
System, with
“
”
the patented
support boots.
Classic’s Legacy
fetlock cradle
Support Boots
feature that
are designed to
no other boot
cover the cannon
on the market has. The Legacy System adds
bone from just below the hock to under the
natural reinforcement to help safeguard your
fetlock with a cup-like action that cradles the
horse against injury and strain.
fetlock joint, mimicking the natural ligament
structure of a horse’s leg. Legacy Support
One of the most advanced forms of equine
Boots provide protection from external
protection, the Legacy features a Classic Equine
trauma, support the fetlock joint and help
innovation—the patented Cradle Fetlock.
prevent hyperextension.
Exclusive to the Legacy System, the Cradle
Whether you’re exercising, training or out
for a trail ride, Legacy boots add natural
reinforcement to the limb and ensure proper
protection against outside hazards and
interference from legs knocking together
during maneuvers. They also protect against
nicks and scratches from sticks, debris and
other hazards when riding outside. Even
outside of competition, horse owners need to
be aware of the risks of injury and take all the
proper precautions to ensure the appropriate
use of protective equipment to maintain
soundness. Although, like anything, boots
can’t give you a 100 percent guarantee against
injury, but they can help avoid it and give you
more peace of mind.
Fetlock is specifically designed to conform to
the back of the fetlock, supporting the natural
ligament structure of the leg and providing
maximum protection to the lower limb by a
double layer of shock-absorbing neoprene. More
specifically, the fetlock cradle is designed to
Another benefit of protective equipment is
that it not only physically protects your horse;
it can translate into mental security, ensuring
his confidence to perform as instructed. When
a horse gouges or crossfires, causing injury
under your guide, the horse will naturally
feel his safety is being jeopardized and will
mirror the Suspensory Apparatus, a thick,
major branch of the suspensory ligament that
supports the fetlock during the weight-bearing
phase of a stride. Because the Legacy boot
was designed to reinforce this critical support
structure of the fetlock, it provides natural
support that works with the horse’s stride to
help safeguard against injury and strain.
Additionally, the Legacy does the job of a
splint boot with a shock-absorbing splint pad
built into the boot, giving maximum protection
to the splint bone, tendons and other soft
tissues. The new, more refined splint pad
guards against crossfire injuries and allows for
a closer, cleaner fit.
Trapped heat against the leg is harmful for a
horse and can increase the risks of injury. For
this reason, the Legacy support boots are made
from a hundred percent virgin perforated
neoprene, allowing the leg to breathe and heat
to escape so your horse’s legs stay cooler with
less risk of irritation to the leg. This breathing
material doesn’t sacrifice durability either.
However, no matter what type of splint boots
you use, riders should always exercise caution
and never leave splint boots on a horse for
extended periods of time and always take
boots off when the horse isn’t being ridden.
If the Boot Fits
It can be difficult to correctly fit boots and
ensure that they stay in place and keep out dirt
and debris which can cause irritation to your
horse’s legs. Improperly-fitted support boots
can be just as bad as having no protection
at all. A poor fit could possibly put too much
pressure on the tendons or cause rubbing and
irritation, producing sores. A series of fitting
darts on the Legacy boots ensure a clean, close
fit as well as bound edges to keep dirt and
debris out.
The first step to obtaining a correct fit is
selecting the right size of support boot. When
purchasing support boots, it’s important
to know which size your horse needs. The
sizing guide charts in the sidebar show two
methods you can use to determine size for
the Legacy. If you choose to measure your
horse’s legs with a tape measure, then you
can use the measurement chart to choose the
corresponding size to your measurements. If a
tape measure is not your style, then you can use
the “Cowboy Sizing System” to determine size.
Eighty percent of horses wear the same size bell
boots as they do Legacy boots. So, if your horse
needs a medium Legacy, he will most likely also
need a medium bell boot.
Before applying boots, make sure that you
groom first. Brush your horse’s legs to clean
away any sand or dirt that could get trapped
underneath and may chafe skin. It’s important
for boots to fit snugly so they won’t slip down,
but a too-tight fit can interfere with blood
circulation and apply harmful pressure on the
tendons. (See sidebar for a step-by-step guide to
applying the Legacy support boots.)
Creating the Legacy Boot
After extensive research with veterinarians,
professional trainers and competitors across the
The Legacy System Sizing Guide
To help you choose the size that is right for your horse,
we have established two charts that will guide you to
the perfect fit. Measure your horse’s legs as shown at
right and refer to the Measurement Chart to determine
the correct size range. Next, use the Cowboy Sizing
System to make your final judgment or if a tape measure
just isn’t your style.
Measure the diameter of the front leg at the cannon bone,
midway between the hock (knee) and the fetlock.
Measurement Chart
Small
7-1/4” - 7-3/4”
Medium
7-3/4” - 8-1/4”
Large
8-1/4” - 8-3/4”
X-Large
8-3/4” - 9-1/4”
Cowboy Sizing System
Small
Fine Boned or Under 900 lbs
Medium
Medium Boned or 900 - 1100 lbs
Large
Big Boned or Over 1100 lbs
Notes: Hind Legacy boots are designed to fit the bone
structure of the hind legs in direct relation to the front legs. If your horse measures a medium in the front
boot, he will also need a medium in the hind boot. These charts can also be used as an overall guide for all
Classic Equine splint and hind boots.
16 - Boot for every horse
western industry, the original Legacy Support
System boot was developed in 1994. It was then
that Classic Equine began its ongoing quest to
design a support boot that could be trusted by
professionals in the competition arena as well
as the trail and the training ring.
Because Classic Equine’s employees are horse
people, they personally use all the products
they make. It’s a seven-day-a-week job, always
looking for new ways to design boots to fit
horses better, giving added protection and
comfort. Working for the benefit of the horse is
a shared passion.
Innovation
Realizing a need for better equine protective
equipment and a greater selection of products
geared toward the performance horse is what
launched the company’s success. Today, Classic
Equine is a market leader because it never
stops innovating and improving its designs.
What makes Classic Equine unique is that the
products it offers are all designed to be a real
solution to you and your horse’s real-life needs.
Legacy System Fitting Guide
1
2
3
4
Fit the splint bar to the inside of the leg
and line the back bottom edge of the boot
cleanly with the base of the seasmoid/ankle.
Wrap the boot cradle all the way around
the leg, and secure to the front of the boot.
Firmly secure the top two hook and loop
closures around the outside of the boot.
Notes: The boot should be snug and clean fitting.
Remember, the boot cradle is contoured to fit straight
around the horse’s leg. Don’t pull or try to “sling” the
cradle underneath the horse’s ankle.
Undo the boot cradle and reposition
so that the two bottom fitting darts line
up perfectly behind the horse’s ankle. Then,
firmly re-secure the hook and lop closures
straight around the front of the boot.
How To Put On Your Legacy Boot
the splint bar to the
1 Fit
inside of the leg and line
the back bottom edge of
the boot clearly with the
base of the fetlock/ankle.
holding the splint
2 While
pad in place, firmly secure
the top two loop closures
around the outside of
the boot.
the boot’s cradle
3 Wrap
around the leg so that the
two bottom fitting darts
line up perfectly behind the
horse’s ankle.
the hook and loop
4 Secure
closures to the front of the
boot. You’re Done.
Vegas Tourcation:
A Tour Unlike Any Other
18 - Vegas Tourcation
During a weekend of instruction, inspiration
and innovation, Clinton and the Downunder
Horsemanship Team put on a show that rivals
the best Vegas has to offer.
It’s hard to leave a crowd truly amazed in Las
Vegas, Nevada, what with dancing fountains,
magicians and lightshows, but the Vegas
Tourcation at the South Point Casino left more
than several thousand jaws on the ground. In
what was a brilliant display of horsemanship
at its finest, top-notch crowd instruction and
all-out inspiration, the tour has gone down
as one of the most successful events in the
company’s history.
sitting up for the crowd. At one point, she
knelt down to let Clinton mount her bareback
and then carried him around the arena. “Put
your hands together for this mare,” Clinton
shouted out to the crowd. “She’s done an
unbelievable job.”
Innovation
Lights! Smoke!
Sound! Action!
When the lights were dimmed before the
start of the tour, the air laid heavy with
anticipation. More than 3,000 longtime fans
and those newly attracted to the Method
showed up for a weekend of education and
inspiration. Within seconds of the lights
dimming, smoke billowed out of the arena
entrance, heart pounding music filled the
silence and lights flickered across the floor.
“I can still feel the goose bumps on my arms,”
Mary, a club member from California, said.
“I knew Clinton would do something special
what with it being Vegas and all, but I never
expected his entrance to be as great as it was.
It was nearly overwhelming.”
Amidst the smoke and lights, Clinton and
Mindy burst into the arena. In what was
their last liberty act together, they danced
to Nickleback’s “Far Away” and Chris Cagle’s
“What Kinda Gone,” demonstrating the type
of partnership that can be achieved with the
Method. They sidepassed, two-tracked, rolled
back, played follow the leader – all without a
halter or lead rope. At one point, Clinton even
led Mindy around by her tail. “Mindy is one of
my best mates and a great mare,” Clinton said
after the last song ended, “there’s no doubt
about that. What I’m able to do with her, you
should aspire to do with your horses too. If
you follow the Method in the exact order I’ve
laid out, you can take your horsemanship to
levels you’ve never even dreamed of.”
The pair finished their performance with
Mindy giving her customary bow and then
During the opening liberty act, Clinton led Mindy around by her tail.
Then demonstrated just how desensitized she is by laying her down and
cracking an Australian stock whip over her.
Mindy’s ability to read Clinton’s slightest cues wowed the audience. She’s been by Clinton’s side since she was just four months old.
Down to the Nitty-Gritty
With Mindy by his side, Clinton shared the
philosophy behind the Method and what he
believes makes a truly great horseman. “When
I was a kid, horsemanship was difficult for me
because I didn’t understand how my horse
thought,” Clinton explained. “One day he would
do all the lessons perfectly, and I’d feel like
a million dollars. I’d walk back to the house
thinking I was God’s gift to horses. But the
next day, he would be completely terrible at
everything and act like he couldn’t remember
a single lesson from the day before. Then I’d
feel miserable and think I was a complete
failure.” He explained that horses are
tremendous confidence builders, but they can
also wreck any confidence you have in a hurry.
“If you’ve ever lost your temper, cried, felt
defeated or wanted to kill your horse because
of the frustration you felt toward teaching
him something—you’re completely normal,
and we’ve all been there,” Clinton said as the
crowd murmured in agreement with him.
“The best way to get rid of those feelings is to
educate yourself.” Clinton’s mantra throughout
the weekend, and even in his approach to
training people how to effectively work with
their horses, is “Frustration begins where
knowledge ends.”
Towards the end of the performance, Mindy kneeled
down to the ground for Clinton to mount and then
carried him around the arena bareback.
Innovation
Clinton was all smiles as he shared his experiences learning about horsemanship. “I call Downunder Horsemanship ‘idiot-proof’
horsemanship not because I think you’re stupid, but because I felt like an idiot trying to figure this stuff out,” he told the crowd.
The secret to becoming a great horseman is educating
yourself. “If you don’t get it, your horse won’t get it
and then nobody gets it,” Clinton explained. “The more
knowledgeable you are, the easier horsemanship is.”
“The more knowledge you have, the less
frustration you’ll encounter,” he told horsemen
in attendance and went on to share his
philosophy, talking about the prey/predator
relationship humans have with horses, earning
respect, becoming a natural leader and how to
develop skills as a horseman.
“To be a truly great horseman, you have to
have feel, timing and experience,” Clinton told
the crowd. “The hardest things for me to teach
people are feel and timing. I wish I could bottle
them up to sell because I’d be a billionaire
five times over, but I can’t because it’s not
something that you can physically touch. I may
not be able to sell you my feel and timing, but
what I can do is share with you my experiences
that have helped me develop them.”
Throughout the rest of the weekend, that’s
exactly what Clinton did with a variety
of instructional demonstrations. “All the
groundwork and riding exercises I’ve learned
and developed over the years are not just about
training horses; they are about training people
as well. My goal is to help you develop great
feel and timing so you can eventually become
a great horseman,” Clinton said. “At the same
time, you’re also teaching your horse to be a
Clinton started the weekend’s educational demos by explaining his roundpenning techniques. “Roundpenning teaches your horse
that you can control his feet without a halter or lead rope and that the most comfortable place for him to be is with you,” he said.
great horse for you. You’re teaching him to
follow you as a leader, take your suggestions
and be relaxed and obedient while using the
thinking side of his brain. People mistakenly
think that my method is strictly designed
to teach your horse to behave. It isn’t. The
Downunder Horsemanship Method is about
training your horse to listen to you and in
return, you’re training yourself to have better
feel and timing.”
Innovation
Clinton welcomed the owner of the Groundwork and Riding Demos
horse out to the arena, and then wasted no time proving the benefits of
teaching a horse the Method.
A Weekend of
Entertainment and Learning
With his characteristic Aussie humor and
charisma, Clinton delved into the Method,
demonstrating his step-by-step instruction to
achieving a safe and willing partner. Besides
explaining the philosophy behind training
horses, Clinton gave the crowd seven other
instructional demos throughout the weekend
from starting the Method in the roundpen
to what can be achieved if every level of the
Method is completed.
During the roundpenning demo, he showed
the audience how to teach your horse to catch
you. “You should never have to walk out to your
horse’s stall or pasture and have to worry about
catching him,” Clinton said. “He should catch
you. The instant he sees you approaching, he
should give you two eyes and come and greet
you.” In fact, his entire roundpening technique
centers around his philosophy that “Two eyes
are better than two heels.”
“Roundpenning teaches your horse that you
can control his feet without a halter or lead
rope, and that the most comfortable place for
him to be is with you,” Clinton explained. By the
end of the session, he had earned the horse’s
trust and respect so that he followed Clinton
wherever he went.
It was evident throughout the weekend that
the foundation of respect and trust earned
from a horse in the roundpen carries over to
groundwork.
Clinton worked
with another
Two eyes are better
demo horse
outside of the
than two heels.
roundpen,
teaching the
audience the
steps to his Fundamentals exercises. “If you
want your horse’s respect, you have to earn
it,” Clinton told the crowd. “Just because you
showed up today doesn’t mean anything to
your horse. There’s no secret formula or magic
training tool. If you want respect, you have to
control the horse’s feet. Once you can control
the horse’s feet, you can control his mind.”
“
”
The pushy horse wasn’t about to give up his union
card easily, but Clinton went on to prove that the
more you move the horse’s feet forwards, backwards,
left and right and reward the slightest try, the more
respectful a horse becomes.
“If you want
respect, you
have to control
the horse’s
feet. Once you
can control
his feet, you
can control his
mind,” Clinton
explained as he
showed how to
teach a horse to
do Lunging for
Respect.
He proved that the more you make a horse’s
feet move forwards, backwards, left and right,
and reward the slightest try, the more the
horse uses the thinking side of his brain and
respects you. He worked with the same horse
on both days
of the event,
demonstrating
You’re teaching
how each of his
exercises builds
the horse to ignore
off the others
mother nature.
from groundwork
to riding. He
worked through
a variety of groundwork exercises including:
Desensitizing, Lunging for Respect, Yielding
the Hindquarters and Circle Driving, and riding
exercises such as One Rein Stops, Cruising
Lesson and Vertical Flexion.
“
”
During the Spooky Horse Demo, Clinton
asked the crowd to help him “train” the horse.
“I’m going to start spanking the ground with
the stick and string and I want you to tell me
when to stop,” Clinton said. When an overly
eager horsewoman yelled out, “Now!” before
the horse was standing still and showing one
of the five signs of relaxing that had been
explained before, Clinton responded out in
good-fun, “Somebody slap that woman!”
Once he had earned the horse’s respect on the
ground, Clinton moved on to riding exercises
like One Rein Stops.
Three minutes later when the horse was
standing still with his hind leg cocked, Clinton
stopped spanking the ground and explained the
importance of not removing the spooky object
before the horse is standing still and showing
a sign of relaxing. “If you take the object away
too soon, when the horse is moving his feet
and overreacting, you’ll be teaching him that in
order to get away from the object all he has to
do is run away from it,” Clinton said. “That’s the
complete opposite of what you want to teach
him. Mother Nature is telling him to run. Horses
naturally always run first and think later.
Mother Nature says, ‘If you even think there’s
a lion nearby, Run! Don’t stop and think—
run! Thinking is what got your uncle killed
three million years ago. He didn’t think the
dinosaurs were coming his way, but they were.’
You’re teaching the horse to ignore Mother
Nature. When he gets scared, you want your
horse to stand still and relax—have a break
and read Black Beauty.”
Innovation
When the Spooky Demo horse came out, he was
practically jumping out of his skin and nearly had a
heart attack when Clinton practiced desensitizing him while safely tied
to the Aussie Tie Ring. By being consistent and using the Approach and
Retreat Method, Clinton soon had the horse accepting a number of scary
objects including a plastic bag.
The only way to teach your horse that is
through the Approach and Retreat Method –
approaching him with a scary object and then
taking the object away when he stands still
and shows a sign of relaxing. At the beginning
of the demo, the horse entered the arena
scared of his own shadow, but by the end,
Clinton had him calmly dropping his head
every time the crowd cheered and made noise.
“In horse training, you always make the right
thing (standing still and relaxing) easy and
the wrong thing (moving and being reactive)
difficult,” Clinton said.
That concept carried over to the Trouble-Free
Trailering Demo. A horse with a longstanding
history of refusing to load was brought into
the arena, and Clinton started the demo by
poking fun at all the ways people attempt to
load a horse. He got in front of the horse and
tried to drag him in by pulling on the lead
rope. Then he tried to pick up each of his feet
to get him one step closer to the trailer. When
those methods failed, he got behind the horse
and tried to push him in, and even resorted to
sweet talking him.
“Believe me, I’ve tried each of those ways
myself when I was younger,” he said above
the crowd’s roar of laughter. “When you begin
to teach your horse to load onto the trailer,
the first rule is to completely forget about the
trailer. Act like loading the horse on the trailer
is the furthest thing from your mind because
the more you think about getting the horse in
the trailer, the more you’ll act like a predator
and scare him.”
Clinton set to work earning the horse’s
respect away from the trailer and establishing
a line of communication, moving his feet
forwards, backwards, left and right. Then
he began to practice the Sending Exercise
all around the trailer and eventually across
the ramp of the trailer. Using Approach and
Retreat, he asked the horse to take one step at
a time into the trailer.
“Do you remember being a little kid and
sneaking into the deep end of the swimming
pool?” Clinton asked the audience. “You
wouldn’t just jump into the deep end and hope
for the best, you’d grab onto the sides of the
pool and gradually work your way down to the
deeper water. If you got scared, you could easily
use the wall to go back to the shallow end. Each
time you went back to the deep end, you went a
little further out. Now, do you remember what it
was like when your older brother or sister would
The Trailer Loading horse had a long history of not
wanting to load in trailers as he demonstrates here
with his owner. Once he had the horse’s respect and
he was using the thinking side of his brain, Clinton
practiced sending the horse back and forth across the
ramp of the trailer, encouraging him to investigate and
smell it. Before long, the horse was loading himself in
the trailer as soon as Clinton pointed towards it.
grab onto you and drag you out to the deep end?
You’d be kicking, biting and screaming—doing
anything to stay in the shallow end. Well, that’s
exactly the same way your horse feels about
loading in the trailer. I can guarantee that if
you grab a hold of the lead rope and try to drag
him onto the trailer, he’s going to rear, strike
and pull back and do whatever he can to stop
you from taking him on the trailer. However,
if you use approach and retreat and build his
confidence, and make getting on the trailer his
idea, you’ll be amazed at how easy the entire
process will be.”
By the end of the demo, the horse was running
into the trailer as soon as Clinton raised his
hand and pointed. “Eventually, you want to
have to practically beg the horse to come off
the trailer—what I call a good problem to have,”
Clinton told the crowd. “With practice, he’ll
crave the trailer and think it’s the best place in
the world to be.”
A New Venture
While Clinton and Mindy were no doubt the
stars of the weekend, Professional Clinician
Shana Terry and Jillaroo came a close second
with their trick performance, the first of its
kind at a Walkabout Tour. For the past year
and a half, Shana has been teaching Jillaroo, a
nine-year-old Australian Quarter Horse mare (a
daughter of Mindy), tricks as a way to keep the
mare’s mind busy. “If you think training a horse
is hard, you should try keeping a trained horse
happy and interested in his job,” Shana told the
crowd. “We started teaching several horses at
the ranch how to do some tricks to keep things
interesting for them.”
She then demonstrated Jillaroo’s hard work
which included smiling, answering yes and no
questions, playing dead and stretching her legs
out for the Spanish Walk. “Jillaroo, do you like
me?” Shana asked the mare, who vehemently
nodded yes. The crowd pleaser was when the
black mare dropped to her knees and “crawled”
around Shana in a circle.
Innovation
From the moment Shana and Jillaroo ran out to the arena, they captivated the audience with their trick performance. Jillaroo, a
daughter of Mindy, mimicked Shana’s exact movements. Here the two stretch out their legs for the Spanish Walk.
After their groundwork performance, Shana hopped
on Jillaroo bareback and the two regaled the crowd
with more under saddle tricks.
by an enthusiastic audience’s applause and
whistles of encouragement.
Learning from a Legend
“Teaching your horse to do tricks is no
different than teaching him the exercises in
the Method,” Shana assured the crowd. “I used
the same concepts to teach Jillaroo everything
I showed you here – breaking the lesson into
small manageable steps and rewarding the
slightest try.”
At the end of the session, Jillaroo lowered
herself to the ground to let Shana mount, and
then the two walked and trotted around the
arena displaying several mounted tricks. The
mare’s ability to mimic Shana’s body language
and respond to the slightest cues was rewarded
One of the biggest draws to the Vegas
Tourcation was the guest appearance of Ian
Francis, Clinton’s mentor and legendary Aussie
horseman. A five-time Australian Reining
Futurity Champion and three-time Australian
National Cutting Horse Association Futurity
champion, Ian is one of the best horsemen in
the world. Together, he and Clinton regaled the
audience during the Advanced Riding Demo
with steps to achieving better steering control
that included mastering the Flower Power
Exercise and Rollbacks.
“Your goal should be to control your horse
with a feather-light touch,” Clinton said. “As a
kid, I can remember driving around in vehicles
before power steering came around – you had to
really heave the steering wheel around to make
the car go where you wanted it. Then when my
family got a vehicle with power steering, I could
use just one finger on the wheel to guide the
car. If you get control of your horse’s five body
parts, you can achieve the same concept when
steering him.”
The trust and respect Jillaroo has for Shana was evident throughout the entire performance.
Innovation
Shana explained that she and Clinton have been teaching tricks to several horses at the ranch to keep them
interested in their training. “If you think it’s hard training a horse, try keeping a trained horse interested in his
job,” Shana said.
Astride Diez, Ian showed the audience the
Flower Power pattern, one of his favorite
guiding exercises he uses on all his horses. He
cantered the bay gelding around the pattern,
which resembles a flower, demonstrating how
the exercise helps to improve guiding, and
eventually can be used to teach the horse to
neck rein.
Clinton explained that he incorporates the
Flower Power Exercise he learned from Ian
over a decade ago in his Method today. “It’s a
great lead-up exercise to neck reining and will
improve your horse’s overall steering. By the
time you finish the pattern, your horse should
be easy to guide and steer. He shouldn’t pull
you around or gather speed when you put him
on a straight line,” Clinton said. “This is a great
steering wheel exercise because it combines
Clinton’s mentor, Ian Francis, flew to the States for the
Tourcation and shared his wealth of knowledge during
the Advanced Riding Demo.
Clinton and Mindy showed the crowd the type of
collection and feather-light control that can be achieved
if you gain control of your horse’s five body parts.
both straight lines and turns. It’s really good
for hot, nervous horses because when you put
them on the straight lines, they are going to
want to build speed. As soon as they get faster,
you’ll turn them. Anytime you turn a corner,
it makes the horse rate back to you. It’s very
hard for a horse to build speed as he’s turning
because he has to shift his weight from his
front end to his back end.”
While riding the pattern, Ian pointed out the
benefits of the exercise for both hot horses
and those that tend to be a little lazy. “Just like
Diez here, he’s getting tired and wants to slow
down on me,” Ian said, “but I’m going to keep
pushing him through.
“He’s just like you—short, round and knows
his job!” Clinton quipped, which earned a
chuckle from Ian and a whoop of laughter from
the crowd as the bay gelding kept cantering
the pattern.
After the Flower Power Exercise, Ian went on
to demonstrate the importance of teaching a
horse to rollback. “In order to get a horse soft
and supple, you have to get control of all five
body parts – the head and neck, poll, shoulders,
ribcage and hindquarters. Once you have
control of the horse’s whole body, you have
control of his feet. When you have control of
his feet, it’s easy for you to teach him what you
want him to do,” Clinton explained while Ian
rolled Diez back, making the gelding work off
his hind end.
“If you can get this kind of softness, suppleness
and responsiveness, it doesn’t matter what
industry you belong to because you’ll make
progress a lot quicker when the horse isn’t
resisting you,” Ian said and then explained that
rollbacks are the easiest way to start teaching
the horse to move his front end, work off his
hindquarters and collect himself.
After showing the basic steps to teaching the
rollback, Clinton added that once your horse
has the concept down, you can start to work
on getting the rollback more correct and a little
prettier. “It’ll help you get a better stop, a better
turn and overall better collection,” he said, and
then demonstrated on Mindy just what he was
talking about. He stopped the mare, shaped
her for the rollback and then backed her up a
One of the topics Ian and Clinton covered in the
Advanced Riding Demo was rollbacks.
few steps before taking her through the turn.
“In order to do a good rollback, the horse has
to have his weight on his hind end,” Clinton
explained. “Backing a step or two will help
him transfer his weight from his front end to
his back end and coil his body up so that he
can spring through the turn.” He also threw a
sidepass into the mix before backing up, saying
that “Sidepassing before rolling back helps the
horse pick up his ribcage and prepare his body
for the turn.”
The entire session centered around the idea
of gaining control of the horse’s body from his
nose to his tail. “Control of your horse’s five
body parts is important in anything you want
to do with him,” Ian said, “whether that be
reining, cutting or riding on the trail.” To which
Clinton pointed out that horses today are very
specialized in what they can do. “It used to be
that a horse could do a number of things well
– he could work a cow, do a respectable reining
pattern and be a safe horse out on the trail,”
he said. “Today, that’s usually not the case.
We’ve become too specialized with trainers that
only focus on western pleasure or reining, not
developing an overall great horse.”
He pointed to Mindy and said that even though
she was trained as a reining mare, placing
third in the Australian NRHA Futurity, she
could work a cow. To prove his point, he invited
Chris Eley, a No Worries Club member, to come
down to the arena to be his “cow,” running back
and forth in front of Mindy so that she could
practice her cutting horse moves.
The crowd cheered both human and horse
on as Mindy demonstrated the cat-like moves
she still possesses at seventeen. “I had a lot of
fun,” Chris said afterwards. “To get up close to a
horse like that was unbelievable.” Then Clinton
did the unexpected when he dismounted Mindy
and gave Chris a leg-up into the saddle and let
her “cut” him.
Innovation
“I can’t thank Clinton enough for the
experience,” Chris says. “It’s just a thrill for
someone like me who has worked in barns her
whole life to be able to sit on a horse like that.
It’s just unbelievable.”
No Worries
Club member
Chris Eley
came down
from the stands
to be the “cow”
that Clinton
and Mindy
practiced
cutting.
“It’s just
unbelievable,”
Chris said
after being the
last person
other than
Clinton to ride
Mindy. “She’s
an amazing
animal.”
A Family’s Perspective
If Clinton’s parents, Cheryl and Rob Anderson, had
been asked if they ever thought their son would grow
up to be one of the most respected horse trainers in the
world, they would have dismissed the idea. But then
Rob might have added in his matter-of-fact way that
Clinton is determined, and when he sets his mind to
something, there isn’t anything that’ll stand in his way.
Both Clinton’s parents and his granddad, Fred Piercy,
had the opportunity to witness Clinton in action during
the Vegas Tourcation.
away from it and never went back because it was
something he didn’t want to do. So with Clinton,
we figured, what’s the point of pushing him into
something he doesn’t want to do? You’ve got to
follow your heart; it’s as simple as that.
Clinton’s infatuation with horses started at an
early age thanks to Cheryl’s mother Thelma.
Thelma had an old Thoroughbred mare that
she’d give the grandkids rides on, and it became
obvious early on that Clinton was horse crazy.
Clinton spent two years with Gordon and then
a year with Ian before opening his own training
barn in Australia. He took in all sorts of horses
from two-year-olds to break to problem horses
that needed reformed. Then he started his career
in America.
“Thelma played a big role in getting Clinton
started with horses,” Fred says. “She did all the
leg work with Clinton when he was young. I was
there to drive him around and do the odd jobs.”
Clinton and
wife Amy
with Granddad
Fred Piercy.
It was thanks to his grandparents that Clinton
met his mentor, Gordon McKinlay. The couple
had taken a young Clinton to a horsemanship
clinic taught by Gordon, and when Clinton
volunteered to ride a horse that was acting up,
Gordon was impressed with what he saw and
approached Fred and Thelma about having the
boy work for him. “I remember saying that we
were just his chaperons for the weekend and
that he’d have to talk with Cheryl and Rob,”
Fred says. Clinton and Gordon struck up an
immediate friendship with Clinton spending
every school holiday out at Gordon’s learning the
art of horsemanship. By the time he was fifteen,
Clinton knew that he wanted to be a horse
trainer and saw that his best opportunity was to
work for Gordon fulltime.
When he announced to his family that he was
dropping out of school,
they were understandably
concerned. “I told him if
it failed, he’d be digging
ditches for the rest of
his life,” Rob says, but
he and Cheryl realized
the importance of letting
their children follow their
passion.
“Rob wasted four
years of his life on an
apprenticeship that he
absolutely hated,” Cheryl
says. “The last day of his
apprenticeship, he walked
“We were lucky that Gordon took him under his
wing and taught him what he did,” Cheryl adds,
“and Ian did the same thing. Those two really
helped set him on the right road.”
“He came over to America with nothing and
knew nobody,” Cheryl says, “but he’s always
had ambition, drive, determination and guts.
You don’t go from one country to another, not
knowing anybody, and create what he has
created without hard work. He’s a credit to
himself.”
Throughout Clinton’s career, his parents and
granddad have had the opportunity to visit the
States a few times and catch up with Clinton.
“When he first came over, we heard stories back
in Australia that he was becoming successful,”
Rob says. “We didn’t realize how big it was until
we came over and saw how everything was
growing.”
The family was last over to the States in 2005
before arriving in Texas this year. On their last
visit, they attended the Ardmore, Oklahoma Tour.
“That was pretty small stuff compared to what I
saw this weekend,” Fred shares. “Clinton’s ability
has gone ahead in leaps and bounds. I’m really
impressed with it.”
In Cheryl and Rob’s opinion, the Vegas
Tourcation is a culmination of what Clinton has
been doing for many years. “We’re very proud.
It’s a great company and Clinton can be proud of
what he’s accomplished,” Rob says, and Cheryl
says that it’s reassuring to see the loyalty Clinton
has for his staff and the loyalty and dedication
his employees return to him.
Fred agrees and adds that he never imagined
Clinton getting this far. “It’s mind-boggling
amazing. When he came to America, he was
stony-broke, but that’s Clinton for you, he’s a
determined bugger. When he does something,
he’s in boots and all.”
Innovation
Winners Take All
While every tour offers the chance to win
great giveaways, the Vegas Tourcation was an
all-out smorgasbord of freebies. Thanks to the
generous support of sponsors, Clinton handed
out a total of 9,000 prizes. Some were won by
raffles, others went to those who made the most
noise, answered Clinton’s questions correctly
and still others walked away with Downunder
Horsemanship product and sponsor
prizes by mere luck. Besides Downunder
Horsemanship product, Clinton gave away
products and services from the following
sponsors: ABI, ACTHA, 3M, CetylM, Corona/
Lexol, Equibrand, Equine Network/Horse
and Rider, Intervet/Safeguard, eZall, Ritchie
Waterers, Vetericyn and Wahl.
Clinton and his sponsors handed out more than 9,000
prizes throughout the weekend. The young and old
alike fed off the Vegas vibe.
Right: Vegas offered a unique
opportunity to see Clinton
working with Ian, and for Mindy
and Diez to be in the ring at the
same time. Below: Members of
the Downunder Horsemanship
Team at the Vegas Tourcation.
Innovation
A Special Moment
There were plenty of damp eyes in the crowd
when Clinton officially retired Mindy Saturday
afternoon. “After eleven years on the road, this
mare has earned her retirement,” Clinton told
the audience, tearing up himself and choking
on his words. “She’s done so much for me
personally, and I think a lot of you as well, that
I wanted you all to help me recognize her. Put
your hands together for her—she deserves it.”
With her last live performance complete, the
Australian Quarter Horse mare will lead a life
of grazing and pampering at the Downunder
Horsemanship Ranch. When Clinton walked
her out of the arena, the audience gave her
a standing ovation, and later that evening,
everyone had a chance to take photos with
Mindy one last time along with Clinton, Ian
and Diez.
Exclusive: Members Only
Meet the members you chose to receive awards
and be recognized at the V.I.P. Party in Vegas
C
linton and the Downunder
Horsemanship Team rolled out the
red carpet for club members at the Vegas
Tourcation, including a V.I.P. party Saturday
night after the tour. Close to a 1,000
members showed up to meet each other,
receive free loot and mingle with Clinton
and the Downunder Horsemanship staff.
Besides getting to meet the people behind
screen names, members celebrated the
club’s third year anniversary with cake
and punch and enjoyed a special awards
ceremony. The ceremony recognized member
accomplishments on the NWC website from
the most thanked to the best thread starter.
Prior to Vegas, members nominated
individuals for seven categories: Funniest
Member; Most Helpful to New Members/Club
36 - Members only
Questions; Most Helpful – Technical Support;
Most Helpful – Learning the Method; Best
Blogger; Best Thread Starter; and Best Photos
and Captions. Members were also recognized
in two other categories—Top Poster and Most
Thanked—based on the amount of posts and
number of times they’ve been thanked by
other members.
When the voting was closed, NWC
Coordinator, Melissa Barnett, and her staff
counted the ballots and named the winners.
Each award winner was recognized at the
party by Clinton with a NWC Vegas bag full
of swag—a trophy, personalized t-shirt, $50
gift certificate for Downunder Horsemanship
product, Clinton Anderson embossed
stationary and Downunder Horsemanship
logo tin.
Category: Top Poster
This accolade went to the member with the most
number of posts on the NWC forum.
Winner: Ghostface (over 12,000 posts
as of June!)
By the age of three, Ghostface was in the
saddle riding hunter jumpers on the East Coast.
Along with participating in pony club and fox
hunting, she also helped work cattle on her
family’s farm. “My show horses were versatile!”
she quips. Today, she has three horses – Rascal,
a Trakahner gelding, Bella, a Hanovarian/
Thoroughbred cross mare and Cooper, a mini.
Ghostface is preparing both Rascal and Bella for
the hunter ring and says that Clinton’s Method
meshes well with her traditional training
techniques. She started using the Method in
2006 and joined the NWC in March of 2007.
She loves logging onto the forums to help and
learn from others, but considers the best part
of the club getting to meet and connect with
Innovation
other horse people all around the country and
even the world like herself. As far as being
recognized as the top poster, Ghostface laughs
and says, “I think I need to get a job! Thanks
Clinton!”
“
I love being associated
with an organization
led by the number one
horseman in the country.
”
Category: Funniest Member
This award recognized the member who is
always able to make us all smile or fall off our
chairs laughing.
Finalists: Muttley, Breakawaysue,
Neverdull Ranch, Ghostface
Winner:
Neverdull Ranch
Neverdull Ranch views the NWC as the best
investment in her horsemanship. “I love being
associated with an organization led by the
number one horseman in the country, and I
love that Clinton still gives it a hundred and ten
percent despite all of his success,” she says. “I
admire his work ethic and am just blown away
by his ability to train horses and train others
to train horses so effectively.” Neverdull owns
two horses, Frisco and Gus, that she trail rides
and schools dressage on. She’s been practicing
the Method for several years now and has
been a member of the club since 2007. “I think
I became a true believer the first time I had
to execute a One Rein Stop in a moment that
could have gotten me killed using traditional
tactics,” she says. “I way overestimated my skill
level when I purchased a green, three-year-old
horse. Clinton has kept me alive to enjoy rather
than regret that foolhardy decision.” With the
NWC, she’s met people who are as dedicated
to Clinton and the Method as herself. “I love
interacting with the other members, sharing
what I know (or don’t know), and learning
what they know. One thing I particularly love
Clinton congratulated Top Poster, Ghostface, who had
logged over 12,000 posts on the NWC as of June.
Herdcutter received an award as the Most Helpful to
New Members/Club Questions.
her longtime passion for horses and relies
on Clinton and the NWC community to help
her. “The access to so much information is
valuable. I love having the TV shows at my
fingertips. I have used the forums to figure out
some issues I have in the barn. It’s amazing
that if I have a question or problem, all I have
to do is post and by the end of the day, there
will be responses,” Herdcutter explains. “I
really have enjoyed connecting with horse
people and making new friends.” On being
recognized as the most helpful member to
newbies, Herdcutter says that she loves to
help and serve people. “It makes me want
to strive and continue to represent what
my award means – helping new members!
Usually, I am helping someone navigate the
website, but occasionally, I help someone find
another member to help with questions that
are above me. I think that it’s important to
know your limits and lead someone to the
appropriate place or person.”
Category: Most Helpful –
Technical Support
This award recognized the member who is always
willing to help their peers with technical support by
either finding the answer themselves or pointing in
the right direction.
about the forum is the civility of it compared
to ‘public’ forums where people flame each
other’s eyebrows off on a continual basis. The
NWC is a safe haven where it is OK to disagree
occasionally without getting axe-murdered
over it!”
Category: Most Helpful
to New Members/Club
Questions
This member has been the most helpful to newbies
by welcoming them to the club and answering any
questions they have.
Finalists: Cbecker, Herdcutter,
Ghostface
Winner: Herdcutter
Herdcutter started riding in her teens and
spent her mid-twenties working for a riding
stable where she eventually became head
trail boss during summer trail rides. When a
bad fall sidelined her from riding and being
around horses, she spent the next twenty plus
years focusing on raising puppies for Leader
Dogs for the Blind. Last summer, she rekindled
38 - Members only
Finalists: Tuffenuff, Herdcutter,
Ghostface
Winner: Tuffenuff
Tuffenuff joined the No Worries Club in 2007
and owns two horses, a five-year-old Quarter
Horse mare named Lucy and a three-yearold filly named Cat. “Cat is an acronym for
Clinton Anderson Trained, as in style, not
actually by him,” Tuff says. “The girls on the
board helped me come up with that when
she was born.” Raised in a non-horse family,
Tuff started riding at age eight and says she
learned a lot the hard way. When she first saw
Clinton at the Iowa Horse Fair, she loved his
easy-to-understand instruction and has been
an avid follower since. In fact, she joined the
club in 2007 so she could get training advice
on a regular basis. A trail ride here or a fun
show there, Tuff says she just enjoys time in
the saddle and working through the Method,
which is why she loves the NWC. She’s been
able to meet horse people just like herself. “I
was excited to hear I’d won,” she says of the
award she received. “I was glad that I was able
to help fellow members out in the technical
department because it means I get to see
more pictures!”
Category: Most Helpful –
Learning the Method
When other members have questions about the
Method or Downunder Horsemanship products,
this longtime NWC faithful stands out in the herd
for being able to give good, solid responses.
Finalists: Historyrider, Bmccain,
Thunderspark, Muttley
Winner: Historyrider
When Historyrider was ten years old, his
mom realized he’d been bit by the horse bug.
“After spending two weeks at summer camp, I
asked my instructor if she would write a note
to my mom saying that I knew all I needed to
know about horses, and I needed to get one,”
he says. Of course the instructor laughed and
said that there was a little more to horses
than what they’d covered in two weeks, but
Historyrider’s mom did find him the perfect
first horse. Now with two kids of his own,
Historyrider is an adept horseman, committed
to Clinton and his Method. “Clinton is
personal and easy to understand. Everything
that he says just makes sense,” Historyrider
says. “I’m honored to have received the award.
When I’m helping others, I always take what
I learn from Clinton and speak from my own
experiences working with my horse and
others I’ve dealt with over the years. I can also
type as fast as I can talk, so for me, making
those long responses really isn’t as hard
as it might seem,” he adds laughing. Today
he enjoys working with his personal horse,
Domino, an eleven-year-old Quarter Horse
he’s trained through the Method, and helping
others learn Clinton’s techniques from the
ground up.
Innovation
Clinton and the Walkabout Tour Announcer, Les Hartman, pose with a poster NWC members made and then signed for Clinton.
Category: Best Blogger
When it comes to entertaining others with her stories
and observations about training horses, this member
keeps us all wanting more with her insightful and
entertaining blog entries.
Finalists: Frostedpatriot, Cisco’s Mom,
Breakawaysue
Winner: Cisco’s Mom
When Cisco’s Mom was a young girl, she made
a promise to herself that someday she would
own her own horse. “When I was a child, my
parents took me to the county fair and I always
had to see the horses first. I would pet as many
of them as I could and then swear to never wash
my hands again,” she says. In 2007, Cisco’s Mom
turned her dream into a reality and now owns
three horses that she enjoys trail riding with
her daughter. An NWC member for nearly two
years, she loves all the information available
on the NWC site and the endless amount of
support from fellow members. “It is great to be
able to share my experiences with others who
understand what you’re doing and to also read
what other members are dealing with,” she
relates. In fact, she says she’s made friendships
through the club and found others in her area
that follow Clinton. “We are now able to meet
once a month to help each other and enjoy each
other’s company,” she explains. “I feel honored
to be chosen and I am pleased to know that
others enjoy reading my blog just as much as
I enjoy writing it. Hopefully I can continue to
please the readers with my humorous ways of
riding and training my horses.”
Category: Best
Thread Starter
On a consistent basis, this member comes up with
great topics on the NWC forum that keeps everyone
engaged and sharing their opinions or experiences.
Finalists: Ponygirl, Sugarbushfarm,
Breakawaysue
Winner: Breakawaysue
Coming from a family that has lived on
ranches for generations, working with horses
has always been in Breakawaysue’s blood.
“Growing up, I learned how to do about
Breakawaysue was all smiles when she won
the Best Thread Starter Award.
40 - Members only
everything a person can do with a horse,” she
says. The last few years she has been battling
some health issues, and discovered Clinton
when she was recovering from hip replacement
surgery. “Since having the surgery, I was afraid
to fall off and needed the encouragement to get
out and ride,” she explains. She immediately
liked Clinton’s personality and clear instruction.
“He lays each of the exact steps out and makes
it black and white,” she says, adding that being
a club member adds to her knowledge and base
of support. She’s now working her way through
the Method with her Appendix Quarter Horse,
mare Snoop. “One of the things I love about the
club is how everyone is so willing to help each
other, which adds to my own knowledge. When
people ask questions, I like to answer because
it makes me stop and really think about the
Method and what I would do in that particular
situation,” Breaskawaysue says. The best part
of the club? “I love seeing improvement in other
members and myself. And I just love the friends
I’ve made. I’m the only one who practices
Clinton’s Method where I live, so it’s been nice
to connect to people who do the same things
with their horses,” she says. In fact, last year a
group of NWC members met at Breakawaysue’s
ranch to camp out, ride and swap stories. “The
friendships and support from other members is
just unbelievable,” she says. “I love being a part
of the club.”
Category: Best Photos
and Captions
No matter what the subject, this member keeps us
all entertained with their photos and oftentimes
humorous captions.
Finalists: Barnsweet, Thunderspark,
LindaGordon
Winner: Barnsweet
A self-proclaimed NWC addict, Barnsweet
was one of the first to join the NWC. “Quite
to my surprise, I found horse friends. They’re
scattered across the country, but we’ve actually
gotten together (at tours and just as friends,
too). I even bought my current horse from a
member,” she explains. Having ridden most of
her life, Barnsweet had a great twenty-two year
relationship with her first horse, Ace, and is
now lucky enough to have a home with acreage
where she keeps her four current equines—
three ponies and a Quarter Horse gelding. “I ride
for pleasure, it’s my hobby. Friends, neighbors
and relatives bring their kids around to ride the
eldest pony, Taffy, and dispense carrots to the
rest of the equines,” she says, and adds that
they often enjoy her other menagerie of pets
including dogs, chickens, ducks and cats. Since
joining the club, Barnsweet has not only made
lasting friendships, but become adept at using
forums. “I was very surprised and touched to
have been nominated and pleased to win. I
didn’t even know how to post a picture when I
joined,” she jokes.
Category: Top Five
Most Thanked
These members received the most thanks for giving
out helpful advice on the NWC forum.
Winners: Neverdull Ranch,
Ghostface, Bmccain, Breakawaysue,
Meghansmombo
Bmccain: An active NWC member since the
club’s launch in 2007, Bmccain grew up riding
her aunt’s horses, but then put riding aside
when she got married and raised her kids.
“After raising the kids and kicking them out
of the house, I decided I wanted a horse of
Innovation
my own,” she says laughing. That’s when she
discovered Clinton and got her first
mare. “She reared, cow-kicked and crowhopped,” she says of her first horse. “Clinton’s
Method does fill in all those holes. In no time
she was safe,
willing and a
true pleasure
One of the things I love
to ride. Now
she is my rock
about the club is how
solid trail
everyone is so willing
horse, and
I would not
to help each other.
hesitate to put
a beginner
on her or a
fearful rider. She is so much fun to ride out on
the trail now.” In the seven years that she’s been
following Clinton, Bmccain and her family have
adopted two BLM mustangs that they trained
using the Method. She views the NWC as a way
to stay motivated and inspired. “The club has
been great. Besides all the benefits, I’ve made
some great friends—we share laughter, tears,
encouragement when needed and stories. We’ve
all become an extended family. I’m not sure if
that was one of Clinton’s goals for the club, but
it sure has been an added benefit!”
“
”
Meghansmombo: When her husband gave
her an NWC membership as a Christmas gift
in 2007, Meghansmombo was estatic. “One of
the best gifts I’ve ever received! It was a while
before I became active on the forums because
I am not very computer-savvy, and I was sort
of intimidated,” she says, but those feelings
soon wore off. Today, she’s an active poster, and
loves the NWC community. “My family is not
into horses, and no one else at the barn where I
board does Downunder Horsemanship (though
some are coming around now!). I really rely
on the NWC community to help me through
problems, and just generally be ‘horse-people
friends,’” she relates. After thirty years of
“fostering, leasing, begging, borrowing and allbut-stealing” rides on horses, Meghansmombo
now owns her very own Quarter Horse gelding.
Grady helps her learn the Method and enjoys
liberty work and trick training. “Winning the
award makes me a little uncomfortable because
I know I am probably in the bottom ten percent
of members, experience-wise,” she reasons,
“but if my rambling helped anybody in any way,
I am glad. I like horses and I like to write (and I
type fast!), so I guess all that plus the kindness
of strangers put me here.”
As original as clinton himself
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Aussie stock saddle and an American Western saddle:
• Built on an exclusive Martin saddle tree
• Carefully-spaced bar pattern provides full, even contact
with the horse’s back
• Smaller, more rounded profile is light and comfortable for your horse
• Free-swinging fenders help with rider balance
• Specially designed swells that help provide a secure seat
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42 - 8 Things you should know
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Downunderhorsemanship.com
Inspiration
“The ability to work
hard is not talent. It
is however the best
substitute for it.”
–Clinton Anderson
Member Spotlight:
The Singing HorsemaN
Singer/Songwriter James Konopasek combines his two passions to entertain others
A lifelong music lover, James (left) thought it would be fun to put some of Clinton’s sayings to music to help
others and himself better remember the concepts. The result is his original song, “Move Your Feet.”
I
n 2000, James and his wife, Victoria, were
at the Northwest Horse Expo in Albany,
Oregon when they first learned of Clinton.
“John Lyons was the keynote presenter,
but there was this Australian kid, with not
much of an audience at the time, who really
caught our eyes and ears,” James says.
As a licensed polygraph examiner, James
appreciated Clinton’s straightforward, no
non-sense approach of gaining respect and
building a partnership with a horse without
being a barbarian. “The bottom line is that he
teaches us exercises that get results. Being a ‘lie
detector guy,’ I am very much aware of scams
and rip-offs people try to pull,” James explains.
“With Clinton, I immediately thought, ‘This guy
is for real, he knows what he is talking about, he
knows how to say it and he genuinely wants to
see us get good results.’”
44 - The singing Horseman
A New Way to Horsemanship
James started riding in his mid-thirties on
an Appaloosa mix named Bandito on which
he learned the basics of jumping. From there
he went on to try his hand in dressage and
trail on an off-the-track Thoroughbred mare
named Cabby, and Devlin, a retired Portland
Mounted Patrol horse. In his late forties, James
was introduced to Quarter Horses and found
in the breed the “bombproof” trail horse he
was looking for with versatility. He now does
cow sorting, trail course work and backcountry
trail riding. He and Victoria have three grown
children, Jennifer, Vanessa and Steven, and
used to do the occasional family horse camping
trip, rode in community parades and were
regulars at 4-H county fairs. Now that the
children are out of the house, the couple owns
four horses: Emmy, a Fritz Command bred
mare; Josie, a Rugged Lark bred mare; Bear, a
Dox Bunnell bred mare, and Buddy, a thirtysix-year-old Appaloosa cross gelding.
Following the Method, James says that he
has learned to watch out for his safety. “I have
never been much for babying horses, but I
have let horses run all over me,” he says. Over
the years, he’s experienced broken ribs, a
broken collar bone and hematoma from a kick
in the thigh. Learning to protect his personal
hula hoop space and doing groundwork to get
the horse to move his feet rather than moving
his own, James has become a more effective
horseman and now enjoys working with his
horses without putting his safety in jeopardy.
When Clinton introduced the No Worries
Club, the couple was quick to join. “We wanted
ongoing access to training tools, and to be a
part of a group of people who understand the
Downunder Horsemanship techniques and
who can laugh at the predicaments we find
ourselves in with our horses,” James relates.
“For me, my relationship with my horses
offers the entire spectrum of experience—
from unpredictable excitement, to a testy
camaraderie, to a ‘peaceful easy feeling.’ I
like how I can for the most part channel the
wild energy of a large animal into something
productive and oftentimes beautiful.”
An Original Work
While working with his two Quarter Horses,
Emmy and Bear, James would often hear
Clinton’s voice in his head. The two Quarter
Horses have opposite personalities—Emmy
is reactive and hot-blooded while Bear is lazy
and pushy. From following Clinton’s Method,
James knew that the secret to earning a
horse’s respect and getting him to use the
thinking side of his brain was to move his
feet forwards, backwards, left and right and
to reward the slightest try—no matter what
personality he had. “I would find myself,
putting on my best imitation of Clinton in my
best Aussie voice, saying, ‘Move your feet!’
in order to get the horses to listen and be
respectful,” James explains.
James purchased Bear a year ago from
Rockey and Rahlie Goodell, owners of the
Corncob Ranch in Spray, Oregon. Before
James did his pre-purchase ride on Bear, he
practiced groundwork—putting Bear through
the basic Flexing, Sending and Lunging for
Respect exercises. Under James’ saddle, the
calm, dependable (though young) ranch horse
never once crow-hopped or bucked. Rockey
commented, “It looks like you know what you’re
doing with that horse.” According to James,
“It is amazing how the simplest of Clinton’s
exercises can prevent a disaster, make a real
difference on your first ride on a new horse and
are impressive to those unfamiliar with the
Method.”
Inspiration
Ready to attend this year’s Redmond, Oregon
Tour, he found himself getting excited to
not only see Clinton live, but to refresh his
knowledge of the Method. He had last seen
the Aussie horseman in person at the previous
Redmond Tour in 2007. The more he thought
about how the Method changed his life with
horses, the more he wanted to share his
experience with others. He also “thought it
would be cool to put some of Clinton’s sayings
to music so other people (and I) could better
remember some of the concepts,” he shares.
Once the idea to create a song was in place, it
didn’t take long for it to take shape. “The tune
came pretty easy, but the lyrics were much
tougher,” James expresses. “With me, lyrics are
rehearsed probably hundreds of times in my
head (and are sung many times out loud and
changed many times) before the rhymes and
timing all finally come together.”
With Emmy
and Bear.
Thanks to
Clinton and the
Method, James
has become a
more effective
horseman and
enjoys working
with his horses
without putting
his safety in
jeopardy.
The lyrics all come from Clintonisms—
sayings that are firmly embedded in James’
mind such as: Make the right thing easy
and the wrong thing difficult; The more you
find yourself on the ground, the better your
groundwork gets; Two eyes are better than two
heels, among others.
It only seemed natural to title a song about
training horses using Clinton’s Method, “Move
Your Feet.” “Moving the horse’s feet to earn
respect is a fundamental premise behind
Clinton’s method of training horses, and I am
a believer in it,” James says. “I’ve seen it work
wonders with our horses.”
A Lifetime of Music
Raised in Sam’s Valley, Oregon, singing was
an everyday occurrence in James’ childhood.
“I learned how to sing from my mom and dad
and was blessed with genetics that gave me
somewhat of a voice and an ear for music,” he
says. “We grew up using our voices; making
a song out of nearly every funny thing we
heard.” He can remember his mother waking
him and his brothers and sisters up singing,
“Oh what a beautiful morning…Oh what a
beautiful day.” “At the time, we kids thought
it was annoying, but it got us up early so
we could get chores done,” James says. His
parents taught their children early about the
importance of responsibility and caring for
animals. His father, Frank, was a millworker
who later owned his own restaurant while his
mother, Peggy, worked as a waitress; they both
expected their children to help around the
house, feeding steers, milking cows, getting in
firewood, etc.
By the age of six, his parents had him
strumming a guitar, and four years later,
James was taking professional lessons where
he learned to play songs by The Beatles,
Eagles, Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan and James
Taylor. He continued to play through college,
but then laid the guitar down to focus on his
career, raising kids and refurbishing houses.
Twenty years later, he met Linda McAllister,
a professional swing and western swing
musician. “She has taught me a whole new
way of playing with many ‘new’ chords. I
am now heavily influenced by Lyle Lovett’s
Texas-style country music and his intelligent,
clever and sometimes heart-wrenching
lyrics,” James says, adding that while singing
comes naturally for him, guitar playing and
songwriting does not. “It takes practice,
practice, practice—much like training horses.”
Though music is a hobby, it consumes a large
part of James’ life and acts as a sort of therapy.
With a varied career in criminal justice
including a fifteen year position as a probation/
parole officer, sixteen years as a certified
forensic therapist in which he counseled sex
offenders and domestic violence offenders, and
his current position as a licensed polygraph
examiner where he conducts lie detector
tests on a variety of criminals from vandals
and thieves to sexual assault predators and
murderers, James has spent the better part of
his life dealing with difficult situations and
people. In addition to his day job, he is also
a criminal justice professor at the University
of Phoenix, and is currently working on his
doctoral dissertation in criminal justice where
he is on track to earn his Ph.D by the end of
this year.
“Having a number of stressful careers,
working with difficult people, I have found that
music, much like horsemanship, is my therapy.
Just one hour a day with my mind focused on
learning a new song, polishing an old song or
trying to write a song, ‘melts all my troubles
away and eases my weary mind.’ I think there
are a couple of songs that go like that,” he says
with a smile.
James says that much like riding horses, music is
therapeutic to him. On Emmy at Mt. Adams.
46 - The singing Horseman
Clinton on Tour
When Clinton and the Walkabout Tour
head up to the North West, James and
Victoria make a point to attend. James’
favorite part of the tour is watching
Clinton work with each of the demo horses
and witnessing the partnership he shares
with Mindy and Diez during advanced
demonstrations.
“After both tours, Victoria and I felt
inspired, motivated to work with our
horses more and confident that we could
handle some of our horse/rider problems,”
James shares.
The couple is continually impressed with
Clinton’s approachability, willingness
to answer questions, growth as a
presenter and the overall quality of the
live program. “When you see him get
results with a difficult horse he has never
handled before, it is quite impressive,”
James says. “When we were greeted by
Clinton’s ‘Good Day Mate’ and a friendly
handshake at the door, it blew us away. As
big as Clinton has gotten on TV, with the
excellence of his skill and marketing, he is
still not too big for his britches. He is a real
person who wants nothing more than to
see us succeed with our horses.”
A Passion in Progress
Today, James continuously works towards
polishing his songwriting skills and plays the
rhythm guitar and bass guitar. “I must say that
I love to put clever, rhyming words to music
with double meanings and innuendo,” James
says. “My goals are to get better at lead guitar,
learn to play mandolin and play a little piano.
I recently bought a box drum that I’ve been
fiddling around with as well.”
about his father and “Plagiarism” based on
an experience in which parts of his doctoral
dissertation proposal were plagiarized.
While he acknowledges that songwriting is
meant to be shared, it is a private and soulsearching experience. “In songwriting, you’re
putting a very personal part of yourself out
there on the line, knowing that some people
will like it and some will not, and then living
with the consequences. That’s the essence
of songwriting and life oftentimes,” James
says. When he had “Move Your Feet” as
performance-ready as he thought he could
get it for an amateur, he shared it with a few
close friends and then sent it on to Clinton and
posted it on YouTube.
Inspiration
In a short amount of time, the song received
close to two thousand YouTube views and
plenty of positive feedback from NWC
members. “Knowing that people are enjoying
the song feels great,” James says. “Some folks
have told me that they sing the song while
trying to get their horse to move its feet during
training exercises.”
While James hopes that he can someday get
the song professionally recorded, he’s enjoying
its success for the time being. “I believe that
it is the goal of every singer/songwriter to
have his or her work noticed and appreciated.
Even though I am a novice, this dream has
come true in a small way with ‘Move Your
Feet,’” James acknowledges. “It gives me great
satisfaction to provide others with something
entertaining, something useful and something
that will maybe stick with them awhile.”
For James, it’s the peace of mind music
provides that keeps him passionate about it. “As
Clinton would say, ‘Doing what it takes to get
the job done,’” he relates. There’s nothing more
satisfying than ‘nailing it’ when performing a
song. Music taps into one’s soul—it brings out
many emotions in me and my audience. I can
make people smile, but I can also make them
cry by singing that special song.”
Since writing, “Move Your Feet,” James has
written two other songs, “Poker Playing Fool”
Visit James’ YouTube channel www.youtube.com/user/jameskonopasek to
listen to “Move Your Feet” and his other original creations.
The love and
determination of a
young girl saves a
blind stallion
A
nyone who meets Britney Walker is
sure to hear the story of how Clinton
Anderson and the No Worries Club saved her
future with horses. The nineteen-year-old
teenager was sixteen when she started a
journey that changed her life and saved a horse.
A Passion is Born
When she was sixteen, Britney’s friend
invited her to volunteer at MGH, an Alabama
therapeutic riding facility, the largest of its kind
in the country that serves deaf, blind and multidisabled riders. At that point in her life, Britney
wasn’t a horse crazy girl, in fact, she was
slightly scared of horses. “Initially, I only agreed
to go because my friend said I could work with
kids, but I fell in love with the barn from day
one,” Britney shares. “I felt the unconditional
acceptance the horses gave, and it really helped
me a lot at that stage of my life, my personality
really blossomed. I love how you get back what
you put into horses. You give them love, time
and commitment, and they return it.”
For the next year, Britney volunteered at MGH
once a week, tacking and un-tacking horses,
helping in classes and carrying out various barn
chores. From time to time, she got to ride and
received lessons from the facility’s staff, and
it wasn’t long before Britney’s infatuation with
horses affected her whole family. With little
convincing, her parents agreed that she could
look into the possibility of getting a horse.
Abandoned and Forgotten
Blind Faith
48 - Blind Faith
Less than an hour away from MGH, a discarded
stallion stood in a small pasture. His owners
had left him in the middle of the night, and
in search of food and water, he had wandered
onto a busy road. Fearing for his safety, the
next door neighbors finally took him in, but
weren’t equipped to deal with a horse. They
put him in a small fence with goats, turkeys
and chickens where all the animals were given
free-choice grain from a trough. When their
budget got tight, and affording to feed the horse
became hard, the neighbors put a call into MGH,
thinking the facility was a horse rescue. When
MGH’s barn manager, Carol Hudson, got the call,
she thought she had the perfect solution for the
horse’s situation.
Sooner Than Expected
That afternoon, Carol told Britney about the
abandoned horse and took her to look at him.
When they arrived at the barn, Britney was
immediately struck by how pitiful the horse
looked standing in the pasture by himself. “It
was obvious he was gentle though, the people
that were taking care of him had their fouryear-old sitting on his back when we went to get
him,” she remembers.
Carol and Britney weren’t expecting the horse
to be blind or to be a stallion. “We could tell that
he had very limited vision, if any at all,” Britney
says. “He was also a stallion, which we knew
would mean that he would more than likely get
dumped and not be given a good home.”
The entire time they were visiting with the
family that saved him, the horse kept his
hindquarters turned towards Carol and Britney,
uninterested in them, but just as they started to
leave, he turned his head around to face Britney
and looked her in the eye. She fell in love. “I did
exactly what Clinton says not to do, I got him
on emotion,” Britney admits. “I was too afraid
to get my hopes up during that first visit, but he
needed me and I needed him. He was a blind
stallion, but had a great personality.”
A week later, the horse, who Britney decided to
call Bo, was at home with her, newly gelded. It
just so happened that her dad was on vacation
at the time and was able to fix up an old barn
and build a fence. “It all fell into place so
perfectly, I just knew that he was the horse
God picked out for me, and my parents trusted
Carol’s judgment,” Britney explains.
from me at all,” Britney says. “He was very
submissive and would love on me whenever
I came to the barn. He was never extremely
spooky, but if anything did scare him, he would
hide behind me.”
Inspiration
In hindsight, Britney realizes that she babied
Bo, letting him get away with little things and
making sure no one made loud noises to startle
him. “I just loved having a horse I could visit
every day to brush and take care of. He certainly
got lots of treats!” she says.
And in the first couple of months that she
had the gelding, he was perfect to ride. “He
was very obedient. Only the second time I’d
ever ridden him, we ended up trotting and
cantering bareback up and down hills behind
my house,” she says. “I had learned to ride on
therapy horses, and I kind of assumed that all
horses were like that. I had quite a lot to learn
obviously, but he did great at first and never
really gave me a reason to be nervous.”
Britney rode Bo almost every day with very
few problems. That started changing however
after the new year. “At first it was just small
things like kicking up when I tried to get on and
walking off as soon as my rear hit the saddle.
When I finally managed to get on, we would
walk a short distance from the barn and he
would spin around and trot back home,” Britney
says. “I really had no idea what to do. The
problem just escalated, and I had no knowledge
to help me. At first I blamed him, as I hadn’t
been doing anything differently, so I figured it
must be his fault. However, it became obvious
later that it was my lack of knowledge.”
Britney is
adamant that
Clinton and
the No Worries
Club saved her
future with
horses.
A Horse of her Own
The first two weeks Bo was at home,
Britney worked on settling him into his new
environment. She hand-grazed him and used
consistent verbal commands when working
with him. To help him find his way around the
pasture, she hung wind chimes above the water
trough to give him a reference point. While
Bo adjusted well to his new surroundings, he
wasn’t confident. “He wouldn’t get very far
Things went from bad to worse when Britney
tried to work with Bo on the ground. “To get
him to leave the barn, I would try to lead him
away but he would kick at me and rear up until
I got scared enough to drop the reins. Then he
would run back to the barn. Pretty soon, we
couldn’t leave the barn at all because as soon
as I got on and picked up the reins, he would
start making little tiny circles. I couldn’t steer, I
couldn’t stop and I couldn’t go. I was seriously at
the end of my rope.”
It became a regular occurrence for Britney to
leave the barn with tears streaming down her
face as she watched her willing partner vanish
before her eyes. “All my dreams were riding
on him, and I began to see those disappear. I
was coming so close to giving up completely.
People kept telling me that another horse would
be better, but I knew in my heart that Bo’s
problems were never any different than those
of other horses. I kept trying, but kept failing; it
was wrecking my confidence,” and causing her
parents to worry. They feared for her safety, and
could tell that their daughter was close to giving
up on horses completely. At the time, Britney was using another natural
horsemanship program to work with Bo, but
was seeing no difference. “I took everything Bo
did to me personally. I asked his permission for
everything, treating him like a king. That got
me nowhere, of course,” she says. Carol tried to
help, but couldn’t figure out why Bo was doing
some of the things that he was, and wasn’t
able to spend every night working with Britney.
Although her parents didn’t know a lot about
horses, they offered what advice they could,
and her dad even tried to work with Bo. While
Bo behaved somewhat better for her dad, the
effects didn’t carry over when Britney stepped
in to take control.
Britney’s mother realized that if things didn’t
change, her daughter was going to lose her love
of horses. “She could see that Bo was becoming
very dangerous for me to have. She was close
to making the decision for me that Bo would
have to go,” Britney explains. Luckily for Britney,
one night while channel surfing, her parents
came across Clinton’s TV show, and her mother
immediately knew that the Method was the
approach her daughter needed to take with Bo.
“My mom is a very strict disciplinarian with
her children and realized that Clinton was
incorporating the same techniques in horse
training. She noticed that he stressed that you
have to have control of the animal or it will be
dangerous,” Britney explains. She also noticed
that Clinton didn’t fool around. He carefully
taught the horse, but fully expected the horse to
do what he was teaching. She liked the fact that
when the horse failed to follow through, Clinton
made the consequences immediate. “Most of
all, she liked the fact that she saw progress,”
Britney adds. “She saw Clinton was able to do
in a few minutes what most people couldn’t
accomplish in days or weeks of training.”
That evening, her mother turned to her
husband and said, “That is exactly what Britney
needs.” She knew her daughter was at a tipping
Groundwork was key to earning Bo’s respect. “Bo
started looking to me for direction not because he
had to, but because he trusted me and saw me as a
competent leader,” Britney shares.
50 - Blind Faith
point and needed help. As best as she could tell,
that help was going to come in the form of an
Aussie horseman with a step-by-step training
program. Knowing that her daughter would
need all the support she could get, she signed
Britney up as a member of the No Worries Club.
Inspiration
Applying the Method
Britney wasted no time in starting the Method,
but Bo wanted no part of it. He would kick up
his heels when Britney would ask him to move
his feet, have a sour look on his face and even
started nipping at her. But she was determined,
and focused on groundwork, earning his respect
a day at a time. “At first, the progress seemed
rather slow,” Britney admits. “He flicked quite a
few cigarette butts my way! It appeared we were
regressing, but I stuck with it.”
Meet Bo
Dossier: A fifteen-year-old, Quarter
Horse gelding
What makes him unique? Bo is completely
blind. “He can’t even see shades of light
and dark,” Britney explains. She’s been
told from different veterinarians that the
gelding probably lost his sight to Moon
Blindness or Equine Recurrent Uveitis. But
Bo doesn’t seem to mind, he’s completely
comfortable in his blindness and makes
an honest and safe partner for Britney.
Personality: A sweet heart, with a bit of an
attitude. “He has a movie star personality,”
Britney says. “He knows he’s awesome and
wants to be admired. Some days when we
are working at liberty he forgets he’s not
a stallion anymore. He prances around
with his head in the air, tail off to the
side, snorting and rearing, but after a few
circles around me, he has to come in for
some loving!”
His favorites: He’s a sucker for treats and
loves to get his mane brushed.
What makes him a great partner? His
trust and willingness to take instruction.
But that’s not to say he doesn’t have an
opinion, Britney points out. “Sometimes
we do take the trail he wants or ride at the
pace he wants,” she says. “It’s a fifty-one/
forty-nine percent kind of deal. I just love
riding down the trail with him, hearing
the same sounds, smelling the same
scents, sharing that experience!”
It helped that she had a club full of others
devoted to Clinton and the Method to turn to
for advice. “At any given time I could post a
question and within just a little while, have
several answers. Everyone was so willing to
help and having access to all that collective
experience was so important,” Britney says.
The clarity of the Method made it easy for
Britney to turn Bo from a pushy, sometimes
fearful horse, into a respectful partner she
could trust. Rather than losing her temper,
feeling discouraged or taking Bo’s disrespect
personally, Britney learned to step up and be
an effective leader. “When a problem came
up, I would either review the troubleshooting
sections of the DVDs and book, or I would post it
on the forum. Whatever instruction was given, I
would follow it to the letter and got results.”
A New Horse
Within several weeks, Britney was seeing a
change in Bo’s behavior and personality. She
could rub her hands all over his head where
before he wouldn’t let her hands come close
to his ears. “I found myself repeating Clinton’s
sayings in my head when I would work with
Bo,” Britney says. “When Clinton would talk
about how it was for him when he first started
learning horsemanship, I realized that he
knew where I was coming from. His ‘idiotproof horsemanship’ was just what I needed.”
Little by little, Britney started to enjoy the time
she spent with Bo and was getting consistent
results. Being able to control Bo’s feet, she knew
she had his respect and attention anytime she
was with him.
She concentrated on groundwork for the
first seven months and then progressed to
riding him, working on One Rein Stops and
the Cruising Lesson. But she says that it’s the
groundwork that really made a difference in Bo.
“It lays the foundation for a good ride, ensuring
that it will be safe and enjoyable. There were
lots of times in the beginning that I had to
dismount and do groundwork, really making
those feet move. Now I can usually correct
those problems from the saddle because I have
that foundation laid. I feel so much safer as a
result of groundwork.”
And the people who were skeptical of Bo
and advised Britney to sell him were equally
impressed. “They saw that he was truly the
horse for me, and they encourage me now,”
Britney says. “I finally had the best friend I
wanted so badly. He looked to me for direction
not because he had to, but because he trusted
me and saw me as a competent leader. I didn’t
look for excuses to stay away from the barn – I
started enjoying my time with him again.”
When she first started working with him,
Britney set a goal to be able to take Bo on a trail
ride and four months later, he was confidently
carrying her down a trail. “I remember saying
no matter how far we go, I’m going to be happy
with our progress,” Britney says thinking back
on her thoughts before taking Bo away from
the arena for the first time. “If anything went
wrong, I knew I could handle Bo using the
Method. I knew I had prepared, and all I had to
do was go back to the ground if something went
wrong.” She was careful not to get her hopes
up, wondering if he would revert back to his old
ways – dashing back to the barn as soon as she
led him away. “But he was magnificent!” she
shares. “I was thrilled with our progress.”
An Ongoing Process
Now the two trail ride all over her family’s 700
acre property, walking, trotting and cantering
on a loose rein. As Bo gets better broke and his
confidence increases, and Britney’s feel, timing
and experience improve, she hopes to someday
be able to ride him bridleless, a goal she knows
she’ll be able to reach following the Method.
But for now, she continues to work Bo through
the Method and has started to incorporate
tricks into their routine to break up the
monotony of arena work. On a daily basis,
they practice groundwork exercises and
riding maneuvers that are making Bo softer
and suppler, but their best time spent in the
saddle is out on the trail. “I love taking off for
a couple of hours, just me and Bo, nothing
but the sounds of the trail,” Britney says, and
hopes to haul Bo to organized trail rides soon.
“I am now teaching my fiancé to ride, and he
is very confident on Bo. He can understand the
principles behind the Method, even though he’s
new to horses,” she adds. “He says he forgets
that Bo is blind when he is riding him because
he listens so well.” Her plan is to someday do
competitive trail with Bo, and she plans to
attend an North America Trail Ride Conference
clinic later this year.
When she thinks back three years ago to the
day she first saw Bo and the journey they’ve
been through together, Britney sometimes can’t
believe the obstacles they’ve overcome. “It
almost brings tears to my eyes to think about
how much he must trust me,” Britney says.
“It makes me stay on my toes because I know
I’m responsible for his safety and maintaining
that trust. He looks to me for everything now
and hardly ever questions me when I ask him
to do something. He used to bunch up and
get resistant about new things, but now he is
usually relaxed once he understands what I’m
asking him to do. It is a partnership like I have
never known.
“He is my best friend, I trust him completely,
and he trusts me as well. I’ve heard so many
people say, ‘I’d be scared to death to ride a blind
horse. I just smile and tell them, ‘You don’t
know what you’re missing.’ But to be perfectly
honest, I don’t mind having him all to myself,”
she says with a smile.
52 - Blind Faith
Inspiration
Even though Bo is completely blind, he leads a normal life and can do most anything a horse with full eyesight can.
Britney’s Tips for Working with a Blind Horse
N
ot only did Britney enter the realm
of new horse owner when she got Bo,
but also the uncertain world as caretaker of a
blind horse. While at first she had to constantly
remind herself to adjust her routine for Bo,
helping him is now automatic. Using clear voice
commands and establishing trust through the
Method were key to helping Bo settle into his
life at her family’s farm. When he misjudges
a distance, Britney uses voice commands to
steer him away from trouble. “I can just say,
‘easy’ or ‘turn’ and he knows he’s about to run
into something,” Britney explains. “Sometimes
he doesn’t listen and reaps the consequences
of that mistake. The next time he’s quicker
to take my direction.” Whenever something
new is added to his environment, Britney
makes sure to introduce it to Bo first. “I take
him to it, tap it and ask him to put his nose
on it. Then he’s good to go,” she explains. She
has noticed that he’s jumpier in the rain, an
affect she attributes to not being able to hear
or smell as good when the rain comes down.
The major difference Britney has experienced
with Bo compared to other horses with full
eyesight is that he can’t be put on auto-pilot,
especially on the trail. Bo needs constant direction and relies on Britney to be his eyes. “Other
people have said to me that they would be nervous riding him because he can’t judge what he
can and can’t do and the rider is responsible for
every decision made. I have learned though that
he is quite a trooper and can do just about anything horses with full eyesight can. I do have to
micro-manage at times, but he is such a dream
to ride, I don’t mind at all!” she says.
The most important thing to keep in mind
when working with a blind horse is not to treat
them any differently than a regular horse.
“Don’t baby them!” Britney warns. “They have
the same problems other horses have. It is so
important that they trust you, so you have to
make sure you have their respect from the very
first day.” It might take a little extra work to
build a partnership with a blind horse, but the
results are rewarding.
“As far as I’m concerned there’s nothing Bo and
I can’t do with the tools we have now,” Britney
says. “I tell everyone that Clinton Anderson,
his Method and the No Worries Club saved my
future with horses!”
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Last Dance
A
t the Vegas Tourcation, Clinton retired
his beloved Australian Quarter Horse
mare, Mindy. On Saturday morning, the two
opened the tour with their signature liberty
act, “dancing” around the arena to music,
seamlessly communicating to each other with
invisible cues. That afternoon, under dimmed
lights, in front of thousands of spectators,
Clinton loosened Mindy’s girth, laid her
saddle on the ground and walked her out of
the arena for the last time. Below, Clinton
shares his thoughts on his seventeen year
partnership with a once-in-a-lifetime horse.
56 - Last dance
Something Special
I first learned of Mindy when I was flipping
through the pages of the Australian Quarter
Horse Magazine. She was born and bred on the
prominent Quirran-Lee Stud farm owned by
Cathy Marsh in Australia, and was just twomonths-old at the time. I was instantly drawn
to her looks, her style and her breeding. Mindy
is out of Spinifex Doll by Pillamindi Roc, both
outstanding performance horses in Australia.
While I was working for Ian Francis, he had
Pillamindi Roc in for training, and I got to spend
a lot of time around him. A dam and sire’s
Clinton’s dad, Robert Anderson, with Mindy (at four
months old) the day she arrived. She’s been a part of
Clinton’s life ever since.
personality and ability play a major role in the
outcome of a foal. I’m a firm believer in liking
a dam or sire before taking a risk on a foal.
If I don’t want to ride the mare or stallion,
I’m not interested in the foal. Pillamindi Roc
was a futurity winner, and I really liked his
personality. He was easy to get along with and
extremely athletic, and I thought Mindy would
be a good reining prospect for me.
At the time, I was a starving horse trainer
barely able to get by, and Mindy’s $3,000 price
tag seemed like a million dollars to me, but
I decided to take a gamble. My gut told me
there was something special about her, so
with my parents’ help, I scraped up the money
to buy her. It was one of the best decisions I’ve
ever made.
Riding with the Best in
the Country
Inspiration
don’t have heart. They have all the talent in the
world, but when the going gets tough and you’re
really counting on them, they give up. Then
there are other horses that have a lot of heart,
but no talent. They try their hardest and are
always willing to do whatever it takes, but they
don’t have enough natural talent and ability to
compete at the top. Mindy has both. She has
the talent, heart and ability to never give up.
She’s always been very trainable; whatever I’ve
asked her to do, right from the beginning she’s
always tried her
best to do it. If I
could duplicate
her mind and
Mindy doesn’t ever
ability, I’d love to
want to disappoint me
do it a hundred
times over.
“
and does her best to
When I
do everything
had Mindy
in training,
my ultimate
goal was to take her to the National Reining
Horse Association Futurity in Australia and
compete against the top names in the reining
world. I knew Mindy had the breeding to
be a phenomenal reining horse, but in the
performance horse industry, it takes more than
great bloodlines to compete at the top level.
right.
”
Mindy joined me at my training facility in
Australia when she was just four months of
age. I began training her with the Method
and immediately recognized not only her
outstanding ability, but her trainability. She
was very athletic, but more importantly, she
was trainable, meaning that she tried and
wanted to be good. That’s something that has
never left her; Mindy doesn’t ever want to
disappoint me and does her very best to do
everything right.
She also had a special characteristic that sets
great horses apart from average horses. She
had heart—the desire to never stop trying. A
lot of horses are extremely talented, but they
Scraping together $3,000 to buy Mindy when she
was just four months of age was a huge risk for
Clinton, but one that he calls the best decision he’s
ever made. When he first got Mindy, Clinton was a
skinny, broke horse trainer.
At the 1997 NRHA Futurity, Clinton and Mindy
came out of nowhere to place third—a half a point
behind first place.
kid? Who is that horse?” While it was the
last time I showed her competitively, Mindy
helped separate me from the other trainers. It
wasn’t long after that, that I decided to pursue
a reining career in the States, and two months
later, I was living in Texas working for a trainer
in Whitesboro.
When I arrived at the futurity in 1997, I was
a twenty-two-year-old kid nobody had ever
heard of before. No one knew who I was, and
I was pretty much written off as the kid from
the bush. It wasn’t until Mindy and I finished
our first-go that people started to take notice.
That mare put in one of her best performances,
spinning fast, stopping hard and really listening
to me. We finished that round in first place,
and were on top of the world. The next day
we came back and again, Mindy put in a
great performance, earning third place—just
a half a point behind second and first place.
Incidentally, we finished behind Ian Francis, a
trainer I consider to be the greatest horseman
in the world. It was one of the most satisfying
moments in my life and
without a doubt, my proudest
accomplishment with Mindy.
In one competition, she
took me from an unknown
guy in Australia that nobody
had heard of to putting me
on the national scene where
everybody was wondering
where I came from. I could
hear them whispering around
the show grounds and in
the barn alleys, “Who is that
Mindy’s favorite treat is bread. Now
that she’s retired, she’ll be getting
even more of it, and lots of loving.
58 - Last dance
Initially, when I came to the States, I didn’t
have enough money to fly Mindy over with me,
so I kept her at my parents’ house. She was
turned out in a huge pasture and just lived life
as a horse—grazing, playing and sleeping all
day long. My mom developed quite an affection
for her, and made sure Mindy received her
favorite treat—a slice of bread—on a consistent
basis. It took me two years to save up enough
money to fly her over, and that’s the only time
she’s been out of my care in our seventeen year
partnership.
Truly Amazing
My favorite memory of Mindy is when I finally
got to see her after those two years. I got her out
of quarantine and shipped her straight to where
I was living in Texas at the time. I arrived home
from teaching a clinic late in the evening, and
immediately went out to the barn to see her. As
soon as she saw me, she nickered and ran up
towards the gate. I rubbed and loved on her and
gave her a few treats.
Inspiration
Mindy and Jazzy, 2005
Mindy’s Progeny
Over the years, Clinton has bred Mindy
five times, and currently owns two of
her foals.
Down Under Aussie Gal (Kahlua), by
Clover Pinaroo. Owned by Gae Vonhoff.
Jillaroo Doll (Jillaroo), by Clover Pinaroo
foaled in 2001. Owned by Clinton.
High on Cat Nip (Jazzy), by High Brow
Cat foaled in 2005. Owned by Clinton.
Lie Chic N Steal (Maui), by Smart
Chic Olena foaled in 2007. Owned By
Suzanne Glancy.
SalsaNChics (Sydney), by Smart Chic
Olena foaled in 2007. Owned by the
McGee family.
Like her mom, Jillaroo shows off one her tricks at
a special presentation at the Vegas Tour.
Then I grabbed a halter and lead rope and
practiced some groundwork with her. She acted
like a million dollars, reading my body language
and responding off just a suggestion to move
her feet. Then I saddled her
up, and I swear that horse
rode ninety-eight percent
as good as when I left her in
Australia two years before.
I was absolutely amazed,
but also pleased in the fact
that the Method had stuck
with her so well. She had
absorbed her training so
well that after two years
in pasture, she could ride
almost as good as when
she was in training. Now
sure, she was a little overweight and couldn’t
physically be as active as before, but as far as
trainability, she remembered everything. She
still had the same desire and heart, and knew
what her job was.
As a yearling,
Mindy loved
playing in the
watering tub.
A Gifted Horse
Throughout my career as a clinician, Mindy
has basically been the role model for the
Method—the ultimate display of what can
be achieved if you follow my step-by-step
instruction. She was the horse I could point
to and say, “If you train your horse using
the Method, what I can do with this horse is
something you should aspire to be able to do
with your horse.” She was the end result; what
everyone wanted their horse to be. While every
horse isn’t capable of being as athletic as her,
they can all meet the basic requirements—
respect, softness, suppleness, collection and
being a safe, quiet mount.
When I first started taking her out on the road
with me to clinics and expos, I immediately
noticed that people were drawn to her. People
would often walk up to me and ask, “Is Mindy
here?” She became way more famous than
myself and even is to this day. People can
identify more with her than they can with me.
With really great horses, there’s just something
special about them. They have a characteristic
that sets them apart. What it is, I’m not certain.
There’s just something special about her eye,
the way that she moves.
An Emotional Decision
The decision to retire Mindy was an easy
one, but was certainly emotional for me. At
seventeen, she’s been having some arthritis
problems with her knees, and after an operation
to help with it, it was time to give her the break
she deserves. It’s no different than people. As
you get older, you need special care because
your body isn’t as strong as it used to be.
Traveling across two countries like Mindy has
for the past eleven years, puts a lot of wear
and tear on a horse’s body, not to mention,
Tough Shoes to Fill
The million dollar question around
Downunder Horsemanship these days
is who’s going to replace Mindy. While
there are several candidates, it goes
without saying that whoever replaces
Mindy will have a tough order to fill.
While Clinton has several horses in
mind and is busy testing them, he’s
not releasing any names until he has
found that “special” horse. “It’s a tough
task finding a new horse to take on
the road because every horse that I’m
trying, I keep comparing to her, and
in reality, there’s no comparison to
Mindy,” Clinton says. “It’s not going to
be an easy task, and it’ll certainly take
a lot of training to get the horse as
good as her.”
having to perform in different types of arena
surfaces and adapting to new environments.
She’s done more traveling at seventeen than
twenty horses do in their lifetimes. She just
can’t do as much physical work, and when I
took the situation into thought, I know that
she owes me nothing and deserves to stay
at home and be pampered and spoiled. Right
now, she’s turned out in a big pasture with
Diez and gets to graze and sleep all day long.
The only demand on her time is to come up to
the fence for a slice of bread and some loving.
I still plan to use her at the ranch for different
DVD series such as the upcoming trick series.
While she’ll still be used from time to time,
she won’t be on the road anymore.
A Well-Deserved Farewell
Once I made the decision to retire Mindy, I
wanted her to go out with a bang and when
she was at her peek. To me, Vegas was the
right place to do that. The people who came
to Vegas were some of my more serious
fans—they traveled all over the country, and
some even the world, to come to the tour.
I wanted to reward them with something
special, and to help me honor a truly great
horse. Mindy has not only done a lot for me
personally, but I believe other people as well,
and I wanted to give others the chance to
help me recognize her.
60 - Last dance
Inspiration
On the Friday before the Vegas Tour, during
rehearsal, I definitely think Mindy realized that
something special was going to happen that
weekend. When we burst through the tunnel
into the arena Saturday morning through
the smoke and with the lights shining on us,
she was feeling the excitement in the air. She
always performs better when she feels more
energy from the crowd and she was definitely
feeding off the Vegas vibe. There’s no doubt she
stepped her performance up another notch.
That afternoon, I officially retired Mindy in
front of the crowd. As I pulled the saddle off her
back and laid it in the arena, I got a little choked
up. Mindy has been a great partner for the last
seventeen years. She’s never said to me, “I’ve
had enough, I’m done.” A lot of horses will go
along with things for a while, but eventually
they’ll stop and say, “That’s it. I’m done.” They
get a little grouchy and tired and give up. Mindy
has never once said, “No” to me. Not once.
There were times that she was exhausted with
sweat rolling off her, but
she kept putting forth
her best effort. Even
I count myself
at the Vegas Tour, her
knees were giving her
lucky to have had
a little trouble, and she
was sore, but she never
her in my life.
gave up. Right until the
end, she gave a hundred
and ten percent. That’s
what separates the truly great horses from the
average horses, and when I walked her out of
the arena for the last time, I knew I was leading
a truly great horse. I count myself lucky to have
had her in my life.
“
”
The Chance of a Lifetime
W
hen club member, Chris Eley, left
her home in upstate New York to
venture to the Vegas Tourcation, she had no
idea she was about to get the ride of her life.
During the Advanced Riding Demonstration,
Clinton pointed up into the crowd and
beckoned to Chris. “He said, ‘I want that
lady right there with the camera,’” Chris
remembers. “The lady behind me started to
get up, but he said, ‘No, I want that lady right
there.’ My sister said, ‘It’s you! It’s you!’”
So Chris stood up and laughed out loud
when Clinton said that he wanted her to be
his “cow.” “I’m thinking, ‘Be a cow?’” Chris
says. Sure enough, Clinton asked Chris to
run back and forth in front of him so that
Mindy could “cut” her. “They mooed for me
when I was coming through the gate to get
into the arena,” Chris says with a laugh,
“and then we just went from there. It was
a fun experience.”
After showing off Mindy’s lightening
fast moves, Clinton proclaimed that Chris
was the best cow he’s ever had. “Which
is quite an honor,” Chris adds. “He gave
me a big hug and then announced that he
was retiring Mindy that night. And then
he said, ‘You’re going to be the last person
that ever rides her in public.”
While Clinton was helping Chris up into
the saddle, she was overwhelmed with
what she was about to experience. “You
get your foot in the stirrup and you just
don’t believe what’s going on around
you,” she says. “You can hear the crowd
laughing and you’re enjoying it too. It’s
just a thrill to be sitting on an animal
like that.”
She says that Mindy made her look good
in front of the crowd as they practiced
“cutting” with Clinton. “All I had to do
was touch her,” she says. “That first time
I touched her and she went, I almost fell
off!” But then Chris figured out how to
position herself in the saddle to stay with
Mindy. “She felt I was off balance and was
kind of sitting back and waiting for me.
She’s so smart,” Chris says. “I can’t thank
Clinton enough for the experience. It’s
just a thrill for someone like me who has
worked in barns her whole life to be
able to sit on a horse like that. It’s
just unbelievable.”
Club member, Chris Eley, is still pinching
herself since riding Mindy and swore that she
was never going to wash her jeans.
62 - Last dance
Inspiration
“There will never be
another mindy.”
–Clinton Anderson
64 - Signature Horse
Inspiration
Signature Horse Profile:
It’s what’s between the
ears that really matters
G
ary Conrad is a man of high standards
and expectations, a quality that has
served him well as the president of a successful Texas-based oil and gas company.
When he met Clinton over ten years ago
at one of his first U.S. clinics, Gary was
immediately impressed with the young
Aussie’s self-confidence and people skills.
“As a person who is responsible for bringing
the right people into the company, I’m very
attuned to people and how they communicate
and relate to others. Finding honest people
with great communication skills is quite
challenging,” Gary says. “At the clinic, I was
of course interested in what Clinton had to
say about horsemanship, but I was more
impressed with the way he handled himself
and how he presented his information.”
He watched Clinton answer clinic participant
questions and interact with his staff and liked
his straightforward approach. “When he talked
to people, he looked them straight in the eye
and wasn’t ever once condescending,” he says.
“He was a very down-to-earth person.”
He was equally impressed with Clinton’s
ability to communicate his Method of
horsemanship. “There aren’t very many young
people or even experienced professionals who
possess the communication skills Clinton
does,” Gary points out. “He makes his method
of horsemanship easy to understand for
anyone, and holy Moses can he talk! I don’t
care if a horse is running over him or whatever
is happening, he keeps going and never misses
a beat.”
Besides leaving the clinic with more
knowledge and new tools to advance his
horsemanship, Gary was certain he had
found not only the method, but the man he
wanted to learn horsemanship from. “I don’t
continue to follow Clinton and use his training
techniques because I only believe in his
philosophy,” Gary shares. “I’m a firm believer
in both the man and his method.”
Riding in God’s Country
In Gary’s estimation, there’s no better place
for riding horseback than across the LBJ
Grasslands near Decatur, Texas. “I love to
share the beauty
of the Grasslands
with others and
the best way
I know the method
to do that is on
horseback,” he
works because I’ve
reasons. For
applied it and seen the
the past fifteen
years, Pepper,
results myself.
a Fox Trotter
and Rocky,
an Arabian,
have been his
faithful mounts. Though both are worth their
weight in gold on the trail, Gary says that
their personalities couldn’t be more different.
Pepper is an easygoing, calm horse while
Rocky is a typical Arabian—hot-blooded,
reactive and smart.
“
”
After meeting Clinton, Gary applied the
Method to his horses and was amazed at
Rocky’s transformation. “What’s so rewarding
with Rocky is that after I stumbled around
and finally got the Method down, he caught
on extremely fast,” Gary says. “Once he
figured out what I wanted, I only had to use
the lightest amount of pressure. He’s made a
tremendous improvement.”
Gary credits Clinton and the Method for
helping him communicate to Rocky and
unlocking the key to their relationship. “I
know the Method works because I’ve applied it
and seen the results myself,” he attests.
Something in the Middle
While Gary had two great horses, there came
a point when he realized he needed a third
mount. Unfortunately, Rocky developed a severe
case of laminitis which ended his riding career.
While Gary still does groundwork with the
Arabian, he chooses not to risk Rocky’s welfare
and take him out on rigorous trail rides.
“When he was in such pain everybody
suggested that I put him down,” Gary relates.
“But I knew he
had an ironwill and that
Getting a signature
Pepper would
be devastated.”
horse just made sense.
Rocky did
recover and Gary
believes Pepper
helped him overcome the odds. “They’ve been
great horses for me and deserve nothing but the
best and a life of ease,” he insists.
“
”
Pepper is now twenty-one, and although he
still gets around well, Gary likes to keep at
least two riding horses. “While I love riding by
myself, I know that it’s not the smartest thing
to do. I could fall over with a heart attack or any
other endless possibility,” Gary reasons. When
both Rocky and Pepper were rideable, Gary was
usually able to find someone to take Pepper out
with him while he rode Rocky. “Then I found
myself with only one horse and when I’d try to
coordinate my riding time with others, it would
often fall through. I found that I was riding by
myself on a regular basis, which is not only
unsafe, but also not as much fun as enjoying the
trail with someone else.”
finding his perfect horse could very well turn
into a time-consuming career. And time was
one thing he doesn’t have to spare.
“This wasn’t my first rodeo,” Gary says talking
about horse shopping. “I knew what I was
looking for.” When he did go see horses in
person, he either got a bad feeling about the
horse or the seller. “When I get a bad feeling
from a person, I am darn sure not going to
buy what they are selling. That is my absolute
cardinal rule,” Gary explains. “With ninetyeight percent of sellers, within five seconds to
thirty minutes into the conversation, I sensed
something was off.”
Like all horsemen, Gary has heard the horror
stories of horse sales gone wrong. “I think the
vast majority of people buy a horse based on
looks,” he says. “They could care less who is
selling it.” That he says will get you into trouble
fast. “Sure we all want a horse that looks like
Trigger, but I now know better than that.”
He remembers back to when he was showing
Tennessee Walkers and a guy pulled his trailer
into his trainer’s barn. “He unloaded the most
beautiful horse I’ve ever seen,” Gary says.
“Now I’ve been to a lot of shows and have seen
some good looking horses, but this thing was a
sixteen-hand palomino and just breathtaking.”
The guy went on to explain that the horse
wouldn’t stand still when he tried to mount,
and wondered if the trainer would be able to
help him.
Once the decision was made to get a new
horse, Gary wasted no time in deciding what
he was looking for. “I wanted a horse that was
a mix between the two I had,” he explains.
“Pepper is Mr. Calm. I can put anybody on him
and he’ll take care of them. Rocky on the other
hand is high strung and his least favorite gait is
the walk. I was looking for something right in
the middle.”
“My trainer said he thought he could
and proceeded to saddle the horse,” Gary
remembers. “He raised his foot to put it in
the stirrup and the horse moved back, so he
stopped and the horse came to a standstill.
Then he raised his foot again and the horse
stood still so he swung up into the saddle. Just
as he sat down, the horse went straight up in
the air and fell over backwards right on my
trainer.” Knocked unconscious, the trainer
narrowly escaped the saddle horn stabbing him
in the stomach.
Knowing what he wanted, Gary went horse
shopping. “Every horse on the internet is
fabulous,” he says, pointing out that each of the
horses he was interested in was described as
the world’s best horse. After making upwards of
twenty-five phone calls and visiting eight horses
in person, Gary came to the realization that
Meanwhile, Gary was left staring at the
aftermath of what the beautiful palomino horse
had done. “That image is burned into my head
forever. Here was this horse I was willing to
give anything for based on his looks alone and
he nearly kills my friend. I realized then what
a disaster it is to get a horse solely because of
looks and color alone,” he affirms. “I certainly
didn’t get Pepper or Rocky based on their looks.
When you’re riding up in the mountains and
come across a challenging river crossing or any
other obstacle, looks don’t mean one little thing.
You have to trust the horse’s training.”
It’s All About Trust
Knowing that he didn’t have the time to find
the horse he was looking for, Gary turned to the
horseman he trusted most. “When I decided to
use the Method to train my horses, I didn’t just
turn to Clinton for horsemanship. I was looking
for an instructor I respected, and for me, that’s
Clinton,” Gary explains. “He exudes honesty
and looks you in the eye when he talks to you.
Getting a Signature Horse just made sense.”
When Clinton asked Gary what he was looking
for in a horse, Gary made it clear that color
was not important. Instead, he told Clinton he
was looking for a horse with a level head and
medium motor. “Rocky is like a Ferrari with his
high energy,” Gary explains, “while Pepper is
more laid back. I wanted a horse that was calm
and brave, but not a deadhead.”
Inspiration
It took several months, but when Clinton called
Gary back, he said he had a horse he thought fit
the bill. “He warned me, ‘You’ll either love this
horse or hate him,’” Gary remembers. Clinton
explained that Signature Horse, Brady, was a
great horse, but he was a roan. “He said people
either love the looks of roans or hate them,”
Gary says. “I’d never really seen one before so I
didn’t have an opinion.”
When Clinton sent him a photo of Brady, Gary
soon developed one. “I looked at this horse and
I thought, ‘Wait a minute,’” Gary relates. “He
had good conformation, but he wasn’t nearly as
pretty as the two horses I have.”
Suspecting that Gary wasn’t excited about
Brady, Clinton sent him photos of another
Signature Horse that Gary liked the looks of
better. “Then I stopped myself and said, ‘Now
Gary, you told him that color didn’t matter,’”
Gary couldn’t be happier with his Signature Horse, Brady. “Clinton delivered exactly what he said he would,” Gary says. “Brady’s a
great horse and knows the entire Method.”
Though he wasn’t initially crazy about Brady’s
color, Gary says the talented gelding’s red roan
coat has grown on him.
Gary remembers chiding himself. So he asked
Clinton which horse he thought was better
suited for him. When Clinton said the other
horse tended to be lazier on the trail, Gary
knew he would be going to the Downunder
Horsemanship Ranch to look at the red roan.
“If Clinton thought Brady was best for me, I
was going to trust him,” Gary says, adding that
trusting Clinton turned out to be one of the best
decisions he’s ever made.
When he arrived at the ranch to meet Brady
and work with him, Gary admits the gelding
was better looking in person, but he still didn’t
love his looks. “But the more I rode him, the
more I thought that roan color was great,” he
says laughing. “He’s just a great horse and
knows Clinton’s entire Method. He has so
much more knowledge than me that it is
almost pathetic.”
In the first couple of weeks that he had Brady
home, Gary put a hundred miles on him. “He
was perfect and didn’t spook at a thing,” he
recalls. “I took him out on long rides by myself
that’s how confident I was on him.”
During the first month of owning Brady, Gary
took him out riding through the Grasslands
after a heavy rain. A creek that cuts through
the trail Gary rides on is notorious for filling
up with water after a heavy rain and being
nearly impassible. “Brady stopped at the edge
and looked to the left and then to the right,
and I just let him check it out,” Gary says. After
several seconds, Brady started to back away
from the edge of the creek, but Gary stopped
him and then gently pressed his sides and the
gelding walked forward right into the creek.
“The water was up to his belly, but he walked
straight through,” Gary says. “When we got to
the other side, the color of that horse changed.
Now he’s the most beautiful creature in the
world. He’s my Trigger.”
Exceeding Expectations
Nearly six months after purchasing Brady,
Gary couldn’t be happier with the dependable
gelding and their partnership. In fact, the only
complaint he can find with his new horse is not
having enough time to work with him. With a
recently increased workload, Gary’s time at the
barn is limited. “When you get a very highly
trained horse you want to keep him at that
level,” Gary acknowledges. “It’s been tough for
me to not be able to work with him as much
as I would like and enjoy all the hard work
Clinton and his apprentice, Magen, have put
into him.”
Looking back at his experience dealing
with Clinton and selecting Brady, Gary
appreciates more than ever Clinton’s honest,
straightforward personality. “I’m so glad
that I trusted Clinton to find me the horse
I was looking for,” Gary shares. “He told me
that I might not like the color of Brady, but
he knew that he would be a great horse for
me and that’s certainly been true.” Today,
Gary couldn’t be happier that he decided that
Brady’s knowledge and intense training at the
Downunder Horsemanship Ranch was more
important than his red roan coat.
“It’s what’s between the ears that really
matters, and Clinton delivered exactly what he
said he would,” Gary expresses. “I know I hold
very high expectations of myself and people
I meet, and expect the right thing to be done.
My entire experience with Clinton and buying
a Signature Horse, from the first call to the
office to the advice I still receive from Magen
at home, has been off the chart amazing. The
staff at Downunder Horsemanship has far
exceeded the bar I had set for them.”
Find the partner you’ve always wanted in a Clinton Anderson
Signature Horse. Choose your horse by spending a full day of on-ranch
compatibility testing and personal training. By-pass the selection
guess work, skip the purchase stress and start enjoying the ride.
Don’t wait any longer.
less than 20
Signature Horses
are available each Year.
as the owner of a
signature horse you’ll receive:
• A horse that knows over 60 Clinton Anderson exercises
• Clinton’s personal money-back guarantee
• A lifetime of support from the Clinton Anderson team
Call 888-287-7432 or visit DownunderHorsemanship.com to get started.
DUH Team Spotlight:
Terry Arrington
Avid Outdoorsman and Downunder Horsemanship’s
Chief Bean Counter
W
hen it comes to his hometown—
Roswell, New Mexico, Terry has heard
all the jokes. “The land of the aliens,” he quips
referring to the 1947 landing of an alleged
UFO. “I tell everyone I’m from Ruidoso—it’s
a little more glamorous.” Aliens or not, Terry
had a good childhood and realized in high
school, after taking several accounting courses,
that he had a knack for running numbers.
After high school graduation, he headed to
the South Plains of West Texas to attend Texas
Tech University where he earned a Bachelor of
Business Administration with an accounting
degree. It was at the university where he
started dating Susan, his wife of twenty-eight
years. After graduating, the couple settled
in Abilene, Texas where Terry took a job at a
large public accounting firm. He stayed with
the company for twenty-six years, specializing
in tax, accounting and consulting issues
for small businesses in various industries
including: farming and ranch, construction,
and oil and gas production. For thirteen of
those years, he was a partner at the firm, while
Susan established her own career. Today,
she telecommutes as a senior manager in
business solutions for Junior Achievement, Inc.
headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
The couple has two grown children—Tanner,
twenty-three, and Taryn, twenty. Tanner
graduated this year from the University of
Texas with a geography degree in fluvial
morphology. “I think they just gave it a fancy
name and made it sound impressive to make us
feel good about the amount of tuition we paid,”
Terry jokes. Tanner got married in July and
relocated to South Carolina this summer where
his wife is a student at Clemson University. He’s
taking a year off from school before heading
back for graduate studies.
Taryn is a junior at Texas State University,
majoring in Art Education, and like her older
brother, she too is getting married in 2010. The
wedding is slated for November, and Terry says
he and his wife couldn’t be happier with both of
their children’s spouses.
Part of being a good parent is watching your
children grow into young adults and witnessing
them making the right decisions Terry says.
While it wasn’t always easy, he and his wife
made a commitment to let their children make
their own decisions concerning their future.
“Our daughter was an outstanding soccer player
and had lots of opportunities to play at the
collegiate level, but passed,” Terry relates. “It
was hard as a parent not to ‘make’ her play, but
it had to be her decision and it has definitely
worked out for the best.”
One of Terry’s favorite places to camp and fish is
on an Indian reservation in Arizona. Here he is on
Pacheta Lake near the White Mountains.
70 - Team Spotlight
Outdoor Adventures
A close family, the Arrington’s enjoy the
outdoors every chance they can. “Camping
and fly-fishing are at the top of my list,” Terry
says. “I like the solitude of being away from
the hustle and bustle of everyday life.” When they head outdoors, the family
prefers to rough it. “So a lot of our trips are
backpacking into wilderness areas or dragging
our pop-up tent deep into national forests,”
Terry explains. His favorite camping and
fishing hideout is on an Indian reservation
tucked in the White Mountains of Arizona.
“Most people don’t think of Arizona when it
comes to fly-fishing for trout or camping at
10,000 feet, but there is some beautiful land
out there,” he says.
One of his most memorable explorations
was a pack trip that took him into the
Gila Wilderness in southwest New Mexico.
The outfitter mounted Terry on a massive
draft horse that carried Terry deep into the
wilderness, picking his way through the trail
that ran alongside creeks and winded between
narrow canyons. “I’m sure Clinton would have
loved to have seen that!” Terry says laughing.
Inspiration
Along with roughing it in the outdoors, Terry
enjoys Dutch oven cooking (preparing meals in
a heavy cast iron pot over an open hearth). Last
Thanksgiving, the family went on a camping
trip and besides having the turkey already
prepared, Terry made the rest of the traditional
“fixings” at the campsite including dressing
and sweet potatoes. Three years ago, he spent
four days at a cooking school for camp cooks
in Montana where he learned the basics of
prepping food in the great outdoors. “I really
don’t have any specialties, but my cobblers are
always popular,” Terry admits.
An avid outdoorsman, Terry loves camping and fly-fishing—here he is on the Guadalupe River.
Terry on a day hike at Cleburne State Park.
level were very contagious when I interviewed,”
Terry says. “I was excited about working for
someone who is the best in his field and looked
forward to being able to help him and his
business grow to the next level.”
Green Grass and High Tides
For the past ten years, Terry has been an avid
runner, covering twenty or more miles a week
and participating in a half marathon and several
10 and 5 K’s throughout the year. Initially, he
took the activity up to shed a few pounds, but
found it was a great way to spend time with
his wife and meet new friends. “When the kids
were younger and we were going in a hundred
different directions, we found running offered
us some good quality time together,” he shares.
Even though their children are out of the
house, the couple still enjoys running and
competing in marathons as well as the health
benefits that accompany it. “We’ve made some
good friends through running clubs, and it
allows me to have the occasional cheeseburger
and cold beer without worrying too much,”
Terry says.
Though training for a half marathon can
be grueling, Terry likes the challenge of
persevering and pushing his body to the limit.
He concedes that his wife is the true runner of
the family and even notes that his son was a
sub 5 minute miler in high school. (“Makes me
sick, he certainly didn’t get those genes from
me!” Terry remarks.) Music plays a big role in
his workouts, and he says it helps to have the
Outlaws’ “Green Grass and High Tides” jamming
through his iPod to push through when he
enters that last mile on his runs.
Before taking the job, Terry’s horse experience
consisted of working at the race track in
Ruidoso as a teenager in the summers. “But
really, parking valet cars at the turf club didn’t
get me close to the horses,” he concedes. But
it did give him the chance to meet a lot of
interesting horse people. “One of the people I
met at the track eventually became a client of
mine, and I remember what he told me about
the racing industry—“If you want to make a
million dollars in the racing industry, you have
to start with two million dollars!”
While Terry doesn’t ride, he appreciates what
Clinton and his Method of training horses can
help others accomplish. He joined the company
during its transition from Ohio to Texas and
spent six weeks in Bellefontaine helping the
office move to the new Stephenville facility. He
stayed at the ranch during those six weeks and
was able to get a firsthand look at what Clinton
and the Method were all about. “Every night I
would watch Clinton and the apprentices work
with the horses,” Terry says. “I was amazed at
what they were doing and found it extremely
interesting.” Even with his limited background
in horses, he realized that the success of the
Method laid in Clinton’s approach. “It’s common
sense,” Terry states. “It’s as simple as that.”
The Arrington’s themselves don’t own any
horses, just a Brittany Spaniel who traded in her
quail hunting days for a life of squirrel watching
Working for Clinton
After spending twenty-six years in public
accounting, Terry was ready for a change and
decided to take the Chief Financial Officer
position at Downunder Horsemanship.
“Clinton’s positive outlook and high energy
72 - Team Spotlight
Terry covers twenty or more miles a week and enjoys
the challenges of running long distances.
and toad chasing, but Susan grew up riding
as a child. “And since I’ve taken this job, she’s
constantly dropping hints!” Terry says about his
wife’s affection for horses.
While being in charge of the accounting
department at Downunder Horsemanship and
the company’s finances is a job Terry enjoys,
it does come with some heartburn. “Clinton
is a great clinician, that goes without saying,
but he is also a great businessman who takes
a lot of risks,” Terry points out, but says those
risks usually payoff. In a typical day, Terry
analyzes various aspects of the company and
helps to manage cash flow. Finding ways to
keep Downunder Horsemanship at the top of
the industry and ahead of the competition is
his biggest challenge, but one that he relishes.
“Being able to focus on one company and its
needs is so much better than when I was in
public accounting and had two hundred clients
that were always needing something,” he says.
Inspiration
Working for an Aussie horseman keeps things
interesting as well. “Clinton has an unbelievable
memory. He can throw out a number from some
conversation we had six months ago and be
exact down to the penny,” Terry shares. “He
could train elephants well!”
A Closer Look
Favorite Food: A juicy ribeye steak and a
cold beer.
Favorite Movie: “Oh Brother Where Art
Thou?”
Nearly three years after taking the CFO
position, Terry is happy that he made the
move from public accounting to work for
Downunder Horsemanship. “Clinton and I are
total management style opposites, which makes
for some great conflict and teamwork which are
vital components of a successful business,” he
shares. “It’s exciting coming into work every day
knowing that we have a great group of people
who are well-equipped to handle not only
the day-to-day running of the company, but
whatever might come our way.”
Preferred Music: All over the board from
the Black Eyed Peas to Chris Botti to
Classic Rock. I saw ZZ Top for the fifth
time in September.
If you could do anything and be
anywhere in the world, what would you
be doing? I would be a camp cook at a
fly-in lodge in the Northwest Territories
during the summer.
What’s one thing about you few people
know? I refuse to answer this question
because I know Clinton will read it, put
it in his memory vault and then use it
against me when I’m least expecting it!
If they made a movie of your life story,
who would play you? Dennis Hopper—I
think he’s a great actor and very weird.
What one word would your friends use to
describe you? Loyal.
Terry and his wife (center) have belonged to numerous running clubs over
the years and participate in several 10 and 5 K’s each year.
74 -
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A Competition
for the Ages
This year’s Road to the Horse promises to be
a once in a lifetime event to see myself, Chris
Cox and Pat Parelli step into the ring at the
same time and compete against each other.
Each of us will be given a colt to break in three
hours and then be tested on an obstacle course
and freestyle performance. Only one winner
will be named and crowned Road to the Horse
Champion. I’ve participated in the event three
times, and been fortunate enough to win it
twice in 2003 and in 2005.
The Thrill of the Chase
Road to the Horse is something I always look
forward to competing in because it’s really the
only way to judge the ability of natural horse
trainers. When the competition came along
in 2003, it was the first event of its kind and I
loved it. It gave clinicians the opportunity to
put their money where their mouth is and step
out in the ring, which I think is a good thing for
the industry. It makes clinicians accountable
for what they do and highlights the importance
of earning a horse’s respect. Road to the Horse
is a way that the general public can compare
or grade clinicians against one another, which
makes it a great source of knowledge and
entertainment.
The event is something I always look forward
to competing in because I’m a natural born
competitor; I love competing – win, lose or draw.
The thrill of the chase is exciting to me and
is one of the reasons why I enjoy showing my
reining horses. Most natural horsemen don’t
take the initiative to compete in any event.
Other than Chris Cox, who competes in cutting,
I can’t think of any other trainer besides myself
who is willing to put his name on the line and
compete.
Even though I don’t do as much showing as
I would like to, I still love getting in the ring.
When I go show my horses, my goal is to be
competitive. Competitive means you may not
win, but you do a good job and other trainers
respect you for your ability. I think that’s why I
tend to get more respect from the performance
horse industry compared to other natural
horsemanship clinicians. I’m not afraid to put
my name on the line and don’t slam other
trainers or other disciplines. It doesn’t matter
whether you train for barrels, western pleasure,
hunter/jumper or reining, if you want to win
at the top level of any sport, it takes a talented
horse and a very talented trainer to get there.
Deciding to come back to the competition for
the fourth time was an easy decision for me.
For the opportunity to compete against Chris
Cox and Pat Parelli at the same event, I would
have paid Road to the Horse five million dollars
I got my colt to stand perfectly still while I shot black
powder guns next to his head. Not only creative
desensitizing, but a show-stopper, as well!
76 - Road to the horse
Inspiration
Working on desensitizing my colt in the 2005 competition with a chainsaw.
just to be in it! I respect what both men have
accomplished in their careers and am looking
forward to stepping into the ring with each of
them. Like myself, Chris has won the event
twice, and the 2011 competition will mark the
first time Pat has thrown his hat in the ring.
Since the announcement came out in June who
would be competing in the event, a lot of people
have asked me if I’m worried about getting beat.
I’m not worried about that in a million years.
In fact, it’s the last thing I’m worried about.
When you’re a competitor, you don’t worry
about getting beat; you concentrate on what
you have to do to win. If you focus your energy
on worrying about defeat, you’ll beat yourself
before you ever step into the ring.
My only concern is that I do the best job I can
with my colt in the time frame allowed. At the
end of the competition, I’m going to ask myself
two questions: 1) Did I do a respectable job, and
2) Did I display the Downunder Horsemanship
Method to the best of my ability? If I can answer
yes to those two things, win, lose or draw, I can
sleep peacefully at night. If Chris or Pat beat me,
it’s not going to do one thing to my career. It’s
not going to stop horse owners from believing
in the Method because my training philosophy
and technique is based on proven results.
Every year that I compete in Road to the Horse,
I try my best to not only win the event, but to
educate the audience as well. In each of the
three times I’ve participated, I’ve shown the
public how to step outside the box and use the
same creativity to train their horses. In each
of my freestyles (which have included: leaf
blowers, chainsaws and black powder guns) I’ve
demonstrated what’s possible if you start the
horse’s training with a solid foundation. For the
most part, I think my training techniques not
only opened people’s eyes, but also showed the
importance of groundwork.
Working with my colt in my very first
competition (and championship!) in 2003.
My goal at the competition is to demonstrate
the Downunder Horsemanship Method to the
best of my ability and to improve the horse that
I’m working with. By the end of the competition,
I want my horse to be safe and quiet enough
so that someone in the crowd could get on and
feel confident in the saddle and not worry about
their safety. Of course, I’d like to win, but I can’t
control that. What I can control is what I do
with the horse in the time frame that I have and
the decisions I chose to make with the horse.
The Challenges
Road to the Horse provides a couple of unique
challenges in the way that the competition is
designed. The first challenge is selecting the
right horse. On the first morning of the event,
each clinician is allowed to select his own horse
to work with over the next several days. The
horses have been basically untouched other
than to be run in chutes to be doctored and
vaccinated when needed. While you are allowed
to select your horse, there’s no guarantee that
even if you get the horse you want (another
clinician doesn’t pick him first) that he’s going
to be the most trainable horse of the herd. It’s a
crapshoot no matter how you look it.
Since clinicians are given a limited time to
work with the horse, it’s a challenge to find
a healthy balance between working with the
horse and not overdoing it. If you work him
too much and he gets too tired to where he
shuts down physically and mentally, you’ll
accomplish nothing. Horses can’t learn a thing
when they’re mentally exhausted. At the same
time, you have to be careful the opposite doesn’t
occur. If you don’t work the horse enough, he’ll
be too fresh and full of beans, and you’ll never
be able to ride him around the obstacle course.
There’s a fine line there between doing enough
and not doing too much.
The biggest challenge for myself is giving
the judges what they want to see. While I’m
confident in my ability to get the job done
and produce a horse anyone in the audience
could safely ride and take home and develop a
great partnership with, I’m not confident that I
always know what the judges are looking for.
Coming Back Smarter
and Stronger
While I won the first two Road to the Horse
events I competed in, I lost the third time in
Pool noodles and buoys make great tools for
desensitizing. A little creativity goes a long way.
Inspiration
2007. Each time I chose to compete in the event,
I wasn’t frightened to put my name on the line
win or lose. I think the reason why I’ve never
had a problem competing is because I’ve never
told anybody that I’m the best horseman in
the world. I’ve never told anybody that the
Downunder Horsemanship Method is the best
or the only method that works. I’ve always
said that the Method is the way I train horses.
If you like it, great, let’s continue on this path
together. There are certainly other ways to
train a horse that’s for sure, but this is the way
that works for me. If I don’t win, I don’t have to
worry about eating crow.
The reality is, it doesn’t matter what you
compete in, you can never win every single
time you go out. At some point, you’re going to
get beat. But it’s getting beat that makes you a
better horseman and look for a way to improve
your skills. When you’re winning, you usually
don’t look to see what you can do better. It’s
when you get beat that you look for ways to
improve. I’m always on an endless journey to
better myself, and I know that I have certainly
gotten better as a horseman since the last time I
competed in the event.
and giving the competition a leg-up!) My goal
is to be the only person to win the event three
times, whether or not I can do it remains to be
seen, but I plan to give it my best shot.
Your Support
Since the announcement of my participation in
Road to the Horse, we’ve received a lot of great
feedback from our members. It’s good to know
that I have the support of so many horsemen
and women who believe in the Method as much
as I do. I know that the more members I have in
the stands, the more drive and determination
I’ll have. It’ll encourage me to go the extra mile.
Whether or not you can physically make it to
the event, I appreciate your support. There’s
no doubt that this year’s competition is going
to be a unique opportunity to see the three of
us competing against one another at the same
time. I can guarantee that it’s going to be one
heck of a show!
Leaf blowers are another great desensitizing tool, and crowd-pleaser!
I also think it’s important that I distanced
myself from the event for the past three years.
The smartest thing Chris did the second time
he competed and won was to walk away and
not go back. That was where I was foolish. I
shouldn’t have gone back three times in a row.
Everybody wants to retire on top, but they
always go back for one last game. The truth of
the matter is everybody likes an underdog. It’s
the spirit of the American way. Going into an
event as the crowd favorite is a disadvantage.
It’s been three years since I’ve last been to the
event, and I feel that the time is right for me
to go back. Since I’ve competed before, I know
what I’m in for and know exactly what I have
to do to prepare. It’s a physically demanding
event and you have to be very fit to do it. One of
my favorite sayings is, “If you don’t want to lose
again, you better do something different,” and I
know I’ll be prepared come February to step into
the ring with the other clinicians. (I’d like to tell
you exactly what it is that I plan to do with my
horse this time, but if I did, I’d probably have to
kill you. I can’t chance secrets leaving the ranch
Join Clinton
The event will take place February 25-27, 2011 in
Murfreesboro, Tennessee at the Tennessee Miller Coliseum.
Tickets can be purchased on line at roadtothehorse.com or
by calling 877-772-5425.
Past Road to the Horse Competitors and Champions
2003 - Curt Pate, Josh Lyons, Clinton Anderson
2005 - Craig Cameron, Clinton Anderson, Van Hargis
2006 - Van Hargis, Martin Black, Craig Cameron, Stacy Westfall
2007 - Chris Cox, Stacy Westfall, Clinton Anderson
2008 - Mike Kevil, Tommy Garland, Ken McNabb, Chris Cox
2009 - John Lyons, Tommy Garland, Richard Winters
2010 - Richard Winters, Craig Cameron, Ken McNabb
What is Road to
the Horse?
Road to the Horse is an event
that combines education
and entertainment as three
clinicians compete for the
title of Road to the Horse
Champion. Each competitor
hand selects a young horse
to work with out of a herd
of ten. Over the next two
days, clinicians are given
three hours to work with
their horse, building a
lasting relationship and
breaking them to ride. At
the end of the second day,
the competition comes to a
head when each competitor
is asked to ride his horse
through an obstacle course
and perform a freestyle
performance. What makes
Road to the Horse different
from typical horse shows
is that competitors are
judged not only on their
performance, but their
training along the way. To
learn more about the event,
visit roadtothehorse.com.
Inspiration
8 Things You Should Know About…
Cantering with Confidence
Mari Jo received a student lesson from Clinton
in the September Club DVD on cantering. After
two bad experiences – getting bucked off and
run away with that nearly resulted in getting
drug – Mari Jo hadn’t cantered a horse in
thirteen years. “I walked and trotted just fine,
but if I even thought about cantering, I’d have
a heart attack,” she says. But those feelings are
things of the past as Mari Jo is now confidently
cantering her horse outside. “As soon as you
have confidence and start cantering, you’re
going to find out how much you’ve missed,” she
shares. “It’s the coolest feeling in the world.”
1
Fear is a good thing, never ignore it.
“That’s the first thing Clinton taught me,”
Mari Jo says. “Fear is what keeps you from
getting killed. It’s your mind saying, ‘That
horse isn’t safe; you’re going to get hurt.’”
2
But by educating yourself and selecting
the right horse to learn to canter on,
you can bolster your confidence and put fear
to rest. “Clinton stressed the importance
of starting on a safe horse that knows the
entire Fundamentals Series, especially
the One Rein Stops,” Mari Jo explains.
3
“When I first started cantering, I felt like
I was flopping all over in the saddle,” Mari
Jo shares, and Clinton agreed. “The more you
ride, the better your balance is going to get
and the better your seat will become,” Mari Jo
says repeating Clinton’s advice. “He compared
riding the canter to riding a bicycle – you
don’t just hop on a ten-speed bike and go.
First you have training wheels and then
you have to practice, practice, practice.”
4
Knowing how to do a One Rein
Stop and being on a horse that
understands it is important. “That’s
your emergency brake,” Mari Jo explains.
“Once I knew I could stop China anytime
I wanted, my confidence skyrocketed.”
5
Having a knowledgeable and confident
helper is key. While Clinton lunged
China in a roundpen, Mari Jo concentrated
on developing her seat and moving with
the horse. “I didn’t have to worry about
82 - 8 things you should know
where she was going or how fast she was
going,” Mari Jo shares. “I just concentrated
on relaxing and going with her.”
6
The more times you change direction
while cantering, the more balanced you’ll
get and the more confident you’ll become.
“When we moved on to Lunging for Respect
Stage Two and Clinton asked China to change
directions, that little mare just –vroom! – went,”
Mari Jo says. After a few repetitions, the
one-time cutter could dart in any direction
and Mari Jo was right there with her.
7
Riding a pattern and having something
to focus on forces you not to let your fear
take over. Mari Jo says that when Clinton
had her trot and then canter around cones,
she didn’t have time to even consider being
scared. “My mind was concentrating on the
next task – I was just riding,” she says.
8
Learning to canter with confidence
doesn’t have to happen overnight. In
fact, Clinton told Mari Jo that if she needed to
practice One Rein Stops at the walk and trot
fifteen million times before she felt confident
moving to the canter, that was fine. If you
don’t feel safe, you’ll never be confident.
“You just have to push yourself over the
edge,” Mari Jo urges. “And know that the
more you do it, the better you’re going to get
and the more your confidence will grow.”
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FALL
2010 - No worries Journal 83
Quick Tip
Does your horse constantly jig on the trail, trying to go faster than you want?
Don’t add to the problem by pulling back on two reins, trying to force him
to walk. Instead, put his feet to work and get him to use the thinking side
of his brain and pay attention to you. The more you move his feet forwards,
backwards, left and right, the more he’ll relax and use the thinking side of
his brain. Moving the horse’s feet puts his excess energy to good use, and
convinces him that jigging just results in more work. Horses are basically
lazy creatures and will always pick the option of the least amount of work.
Eventually, the horse will realize that walking on a loose rein is much easier
than having to hustle his feet and change directions. Get an in-depth lesson
on curing a jigger on the DVD series Correcting Problems on the Trail.
84 - quick tip
Instruction
“The more
complicated
you make horse
training, the
harder it is.”
Clinton
Anderson
A Case of the Nibbles
Dealing with a “Mouthy” Horse
M
outhy horses are like little kids;
they’ve got nothing to do and all day to
do it in. If you don’t give a kid something to do,
he’ll stick things in his mouth, climb on the
furniture, draw on the walls, or do a number of
things that’ll drive you crazy. Horses need both
mental and physical stimulation to be happy
and content. If you don’t give your horse a job
and keep his mind busy, he’ll find an outlet for
his pent up energy and a way to keep his mind
busy. In a lot of cases, that results in the horse
developing some sort of vice (weaving, cribbing,
etc.) including being mouthy—constantly
playing with your shirt sleeve, nibbling on the
lead rope or chewing on the Handy Stick, for
example. Very athletic horses and young horses
tend to develop this habit. The bad news is that
86 - Mouthy Horse
mouthy behavior often turns into biting—a
very dangerous vice. The good news is if you
give your horse a job, as simple as making
him move his feet forwards, backwards, left
and right, his mouthiness will disappear.
Don’t Invite the Problem
If you know your horse tends to get mouthy
and nibbles on you, protect your space and take
the temptation away from him to begin with.
Don’t let him get close enough to mouth on you.
Anytime you’re with him, keep him out of your
personal hula hoop space—a 4-foot circle that
surrounds you and serves as your safety zone.
When you are working with a horse, always
imagine that there’s a 4-foot circle drawn
around you —almost like an invisible electric
Instruction
If you know your horse likes to get mouthy, don’t allow him to get close to you. Instead, keep him out of your personal hula hoop space.
fence. Unless you invite the horse into your
personal hula hoop space, he should keep a
respectful, safe distance from you.
Most injuries people suffer while working with
horses occur because the horse was too close to
them. Think about all the times people get hurt
by horses. The horse bites them, kicks them,
strikes at them, runs over the top of them,
etc. Each time the horse was in the person’s
personal hula hoop space. You can’t be injured
if the horse is kept outside of that circle. A horse
can’t bite you if he is 4 feet away from you;
he can’t kick you if his hind legs don’t get any
closer to you than 4 feet; and he can’t run over
you if his chest is outside of your hula hoop
space. As long as you keep the horse away from
you, if he does get the urge to put something in
his mouth, it’ll be the lead rope, not you.
same time. He can’t mouth on you and move
his feet, especially if you make him hustle with
energy and do lots of changes of direction. If
you’re consistent, it won’t take long for the
horse to connect the two together. When he
gets mouthy, you’ll make his feet move. One
of the best ways to stop a mouthy horse, and
especially horses that bite, is to back them
up. Backing Up is a very humbling exercise for
a horse to do. When a horse gets mouthy or
tries to bite you, it’s a very forward action; he’s
Make Those Feet Move
When the horse does get mouthy, put his
feet to work. The most effective punishment
you can give a horse is making him move his
feet. Horses are basically lazy creatures and
would rather stand around with their legs
cocked daydreaming about their next meal
than moving their feet and working up a sweat.
They’ll always choose the option with the least
amount of work involved.
So if you’re standing next to your horse and
he starts nibbling on your shirt, turn around
and say, “Thank you for getting my attention.”
Then put his feet to work and turn a negative
into a positive. Practice some Backing Up,
Lunging for Respect, Sidepassing or Circle
Driving. The horse can’t do two things at the
When your horse gets mouthy, instantly put his feet to work and turn a
negative into a positive. Backing Up is one of the best exercises you can
do with a horse that likes to mouth.
coming forward to get you. When you back
him up, it’s the complete opposite; he’s being
submissive to you by moving out of your space.
When it comes to dealing with mouthy
horses, the most important thing to keep in
mind is that the busier you keep their feet and
the more you keep them mentally stimulated,
the less mouthy they will be. Horses that are
mouthy are searching for interaction, so give
them the attention they’re wanting by making
their feet move.
Return the Favor
Then there are some horses (like foals and
yearlings) that like to put things in their
mouth—the halter, lead rope, Handy Stick, etc.
Most people’s first reaction when the horse
grabs a hold of the lead rope or halter is to try
and tug the object out of his mouth. However,
the more you try to pull something away from
them, the mouthier they will get. It’s like a
Prevention is Better than Cure
The best way to handle a horse that gets
mouthy is to never let the problem develop
in the first place. Horses that get mouthy
are often bored and looking for attention.
The more you work with your horse,
moving his feet forwards, backwards, left
and right, the more he’ll use the thinking
side of his brain and the more respectful
he’ll get. A horse that respects your space
doesn’t lip on you; he stays out of your
personal hula hoop space unless you invite
him in. You also need to be careful that
you’re not encouraging the horse to be
mouthy. People often make this mistake
with young horses like foals and weanlings.
Because they’re small, they allow the foal
to nuzzle them, play with their shirt, etc.
Then when the foal grows up to be a 1,200
pound pushy, disrespectful horse, they
wonder where they went wrong.
Don’t wait until the horse gets mouthy
to do the groundwork; start earning his
respect and attention before a problem
shows up. I personally never lead my
horses to where I’m going. Instead, I back
them up, practice sidepassing, do the
C-Pattern, etc., moving their feet forwards,
backwards, left and right. I never waste an
opportunity to teach my horses something.
The busier you keep a horse’s feet and the
more you keep him mentally stimulated,
the less mouthy he will be. Remember,
horses that are mouthy are searching for
interaction, so give them your attention by
moving their feet.
If your horse mouths you, mouth him back by
vigorously rubbing both of your hands on his muzzle.
It won’t take long for your horse to realize that getting
mouthed isn’t much fun.
88 - Mouthy Horse
Instruction
puppy with a toy. The more you try to yank it
away, the more he grits his teeth and hangs
onto it. Instead of getting into a tug-o-war with
the horse, use reverse psychology and “mouth”
him back. Use both of your hands to vigorously
rub the horse’s muzzle for a good twenty
seconds. While you’re not hurting the horse,
you’re rubbing him firmly enough to make him
feel uncomfortable. It’s like when your uncle
would scuff your head at a family get-together.
Every kid in the world hates that. It didn’t hurt
when he tousled your hair, but it was annoying
and you didn’t like it, and you soon learned how
to avoid him. It’s the same philosophy with
your horse. If he wants to get mouthy, take all
the fun out of it for him. Rough up his muzzle
with your hands. If you’re consistent, and do
it vigorously enough, pretty soon the horse is
like, “Man, I’m going to keep my lips to myself
because I don’t like this guy mouthing me.”
And don’t worry, you won’t make your horse
head shy or hard to bridle because you are only
going to “rough him up” so to speak when he
trys to get mouthy. If he doesn’t get mouthy,
you’ll leave him alone.
Bait Him
Let’s say that your horse grabs the halter in
his mouth as you go to put it on. As soon as he
grabs it, instead of trying to pull it out of his
mouth, stand beside him and tug one end of
the halter up in his mouth and then the other
end to make him feel uncomfortable. When
you do that, the horse might throw his head up
in the air, but you’ll continue to tug up on the
halter. You’re not really hurting him, but you are
making him feel uncomfortable. Do that for ten
seconds and then let the horse lower his head
and spit the halter out of his mouth. Then dare
him again by waving the halter in front of his
nose. If he grabs it, repeat the process. You’ll
only have to do that two or three times, and
pretty soon, those horses wise up and want no
part of grabbing a hold of the halter.
The same theory applies to the Handy Stick.
If your horse grabs a hold of the stick, stand in
front of him and start pushing it in and out of
his mouth like it’s a toothbrush. Don’t ram it in
and out of his mouth so hard that it hurts him,
just quickly slide it in and out of his mouth to
make him feel uncomfortable. He might stick
his head up in the air, or even back up—just
follow him and continue to move the stick in
his mouth. After ten to fifteen seconds, pull the
Rather than trying to pull the halter out of your horse’s mouth when
he grabs a hold of it, see-saw it up and down in his mouth and use
reverse psychology.
stick out and leave the horse alone. Usually, the
horse will lower his head and lick his lips as
soon as the stick is pulled out.
Then bait him again by waving the end of
the stick around the end of his nose. In most
cases, the horse will grab it again, and when
he does you’ll repeat the same steps. It usually
takes three times for a horse to actually start
to understand the lesson. By the third or fourth
time, your horse will not want to grab a hold of
that stick because every time he grabs a hold
of it, you make him feel uncomfortable. You’re
saying to the horse, “Hey, if you want to chew
the stick, you can chew it, but you’re going to
feel uncomfortable.”
You might be thinking, “Well Clinton, isn’t that
going to make the horse head shy or not want to
accept the bit?”
If your horse grabs a hold of the Handy Stick, act like you’re brushing his teeth with it by moving it back and forth in his mouth.
No, because you’re only making him feel
uncomfortable when he gets mouthy. You’re
not physically putting the halter or stick in
his mouth and then roughing him up. He’s
choosing to take the bait and be mouthy. As
long as you use common sense and only make
him feel uncomfortable when he grabs a hold of
the object, you don’t have to worry about him
getting head shy or not accepting the bit.
Punish Thy Self
Another tactic is to make the horse think
that he’s punishing himself. For example, a lot
of young horses like weanlings or yearlings
get mouthy. They’ll come up to you and
start nibbling on the sleeve of your shirt or
your jeans. If your horse walks up to you
and starts playing with your sleeve, without
even looking at him, flap your elbow out to
the side so that he runs into it with his nose
and feels uncomfortable. You have to time it
just right so that at the same time he leans
forward to play with your shirt, he runs into
your elbow. The secret is not to look at him or
act like you’re moving your arm on purpose.
It’s like your elbow just developed a nervous
twitch. If you look at the horse, it’s like you’re
acknowledging that you’re the one making him
feel uncomfortable. You want the horse to think
that he’s doing it to himself. Every time he leans
in to nibble on you, he runs into your elbow.
Horses always learn faster when they teach
themselves the lesson. It wont be long before
your horse is like “Man, I really need to keep my
lips to myself because I seem to be running into
his elbow.”
After two or three repetitions, the horse will realize
that grabbing a hold of the stick isn’t as much fun as
he initially thought it was, and he’ll learn to keep his
mouth to himself.
90 - Mouthy Horse
Instruction
When a horse
tries to nibble
on your shirt,
if you time
it right, you
can flap your
elbow out to
the side as I’m
doing here to
make him think
he’s punishing
himself. Every
time he leans
forward to
nibble on you,
he runs into
your elbow.
Will Treats Make My Horse Mouthy?
Feeding your horse treats won’t teach him to be mouthy as long as you give him treats correctly. Never
give your horse a treat if he’s looking for it. When I give my horses a treat, I want it to be a surprise. I
don’t use treats to bribe the horse or win his affection. Treats are just a bonus for a job well-done. A treat
should always be a surprise. If you constantly feed your horse treats, he’ll be looking for them, and that’s
when he’ll start mouthing your shirt, pockets and hands. When you give your horse treats, feed him one
at a time, and only give them when he’s not expecting it. If he is looking for a treat, he doesn’t get one.
Unforgettable
A No Worries Club Member
Shares her 10-Day Fundamentals
and Intermediate Level Clinic
Experience and Recognition as
“Most Improved Rider”
B
y the end of the first day of a ten-day
long clinic journey, Ronda Allman came
to the realization that her mare was more
disrespectful than she thought. “Like Clinton
says, ‘She was all over me like a bad rash,’”
Ronda says laughing. While working with
Bunny at home, it was obvious the mare didn’t
always respect her space, “but I quickly realized
after learning the exercises that she was
even worse than I thought,” Ronda admits.
Ronda fell in love with horses on her
grandparent’s farm as a young girl. When they
sold the farm, Ronda was in middle school,
and spent the rest of her childhood and early
adult years riding whenever she could on her
cousins’ and friends’ horses. “It wasn’t on a
regular basis and there was no real training
involved,” Ronda explains. “The only instruction
I got was to ‘get on, hold on and don’t fall off!’
As a result, I now have to retrain myself from
some very bad habits.”
A year and a half ago, she bought her first
horse, Dolly, a palomino Quarter Horse. Shortly
after getting Dolly, she became the owner of
Bunny, an eleven-year-old Quarter Horse who
spent a year in Houston on a mounted patrol
unit, and a Quarter Horse gelding, Beau. As
a new horse owner, Ronda turned to RFD-TV
for its equine programming and discovered
Clinton. “I liked what I saw and went to his tour
in Conroe, Texas,” she says, and she left the
weekend even more impressed with Clinton and
his horsemanship philosophy. “I really like his
Method because he breaks it down into simple,
easy steps. If you’re consistent, you see results
amazingly fast,” Ronda explains.
When she got home from the tour, she
immediately went out to the barn and tried to
mimic what she saw Clinton doing. “It looks so
easy when he does it, but when I started doing it
myself, I realized it wasn’t as easy as it looked,”
By the end of the clinic, Ronda had impressed Clinton
with her persistence and continued improvement
throughout the ten days and was recognized as the
Most Improved Rider.
92 - 10-day clinic
Instruction
Ronda confesses, but she has a “never quit”
attitude and stuck with it, trying her best to
teach herself the Method.
While watching TV one night with her
husband, she saw an advertisement for
clinics at Clinton’s ranch in Stephenville,
Texas. “I made the comment that it would be
awesome to participate,” Ronda says, and her
husband encouraged her to go. She couldn’t
see spending that much money on herself,
but her husband disagreed. “He said, ‘What
if participating in the clinic is a gift for your
fiftieth birthday and our tenth anniversary all
in one?’” Ronda repeats, and readily agreed to
his offer. In fact, the couple celebrated their
anniversary on the first day of the clinic.
Most Improved Rider
Going into the clinic, Ronda’s objective
was to improve herself. “I knew a lot of the
problems I was having were because of my
lack of experience and confidence in myself,”
Ronda says. Prior to the clinic, she had a
couple of scary moments in the saddle on
Bunny and Dolly that left her confidence
shaken at the canter.
Clinton, his apprentice, Magen, and Certified
Clinicians, Jenny Wentworth and Dale
Cunningham, made it clear to Ronda that she
needed to step up and take control. “They
encouraged me when Bunny was making
half-hearted attempts to go after her, and
demand more,” she explains. “That was
probably the best thing I learned throughout the
whole ten days—I could no longer be content
with mediocrity or with Bunny not respecting
my space.”
Once Bunny realized that Ronda was serious,
she stepped up her game. “I still have to go back
and remind her
every once in
awhile to take
me seriously,”
The knowledge and
Ronda explains,
experience you gain in a
“because just
like a little kid,
short amount of time is
she’s going to
test me from
unbelievable.
time to time.”
Ronda has
been diligently
working with Bunny and her other horses since
returning home from the clinic and now feels
more confident in her ability to control them
and stay safe.
“
”
Because of her prior experiences in the saddle,
Ronda was hesitant to canter on a loose rein
at the clinic, but says it was one of the best
experiences of the ten days. “I would tense up,
“I knew that I needed to regain my
confidence and I needed some better skills to
achieve a better outcome and to stay safe,”
Ronda says. “That was my main goal; I did the
clinic mostly for myself.”
Upon arriving at the clinic, Ronda realized
almost immediately that she needed to be
more assertive. “I was being way too nice.
It was a ‘She’s too precious,’ sort of deal,”
Ronda says mimicking one of Clinton’s often
repeated phrases. “I was accepting minimal
effort on her part.”
Certified Clinician Jennie Wentworth helps Ronda
back Bunny out of her space.
my prize was the Intermediate Series was
unbelievable,” Ronda says about receiving
her accolade. “After completing the clinic, I
just feel better about myself. It has changed
my relationship with my horses and it’s
certainly changed me for the better. Like
Clinton says, he really trains people more
than he does horses.”
Once isn’t Enough
which of course didn’t help, but after cantering
with all the other horses out in the ring, I’m so
much more confident in the saddle.”
Ronda isn’t the only one that noticed her ability
and confidence increasing over the ten days.
On the last day of the clinic, Clinton announced
that Ronda had won the “Most Improved Rider”
award. “Ronda did a tremendous job following
my instruction, trying her hardest and
expecting more out of her horse,” Clinton says.
“The mare she was working with was difficult—
she’s a big, pushy, lazy horse and Ronda is a
small woman, but Ronda worked hard and was
determined, and it showed at the end.”
For her accomplishment, Ronda received an
Intermediate Series kit. “I was shocked, I never
expected to win the award. Then to find out
After completing the 10-day clinic, Ronda
is eager more than ever to better her skills as
a horsewoman. “If I could afford it, I would
take everything Clinton offered. I would love
to be lucky enough to live the dream that he
lives. He does what he loves and gets paid
for it. That’s the ultimate job—to get paid for
your passion,” Ronda says, but would settle for
taking another Fundamentals clinic. “I would
love to polish my skills in the Fundamentals
Level and get a better grasp of each of the
exercises,” she continues. “Clinton says
he encourages people to not rush through
the levels but to instead take their time to
make sure you completely understand what
you’re doing. That way you’ll run into fewer
problems and not feel frustrated.”
While Ronda admits that the first group
of participants to go through the clinic at
the new facility was the guinea pigs, she
chalks her experience up to a success and
something she’d love to repeat. “It was just an
awesome experience for me. The knowledge
and experience you gain in a short amount of
time is unbelievable,” she affirms. “I just think
that no matter how long you’ve been around
horses or how much you think you know
there is still something we can all learn.”
Not All Work
Along with top-notch instruction,
participants in the clinic enjoyed
Clinton’s hospitality. He and his wife,
Amy, hosted a BBQ in their backyard
and then treated all participants to
Hard 8, a local restaurant, on the last
evening of the clinic.
94 - 10-day clinic
HORSEMANSHIP CLINIC
2011 • Stephenville, TX
Apply the Method
• Develop Safe, RESPONSIVE AND WILLING HORSES
• CREATE A TRUSTING And RESPECTFUL RELATIONSHIP
• Overcome your fears • Accomplish your horsemanship goals
no worries CLUB MEMBERS ELIGIBLE FOR SPECIAL DISCOUNTS.
Clinic participants have the opportunity
to lease a Horse for use during the clinic.
April 19 - 29
May 16 - 26
June 13 - 23
June 29 - July 9
August 1 - 5
September 12 - 16
October 3 - 7
November 1 - 11
10 Day Fundamental - Clinton Anderson
10 Day Intermediate - Clinton Anderson
5 Day Fundamental - Jennie Wentworth, Certified Clinician
5 Day Fundamental - Jennie Wentworth, Certified Clinician
5 Day Fundamental - Shana Terry, Professional Clinician
10 Day Advanced - Clinton Anderson
D o w n u n d eor
r hcall
o r888-287-7432
s e m a n s h i p. c o m
95 downunderhorsemanship.com
•
PRESENTED BY
8 8 8 -FALL
2 8 7 2010
- 74 3-2No worries Journal 95
“If you really want
something, you’ll
find a way. If you
don’t, you’ll find
an excuse.”
–Ian Francis
96 - Lesson learned from Ian Francis
Instruction
With Feel and Timing,
Anything is Possible
A lesson learned from Ian Francis
When I was in school, I used to buy the
Australian Quarter Horse Magazine as soon as
it hit the shelves and read it cover to cover.
That’s how I first learned of Ian Francis. I can
remember seeing ads in the magazine with him
winning everything. They used to call him Mr.
Versatility in Australia because he competed in
everything from western pleasure, trail class,
cutting and reining to English events. And not
only did he compete, but he won in every event
as well.
When I left school to work for Gordon
McKinlay, I was fifteen, and we’d go to local
shows and watch the other horsemen work.
Sometimes Gordon would show, but for the
most part, he didn’t compete a lot. When we
got to those shows, the first thing I’d do is scout
out Ian. When I found him, I’d sit on the fence
and watch him work with his horse. There’s just
something about him; he can make horses do
things that just make you go “Wow!” As a young
man, it was very impressive, and I could tell
from the very beginning he was in a class all of
his own.
He was different from the other horse trainers
at the time because he made working with a
horse look effortless. It didn’t look like he was
doing much, but he was getting a lot done. All
the other trainers were out in the ring with
sweat rolling off them, yanking and jerking on
their horses to get them to behave. Meanwhile,
Ian’s horses are perfectly behaved and riding
like a million dollars. I knew that there was a lot
to be learned from him, so wherever he went,
I was on the fence watching him. I’m sure he
hated me doing that because I was like a bad
smell, following him around and analyzing his
every move.
Strengthening the Basics
Throughout my apprenticeship with
Gordon, I learned all of my colt starting skills,
groundwork and problem solving abilities, and
I truly believe
that without
He was different from
the two years
I spent with
the other horse trainers...
Gordon, I
He made working with a
wouldn’t be the
horseman I am
horse look effortless.
today. I felt like
Gordon gave
me a great foundation, and after two years, I
wanted to start competing and was especially
interested in reining horses.
“
”
I invite Ian over to the States each year to continue to learn from him, and
without fail, I do learn something new every time I work with him.
“
Without good timing,
it’s next to impossible to
teach a horse anything.
”
In Australia, Ian was known as Mr. Versatility
because he competed and won in numerous events
from cutting to English classes.
Instruction
the sale, and I got to see firsthand how he
prepared his two-year-olds for the event.
What I learned from him formed the
foundation of my training program, and
what I expect to accomplish with my horses
in a certain amount of time. It’s the formula
I use when training all of my horses, from
Signature Horses to Performance Horses.
Ian has won the National Reining Futurity five
times and was a three-time National Cutting
Horse Association Futurity champion, and I
knew he was the guy I wanted to work for. So
I called him up and explained my situation to
him, saying that I would do whatever it took
to work for him. I’d start at the bottom of the
ladder and work my way up. Luckily, a guy was
leaving at the time and Ian had a spot for me.
When I look back on it, I consider myself very
lucky to have started working for Ian when I
did. There is a huge horse sale in Australia that
we called the Rocky Quarter Horse Sale. Over
a two-day period, between five hundred and
seven hundred Quarter Horses are sold. Some
of the horses are three-year-olds, but most of
them are two-year-olds. Ian was long-known
for topping the sale each year. His horses would
always fetch the most money because they
looked extremely broke and safe.
A Good Horseman is a
Good Horseman
Ian had a forty-two day program. He could
take a completely green two-year-old and
have him unbelievably broke at the end of
forty-two days. And I mean these horses
were broke to death; they rode better than
most people’s horses after seven years of
training. Not only were they worked in the
arena, but they were ridden outside each day.
In fact, Ian is the guy who showed me how
much training can be accomplished with a
young horse on a long, dirt road.
While everyone assumed Ian had to
practically beat his horses to death to get
them to do the more advanced maneuvers,
the truth is they couldn’t have been more
wrong. While other trainers had to spur and
jerk on their horses to get them to look even
remotely like Ian’s, he never did. The horses
respected Ian and more than anything,
he could get them to understand what he
wanted them to do very fast because he had
unbelievable feel and timing.
Before I went to work for him, the rumor was
that in order to get his two-year-olds ready for
the sale, Ian would beat on them and intimidate
them. Other trainers at the time criticized him
because his horses could do fancy things. They
could stop, rollback, spin and do things other
trainers had to work on for years to get their
horses to do. Everyone just assumed he had to
get after them and practically crucify them to
get the job done. Some of the old cowboys at the
time said that if you ever got Ian’s two-year-olds
out of the sales ring, they’d bolt and leave you
for dead.
Well, when I went to go work for Ian in 1993,
it was the last year he presented horses at
Visiting with Ian at home in Australia. I take
every chance I can to get together with Ian. I
always learn something.
Feel is the amount of pressure you apply to
a horse. It is also adjusting to the situation—
the ability to determine whether you should
increase the pressure, decrease the pressure or
simply maintain the same amount of pressure.
As a horse trainer, your job is to ask as gently
as possible and if the horse doesn’t respond,
increase the pressure until you get what you’re
looking for. Timing is when you release the
pressure—the ability to release pressure at
the exact moment the horse does what you’re
asking him to do. Timing applies to everything
you do with horses, from groundwork to riding.
Without good timing, it’s next to impossible to
teach a horse anything. The only way to develop
feel and timing is through experience, which is
what I was hoping to get from Ian.
I feel very lucky that I got to go through that
sale’s prep at Ian’s barn because I realized
that as long as you break an exercise down for
a horse so that he understands what you’re
asking him to do and you have good feel and
timing, you can accomplish a lot with a horse in
a very short amount of time. Ian hammered into
my head that horses learn from the release of
pressure, not the pressure itself. The faster you
can release the pressure and reward the horse,
the quicker he realizes he did the right thing.
When I went out on my own, I tried to
duplicate his training process as best as I could.
I’d take horses in for six weeks and have them
dead broke to send home to their owners at the
end of that time. To this day, that’s how I train
all of my horses using the Method. The first
six weeks of their time with me, I work them
through the Fundamentals, Intermediate and
Advanced levels of the Method. From there,
they go into specialized training, whether that
be reining or cow horse.
One of the most important things Ian taught me is that horses learn
from the release of pressure, not the pressure itself. If you want your
horse to understand what you’re trying to teach him, you have to have
good timing – knowing when to release the pressure. The most advanced
maneuvers start by rewarding the slightest try.
Training horses isn’t rocket-science if you use a
step-by-step approach and are quick to reward
the slightest try. The secret to being a great
horseman is arming yourself with knowledge
and then spending time developing your feel
and timing. Remember something, the only way
you can get great feel and timing is through
experience. The more horses you work with,
the more DVDs you watch, the more books and
articles you read, the more tours and clinics you
attend, the more knowledgeable you’ll become.
With knowledge, anything is possible.
Instruction
“
The only way you can
get great feel and timing
is through experience.
”
Ian’s
Perspective
rough and tumble type of deal. He flung
Clinton through the air, and then ended
up kicking another one of my trainers
unconscious. Clinton wasn’t real popular in
the barn right afterwards and got ribbed a
lot for it.
•
The success he’s achieved has been quite
enormous and has gone way out of the
scope of what Gordon and I have done.
He’s been terribly motivated, and gone
from the aspiration to be a horse trainer
to, arguably I guess, the best equine/people
communicator in the world. That’s way
beyond what we expected to have happen.
•
I was the most proud of him when he went
out and won the National Reining Breeders
Classic Limited Open a few years back. He
was already established as an instructor
and he went out and showed he could
compete too. He had the courage to be
criticized.
•
The thing Clinton is doing that I don’t
think anybody else in the world is doing
is he’s pioneering a path between the
idealism of natural horsemanship and
the competiveness of horsemanship. He’s
standing up and saying you can go in both
directions. You can be what is termed a
“natural horseman,” and you can go and
compete. That’s one of the things I admire
the most about what he is doing. He’s
putting himself out in front of the critical
public, who is his clientele, and he’s not
afraid to expose himself to competition.
•
I come to the States every year and spend
time working with Clinton. I think he’s
afraid I’m going to die and there’s still
something I haven’t told him yet. He’s
not going to take a chance on that! He
continues to ask another million questions
just like when he worked for me.
•
His best quality is loyalty. Gordon and I
helped him along the way, and he’s never
forgotten that. He always gives us credit
for it.
W
hen Ian first met Clinton, it was in
the late eighties and all he knew of
him was that he was a skinny kid working
for Gordon, starting colts and doing odd jobs.
He had seen him about the show scene in
Australia, and was impressed with his strong
work ethic. When Clinton came up and asked
Ian for a job, he was offered a position and spent
the next twelve months under Ian’s guidance.
•
•
•
The most important thing we taught
Clinton is to have a strong work ethic
and pay attention to the basics of
horsemanship. Don’t quit the job until
the job is done properly. I think Clinton
would say that he learned about laying a
foundation on a horse, how to keep a horse
light and finessing not only a horse, but his
skills as well.
Clinton’s intensity and desire made him
different from the other students I’ve had
over the years. I think he got a little bit of
that from me. In the events I’ve competed
in over the years, from starting colts,
prepping horses for sale to reined cow
horses and cutting horses, I wanted to be
the person holding up the high bar. I think
that’s rubbed off on Clinton. He aspires to
be the best that he can be, if not the best
in the world. The others just wanted to be
horse trainers.
The stupidest thing Clinton ever did while
working for me was letting go of a broncy
horse while we were trying to clip him.
It was getting back to the old ranch style,
Instruction
“
I consider Ian the greatest Horseman in the world.
No one can match his feel and timing.
”
Lunging for Respect Stage One:
Preparation for a Safe Ride
Lunging is one of the most used and abused
exercises in the horse world. You can go to any
horse show or training facility to see what I
mean. Often you’ll see someone in the middle of
an arena lunging a horse on a 60 or 70-foot lead
rope. The horse is galloping around, he’s got his
head turned, looking out of the circle and he’s
dragging the person halfway across the arena.
Most people use lunging as a way to tire a horse
out. After making him run around in a 60-foot
circle for forty-five minutes straight, they hope
he’ll be tired enough to start paying attention to
them instead of the other horses or the activity
going on around him. That’s the complete
opposite of what lunging should be.
104 - Lunging for respect stage one
Notice I call it Lunging for Respect. It’s not
called lunging to get the buck out of the horse
or lunging to tire him out. It’s called Lunging for
Respect. You earn a horse’s respect by moving
his feet forwards, backwards, left and right and
always rewarding the slightest try. The purpose
of lunging should be to continuously ask your
horse to change directions and focus on you. The
more you can get his feet to move and change
directions, the more respectful the horse will
get, and the more he’ll use the thinking side of
his brain, which will make him safer and more
trainable. In this article, I’ll cover the first step
to teaching your horse how to lunge around
you in a circle while remaining soft and supple
Instruction
and teach you how to get him to disengage
his hindquarters and face you with two eyes.
Once you have this stage mastered, then you
can teach your horse Lunging for Respect Stage
Two—having him change directions. Lunging
before a ride will teach you a lot about your
horse that day—is he attentive to your cues, is
he scared or unsure of anything in the arena,
does he have a good attitude, is he soft and
supple to the halter pressure? All of which is
important information to have before getting
in the saddle where you’re in a more vulnerable
position.
Goal:
To be able to send the horse out onto the circle
by just pointing and have him trot energetically
around you without pulling on the lead rope.
Then when you look toward his hindquarters,
the horse should yield and face you with two
eyes.
Teaching Stage:
1
Remove the string from the Handy
Stick and tie it loosely around
the base of the horse’s neck.
I recommend taking the string off in the
beginning, because it not only shows where the
drive line is, but it’s also much easier for people
to use the stick without the string.
2
Face the horse, standing directly in
front of him. If necessary, move him
out of your personal hula hoop space.
Remember, there’s a 4-foot circle that
surrounds you and serves as your personal hula
hoop space and safety zone. Unless you invite
the horse into your personal hula hoop space,
he must stay out of it.
3
To hold the rope correctly, first make
the OK sign at your horse. Then put
the lead rope in your OK sign so that you’re
holding the lead rope between your thumb
and index fingers. Fold all of your fingers
around the rope so that your knuckles are on
top. Your thumb should be pointing toward
your chest and your little finger should be
the closest finger to the horse’s head.
This position allows you to point and tell the
horse which direction to go. It also makes it
easy for the rope to slide through your hand
when the horse goes out to the circle.
4
To send the horse off to the right,
hold the duct tape in your right hand.
Hold the Handy Stick in your left hand
like you’re shaking someone’s hand.
This position makes it easy for you to swing
the stick around in a circle and apply pressure
to the horse’s neck if needed.
5
Point up high to the right by raising your
right hand in the air, out to the side
The string will be a guideline for you. When
you stand in front of the string you will be in
front of the horse’s drive line. Any energy you
create in front of the drive line tells the horse
to slow down or change directions. If you stand
behind the string, you are behind the drive
line. Energy created behind the drive line does
one of two things: It either asks the horse to go
forward or yield his hindquarters. To make it
simple, behind the drive line is the gas pedal
and clutch, and in front of the drive line is the
steering wheel and brakes.
Pointing is the signal to let the horse knew
where to go.
6
Ideally, the horse should leave
with an energetic departure.
If he doesn’t, use your whole arm to swing
the Handy Stick in a circle three times toward
his head and neck, while still pointing up high
with your right hand. If the horse doesn’t start
moving to the right by the time you complete
three swings, on number four tap him with
the stick somewhere between his jaw and
shoulder. Continue to tap him with rhythm
until his front end goes in the direction you
are pointing. You may have to tap/whack him
several times to get him to move away from
you and start to lunge
By twirling the horse in front of the drive
line because at this point, you’re still driving
the head and neck away and telling the horse
which direction to go. You are not actually
trying to make him go forward; you’re only
asking the horse to face the correct direction.
Once the horse’s front end moves away from you,
then you can apply pressure to his hindquarters
just enough to make him move forward.
7
When the horse does go out on the
circle, let the lead rope slide through
your hand so that he can move forward and
away from you. Relax your arms so that
they are in a neutral position at your sides.
If the horse is the correct distance away,
the end of the lead rope should just touch
the ground.
A Great Exercise After Time Off
If your horse had time off, his mental attention and physical fitness aren’t going to be up to
par. The biggest mistake people make when bringing horses back to work is getting straight
on them. They drag the horse out of the pasture, yank the girth up as hard as they can, jump
in the saddle and kick him in the belly. Thirty seconds later, they’re sitting on the ground
wondering why the horse dumped them.
If your horse has had time off, spend several days doing nothing but groundwork. Lunging
for Respect is a great exercise to get your horse’s feet moving and to get him using the
thinking side of his brain. It’ll really get him to focus his attention and respect on you. What’s
the secret to earning a horse’s respect? Moving his feet forwards, backwards, left and right
and always rewarding the slightest try. Once you’ve gained his respect, then you can move
onto riding.
Instruction
While pointing, swing the Handy Stick in a circle three times.
8
If the horse is being lazy once he is
moving in the correct direction, point up
high with your right hand and if he doesn’t
immediately speed his feet up, cluck to
him, and if he still ignores you, swing the
stick toward his hindquarters until he goes
the speed you want. If you have to, run in
toward his hindquarters and actually whack
him on the butt to get your point across.
The horse should be trotting energetically
around you. If he’s not, create some energy by
first pointing with your hand in the direction
you want him to go and then clucking. If
he doesn’t respond, spank the ground with
the Handy Stick and then spank him on the
hindquarters. Continue to increase the pressure
until you get the response you are looking for.
Remember, it’s POINT, “I’m asking you to go
faster.” CLUCK, “I’m warning you.” SPANK, “I
told you I would make you feel uncomfortable if
you didn’t listen.” When you do spank, be sure
to spank by moving your arm in a large circle.
This will create a lot more hustle in his feet.
9
Walk forward and around, staying
behind the drive line and keeping your
belly button facing the horse’s head.
By staying behind the drive line, you are
able to drive the horse forward and around.
Later in the program, you’ll learn to lunge
the horse while keeping your feet still, but
you have to master the fundamentals first.
10
Pull and release on the
lead rope any time you feel
the horse leaning on the halter.
Every time you feel the horse becoming
heavy and stiff on the halter, pull and then
release on the lead rope. You want to get
all the stiffness out of the horse. If you
just use steady pressure and let the horse
lean on it, that’s really what he’ll do, he’ll
continue to pull and lean on the halter.
By pulling and releasing, you’ll make it
uncomfortable for the horse to lean. Use
driving pressure instead of steady pressure
because horses love to lean on steady
pressure.
11
The horse should be far enough
away from you so that you can’t
touch any part of his body with the
Handy Stick, but close enough so that
the lead rope just touches the ground.
If you can touch any part of the horse, it
means that he is way too close to you. If he
gets disrespectful and kicks out, he could
easily kick you and cause a lot of damage. If
you can touch the horse with the stick, you
need to whack whatever body part is too
close to you. This will let the horse know very
quickly that he’s not allowed to invade your
personal hula hoop space. Make the right thing
easy and the wrong thing difficult.
In essence, it’s Slide, Stab, Step. Slide your hand down the rope. Stab
your belly button. Step on the horse’s tail.
12
Let the horse go around
two to three circles and
then yield his hindquarters.
The longer you let the horse circle, the
more bored he will get and he’ll stop paying
attention to you. You’re not trying to tire
the horse out by letting him go around and
around. You want him to go around two or
three circles and then turn and face you before
going the other direction. It’s not the circling
that gets the horse’s respect, it’s the constant
change of direction that does.
Slide
To Yield the Hindquarters:
A. Slide your right hand down the
lead rope.
B. Bring your right hand toward your belly
button. The thumb of your right hand
should stab your belly button.
C. With your left foot take one big step
toward the horse’s tail. At the same time
swing the stick toward his hindquarters to
drive them away. Doing this will cause the
horse’s hindquarters to disengage away
from you so that he gives you two eyes.
Stab
13
Rub the horse’s face with the
Handy Stick when he yields
his hindquarters and faces you.
Rubbing the horse with the Handy Stick will
give him a chance to think about what he just
learned and will also encourage him to do it
again by offering him a little rest. Make sure
that you draw the horse up to the edge of your
hula hoop by combing the rope and having
your hands slide under the rope. You want
the horse to come up to the edge of your hula
hoop so you can rub him. Make his feet move
instead of moving your feet toward him.
Step
Instruction
Troubleshooting: Too Hot or Too Cold?
Hot, nervous horse?
Do more changes of
direction.
Lazy horse? Keep him going
around the circle longer
before you yield him.
Changes of direction slow a horse’s feet
down and get him to use the thinking
side of his brain. The last thing you
want to do with a horse that wants to
race around is let him keep building
up speed as he circles you. Constantly
make his feet change directions which
will get him to use the thinking side of
his brain.
Do less yielding and more going around
in the circle. The last thing you want to do
is keep shutting him down by making him
change directions. Get some hustle to his
feet before yielding his hindquarters. The
faster you make a lazy horse’s feet go, the
better attitude he will eventually have. The
slower you let him go, the more disrespectful
he will become.
Rub the horse’s face with the Handy Stick when he yields his hindquarters and faces you.
Make the OK
sign with your
left hand so that
you’re holding
the lead rope
between your
thumb and index
fingers. Then
fold all of your
fingers around
the rope so that
your knuckles
are on top. Your
thumb should be
pointing toward
your chest and
your little finger
should be the
closest finger to
the horse’s head.
14
15
Pass the Handy Stick under the
lead rope to your right hand, and
put the lead rope in your left hand.
Make the OK sign with your left
hand and grab the lead rope. Point up
high in the air with your left hand. If the horse
doesn’t respond with an energetic departure,
swing the Handy Stick in a large circle three
times toward his head and neck. If the horse
hasn’t moved by the time you finish swing
number three, tap him somewhere between
his jaw and shoulder on swing number four.
Keep in mind that it may take a lot more than
just a tap with the stick to get him to move
away from you. You may have to tap him on
the neck seven or eight times to get him to
move. Keep tapping/whacking as many times
as it takes to get the job done. Do it as easy as
possible, but as firm as necessary.
16
17
Follow the steps described above to
keep the horse moving energetically
in the circle and to yield his hindquarters.
Practice this exercise continuously
until the horse consistently trots off
when you point in the direction you want
him to go, and when you ask him to yield
his hindquarters, he readily disengages,
turns to face you and walks up to the
edge of your hula hoop to be rubbed.
This is a great exercise to get excess energy off
the horse and get really good control of his feet.
Direction before Impulsion
Remember, you have to steer the car before you put your foot on the gas pedal. You can’t
put your foot on the gas pedal if you’re parked in front of a tree. If the horse is facing you,
you can’t ask him to go forward because he’s not facing the right direction. You have
to steer the horse first—point up high with your lead rope to let the horse know which
direction you want him to go and then if necessary, swing the Handy Stick toward his head
and neck. Once he is going around, then you can speed him up by pointing and clucking,
and if he doesn’t respond, swing the Handy Stick toward his hindquarters. The hardest
thing to get people to understand is that you need to direct your energy toward the horse’s
head and neck to steer him away from you first. Most people want to put pressure on the
hindquarters to get the horse to go away from them. Remember, it’s front end for direction
and then hind end for impulsion.
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5 Mistakes to Avoid
When Dealing With Spooky Objects
Your job as a horse trainer is to desensitize
your horse to as many objects as you can.
Your horse classifies an object as anything
that doesn’t live in his stall or pasture. It’s
no longer an object if it lives in his stall or
pasture because he’s already familiar with it;
it’s become a part of his daily
routine. Horses especially hate
Desensitizing a horse teaches him to ignore
objects that move and make a
noise. So the more objects you
pressure, relax and keep his feet still. The
desensitize your horse to, the
quieter and more confident he’ll
more time you spend desEnsitizing your horse,
become. However, even if you
the calmer and more confident he’ll be.
spent every day desensitizing
your horse to new objects,
you’d never be able to desensitize him to
big chickens, they’d always rather run from
everything in the world. There’s always going
anything that frightens them instead of hanging
to be something that could potentially spook
around and fighting the danger. Mother Nature
him. That’s why it’s important to know how
says, “Run!” If the horse can’t escape the danger,
to handle the situation when your horse does
his only other option of survival is to fight.
spook at an object, whether that be crossing
He’ll kick, bite, strike or do whatever it takes to
water on the trail, fly spray, a plastic bag, the
survive the situation.
As a prey animal, your horse is naturally
cautious of the world around him. After all,
horses have survived millions of years by
relying on their flight or fight instincts—their
ability to flee a perceived danger or stay and
fight for their lives. Horses are what I call
“
”
112 - desensitizing mistakes
neighborhood kid riding his bike, etc. When
it comes to confronting a spooky object
or desensitizing their horses, most people
unknowingly commit the following mistakes.
Mistake #1: Forcing the
Horse to Confront the
Spooky Object
When a horse is frightened of an object,
the worst thing you can do is force him to
approach it. The more you say, “You WILL
accept the clippers,” the more nervous the
horse gets and thinks that there is a reason to
be scared of it. If you want your horse to use
the thinking side of his brain and relax rather
than reverting to the reactive side of his brain
and moving his feet, you have to stop being
the predator that takes a direct line approach,
and start thinking more like your horse—a
prey animal—that is cautious. Rather than
forcing the object on him, you’ll use a step-bystep method to desensitize him.
forward. Until they learn otherwise, most
people’s first reaction is to spur the horse’s
sides or spank him with the mecate to get him
to go through the water. A horse that is already
frightened and using the reactive side of his
brain gets even more upset when you try to
force him to confront the object that he’s scared
of, and it becomes an all-out battle to get him in
the water.
Instruction
Rather than forcing the horse through the
water, you can use the Approach and Retreat
Method to make crossing the water his idea. In
this example, you would ride the horse toward
the water and just before he stopped, you’d
stop him and retreat (back him away from the
water), which is the complete opposite of what
the horse thinks you’re going to do. He thinks
you’re going to force him to step in the water,
Whenever you desensitize your horse to any
object, you’ll always use the Approach and
Retreat Method. You’ll build his confidence by
approaching him with the object he is scared
of and then retreating by taking the object
away when he stands still and relaxes. It’s
important not to take the object away if the
horse is reactive and wants to move his feet.
Mother Nature says, “Are you crazy? Don’t
stand there, run! If you’re frightened, don’t
hang around, run!”
You’re trying to say, “Don’t listen to your
mother. When you get frightened, stand still
and relax.” You want the horse to realize that
the quickest way to get a scary object to go
away is to ignore it. For example, using the
Approach and Retreat Method you can teach
your horse to stand still and relax while you
clip him, apply fly spray or flap his body with
a plastic bag. You’ll teach him that if he stands
still and relaxes, the object will go away.
The same theory applies if you encounter
an obstacle on the trail that your horse is
frightened of. Let’s say you come across a
water obstacle and your horse plants his feet,
raises his head in the air and refuses to move
When you desensitize your horse, you’ll use the
Approach and Retreat Method. You’ll approach the
horse with the object, and then retreat when he keeps
his feet still and shows a sign of relaxing.
but rather than forcing him toward the scary
object, you’re backing him away from it. It’s
kind of like a cat and mouse game. The more
you say, “Don’t go, don’t go,” the more the horse
wants to get closer to the water. You build
up his curiosity until eventually, he’s calmly
walking through it and using the thinking side
of his brain.
Mistake #2: Being Sneaky
If you encounter an obstacle out on the trail, don’t force your horse
to cross it. Instead, use the Approach and Retreat Method to make
crossing the obstacle his idea. Here I’m retreating at the edge of the
water before Jillaroo has a chance to plant her feet and refuse to move
closer to it.
The more I practice approaching and
retreating the water, the calmer and more
confident Jillaroo gets until eventually she’s
willing to stand in the water.
114 - Desensitizing mistakes
Most people fail when it comes to desensitizing
their horses to scary objects because they’re
sneaky and overly cautious. They slowly walk
up to the horse with the object hidden behind
their back, and then very carefully try to touch
the horse with it. Of course the horse gets
scared and moves away because he assumes
that if you’re being cautious, you must have a
reason. I have a saying, “Heart attacks are free,
so give one to your horse.” Or in other words,
don’t tip-toe around your horse and be afraid
to scare him. In reality, trying to protect your
On a daily basis, I look for new objects to desensitize
my horses to and try to give them heart attacks.
desensitizing your horse, never take the object/
pressure away until the horse stands still and
shows a sign of relaxing. If you take the object
away while the horse is moving his feet and
using the reactive side of his brain, you’ll teach
him to be scared of the object. Instead of him
relaxing and standing still, he’ll think the
answer to getting away from the object is to
run. Using the Approach and Retreat Method,
you’ll teach the horse that if he stands still and
relaxes, the scary object will go away.
horse from objects he’s scared of only makes
the situation worse. As a trainer, your goal is to
desensitize your horse to as many objects that
move and make a noise as you can. You can’t
get that done if you’re afraid to scare him. When
I’m desensitizing a horse, if he wants to get
scared, that’s fine by me. Heart attacks are free.
As long as I’m in a safe position, I don’t care if
he has a heart attack.
In fact, on a daily basis, I try to scare my
horses with objects that move and make a
noise. Every time you desensitize your horse,
try to do it with more intensity and with scarier
objects. If you end up scaring him, that’s OK
because it gives you the opportunity to make
him quieter. If you can’t scare him, that’s good
too because it lets you know that you’re doing
a good job training him. The more objects
you desensitize your horse to, the bigger the
thinking side of his brain will get and the
calmer he’ll be. The more you try to scare a
horse, the quieter he’ll actually become.
Instruction
Remember that your horse is a prey animal
with the natural desire to run from anything
that scares him. You have to constantly
reinforce to the horse that the answer is not to
run from danger, but to stand still and relax.
In fact, you’ll prove to him that when he does
stand still and show a sign of relaxing, the
object will go away. You want the horse to think
that the only way he can feel safe is to stand
still and relax.
Mistake #4: Ignoring the
Spooky Object
When your horse spooks at an object or refuses
to cross an obstacle, don’t just ignore it and
move on. Deal with the object and teach your
horse not to fear it. As a trainer, you should
constantly be expanding your horse’s comfort
zone. Your horse’s comfort zone is made up of
the environment and objects he’s familiar and
Mistake #3: Taking the Scary
Object Away When the
Horse Moves His Feet
Timing, meaning when you release the
pressure is critical when training horses,
especially when desensitizing. When you’re
Only take the object away from the horse when
he’s standing still and showing a sign of relaxing
like cocking a hind leg. If he’s still moving around
or looking like he’s worried of the object, you can’t
afford to take it away.
If your horse spooks at an object like Bo is doing on the left, don’t just ignore it; fix the problem. By moving
the horse’s feet around the object, it won’t be long before he’s using the thinking side of his brain and calmly
passing it.
comfortable with. When you first start working
with a horse, his comfort zone will be very
small because he won’t have been exposed to
very many objects or situations. The more you
work with him and introduce new objects to
him, the larger his comfort zone will become.
For example, let’s say
you’re at a horse show and
are riding around the arena
during warm-up, and your
horse spooks at a sign on the
fence. Rather than ignoring
his behavior and letting it get
worse (ruining your chances of
doing well in your class), teach
him that the sign is nothing to
fear. You’ll do that by moving
his feet forwards, backwards,
left and right in front of the
sign. When a horse gets scared
of an object under saddle, I
love to do rollbacks in front of
the object because it quickly
The more objects you desensitize
your horse to, the bigger the
thinking side of his brain will be
and the calmer he’ll get.
gets him using the thinking side of his brain.
You’ll use the horse’s fear of the object to get
him to turn and roll back over his hocks, and
each time he turns and rolls back, the closer
he’ll get to the object. Horses can only think
about one thing at a time. So your horse will
Instruction
When horses are first approached with a new object, it’s normal for them to use the reactive side of their brain and resist you.
either be thinking about the sign, or he’ll be
thinking about moving his feet and paying
attention to you. The more you make him
move his feet, the more attention and respect
you’ll get from him. Eventually, the horse will
realize that doing rollbacks is much harder
than actually going by the sign, and he’ll stop
spooking and instead listen to you.
Mistake #5: Losing Your
Temper
Training isn’t about emotions or feelings, it’s
all business. It’s about how much the horse
tries. Resistance is normal, especially when
you’re introducing a new object to your horse.
It’s very common for the horse to move his
feet, raise his head or get nervous when you
first approach him with a scary object. Don’t
lose your temper when he resists you. Take
your time and work through the situation.
When horses are first approached with a new
object, it’s normal for them to resist for two or
three minutes because they know that in most
cases, their owners will give up first. Now, two
or three minutes might not sound like a long
time right now, but when you’re out with your
horse and he’s dragging you around trying to
get away from the object, two or three minutes
can seem like an eternity.
The majority of people quit desensitizing far
too early. Instead of remaining patient and
working through resistance, they give up.
Getting aggressive with the horse or losing your
temper isn’t the answer either. There’s no place
for emotion while training.
As soon as the horse starts to try, by standing
still and showing a sign of relaxing, retreat and
reward him. With repetition and consistency,
he’ll learn to relax as soon as you approach
him with the object. He’ll realize that the
longer he resists you and uses the reactive side
of his brain, the longer you’re going to keep
approaching him. The quicker he tries to do
what you want, the quicker you’ll reward him.
The Five Signs of Relaxing
To desensitize a horse you apply pressure
and continue to apply the pressure until
he stands still and relaxes. When a horse
relaxes, he’ll do one of five things.
1 Lick his lips
2 Lower his head and neck
3 Cock a hind leg
4 Blink his eyes
5 Take a big breath
When he stands still and shows one
of these signs of relaxing, you’ll retreat
and take the object away. Sometimes a
horse won’t show you any of these signs,
but as long as he stands still for fifteen
seconds, you can take the pressure away.
If a horse stands still for fifteen seconds,
he’s telling you that he’s not interested in
running. He may still be a little frightened
of the object, but he’s starting to use the
thinking side of his brain and has chosen
to stand still.
By using the Approach and Retreat Method, you’ll teach the horse that as long as he stands still and shows a sign of relaxing,
you’ll leave him alone.
Instruction
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Q&A with Clinton
Clinton answers your horse training questions posted on the NWC Forum.
Sending Exercise with a
Spooky Horse
Q
In your Sending Exercise (i.e. a tarp on
the fence), you send the horse between
you and the tarp. How do you control the horse
from “spooking” into you when he goes past you
parallel? I am worried mine would not hurry by,
but rather shy into me, especially if the wind
picked up a corner of the tarp as he passed by.
I’m just looking for safety issue here. – CindyG
A
Before teaching any horse the
Sending Exercise, make sure you have
covered each of the Fundamentals Groundwork
exercises that lead up to it. I laid out the Method
in the order that I did for exactly the reason
you mention – safety of the horse and rider,
and ease of learning. Once you have those
exercises down well, you can move on to the
Sending Exercise. When you initially teach the
horse the exercise, don’t incorporate a spooky
object – just teach him to get comfortable
moving between you and the fence. Once
he understands the concept of the exercise,
and you can send him through a 4-foot gap
between you and the fence, then you’re ready
to use the exercise as a de-spooking tool.
If the horse tries to push in on you, raise your
Handy Stick to protect your space and tap or
whack his neck away. You don’t want the horse
stepping inside of your personal hula hoop
space without being invited. To keep yourself
safe and to allow your horse to get comfortable
with the tarp or whatever object you’re trying
to desensitize him to, remember to find a good
starting point. Don’t try to send the horse in
between a 2 or 3 foot gap initially. Instead,
start 15 or 20 feet away from it and gradually
move closer to the object, building the horse’s
confidence. If you start with a small gap, it’s
likely the horse will panic and use the reactive
side of his brain and try to run over you to get
away from the tarp. You might have to start
the exercise 100 feet away from the object if
your horse is really frightened. It doesn’t matter
where you start, as long as you find a starting
point the horse can handle.
To watch me work with this problem firsthand,
view the Sending Exercise lesson on the
Fundamentals Groundwork Series or review the
Arena Mates. You may also see me use a tarp
and do the exact exercise in the Problem Solving
on the Ground and Under Saddle DVD series. It is
one of my favorite DVDs.
Kicking in the trailer
Q
Before using the Sending Exercise as a de-spooking tool, make sure your
horse is comfortable doing the exercise next to the fence.
120 - Q&A With Clinton
Champ (an eleven-year-old Quarter Horse
gelding) loads quietly and stands quietly in the
trailer until there is movement of any kind. This
could be closing the door, loading another horse,
etc. He doesn’t kick lightly - he goes after it! This
weekend he kicked hard enough to break the weld
on the stud wall divider! When he kicked - I used
my stick to smack his butt - that only worked until
I was out of the trailer. After time and a sore leg,
he finally stopped, but then started rocking the
trailer! When I stopped at a stop sign the whole
truck and trailer rocked! He worked himself into a
sweat and even lost some hide by all his nonsense.
Any ideas/help would be appreciated. – Sandi
Instruction
To cure your horse’s kicking
problem, you have to teach him
to crave the trailer. Put his feet to
work outside the trailer and then
let him rest inside the trailer.
A
Remember that horses are prey animals
and when made to go in tight, narrow
spaces – like a trailer – it’s natural for them
to feel trapped and claustrophobic. When a
horse feels trapped and claustrophobic, and his
ability to run and move his feet is taken away
from him, his only other option he feels he has
is to fight – kick, bite, strike or do whatever
he can to survive the situation. Because their
horses go on the trailer relatively easy, most
owners in your situation think, “It can’t be a
trailer loading problem, he goes on. It has to be
a kicking issue.” Just because your horse goes
on the trailer, doesn’t mean he’s comfortable
there. You have to teach him to crave the trailer
– thinking that it’s the best place in the world to
be. In order to do that, you’re going to work his
feet outside the trailer and let him rest inside
the trailer. You can do the Sending Exercise
with him or Lunging for Respect (it doesn’t
really matter what you do with him outside of
the trailer as long as you make his feet hustle
and change directions), and then after several
minutes, let him rest inside the trailer. If he
starts to kick, immediately back him out and
put his feet to work again. You can even load
him in the trailer and drive
around your property and
as soon as he starts kicking,
stop, unload him and make
him hustle his feet. If you’re
consistent, it won’t take long
for him to realize that standing
still and being in the trailer
is a good thing because if he
kicks, there’s nothing but hard
work waiting for him outside.
With repetition, he’ll learn
to stand still, not kick and
relax. Remember, he is kicking
because he really doesn’t want
to be in the trailer. If you can
get the horse to think the trailer is the greatest
place in the world to be, he will no longer
want to cause any problems in the trailer.
To learn how to teach your horse to crave the
trailer, review the Trouble-Free Trailering DVD
series in which I take you step-by-step through
the process and answer common trailering
questions.
Steering Difficulties
Q
I have a fourteen-year-old Haflinger gelding
named Buddy who has never done anything
but pull wagons. He’s not giving to the rein when
I direct. I tried a straight O-ring snaffle that is
used when he’s pulling, but that didn’t work. He
understands “stop” and “go” pretty good. It’s
turning to the right and left that’s the problem. We
use hackamores on our other horses, so I tried that
with him and it seemed to work better, but he still
has problems with left and right. He’s extremely
soft when he pulls. My question is would you think
that crossing the reins would help or would it just
add to the problem? He’s kind of desensitized to
squeezing to trot also. Some people have suggested
Follow the Fence is one of the steering exercises found
in the Fundamentals Series that will help you teach
your horse to follow his nose.
Follow the Fence and the Diagonals Exercise
that will teach your horse the basics of steering
and following his nose. My best advice is to
not worry about steering the horse when you
can’t even get him to go. Focus on getting a
good gas pedal and then worry about steering
him. You also need to teach him how to flex
on the ground with the halter, and when he
is good with it, use the snaffle bit both on the
ground and under saddle. And then practice
a million One Rein Stops at all three gaits.
Each of the lessons I mentioned is covered
in depth in the Fundamentals Series.
Patience Pole
Q
I have a seven-year-old Arabian mare named
Bella. I would like to know when I should use
the Patience Pole. Where should it be or not be?
Where can I read more or learn more. Thanks so
much Clinton for your time and patience. – Penny
A
spurs, but I’m not a good enough rider to use them
properly – I have diabetes and my feet are kind of
dead to feeling. Any suggestions? – Dean Barnwell
A
Before you worry about steering your
horse, you need to make sure he not
only moves forward when you ask him to, but
stays in the gait you set him at. I recommend
riding all horses in a snaffle bit and taking
them through the Method, starting at the very
beginning at the Fundamentals Level. Buddy
would especially benefit from the Cruising
Lesson – teaching the horse to move forward at
the trot and canter as soon as you lightly touch
his side with your leg and then maintaining
that gait until you tell him otherwise. This
whole exercise is done on a loose rein, letting
the horse go wherever he wants, which
teaches the horse to be responsible for his own
feet and teaches the rider not to constantly
micromanage the horse. Once you’ve mastered
the Cruising Lesson, then you can move on to
122 - Q&A With Clinton
I have a saying, “End each training
session by tying your horse up to the
‘Tree or Post of Knowledge.’” When you tie your
horse up after a training session, it teaches him
not only respect and patience, but gives him
a chance to think about and absorb what you
have just taught him. The very last thing you
want to do after a training session is get off
your horse, take him back to the barn, unsaddle
him, hose him off and put him in his stall to
eat. That just puts his focus more on getting
back to the barn than on thinking about his job.
If you get into the habit of tying your horse up
for two or three hours after you ride him, he
won’t be in such a hurry to get back to the barn.
The best solution I have found and personally
use with all of my horses is what I call a
Patience Pole. A Patience Pole is a 12-foot steel
pole set in concrete 4 feet deep in the ground
and 8 feet rising up perpendicular to the
ground. At the top is a hub, and welded to that
is a solid ¾-inch tube that extends down about
a foot and has a loop at the end for attaching
the horse’s lead rope or a heavy-duty chain. The
idea behind the Patience Pole is that if the horse
walks around the pole, the hub spins around.
So if the horse gets nervous and wants to move,
The Patience Pole allows a nervous horse to move his
feet, but at the same time, allows him to realize that
he’s not getting anywhere, so he might as well stand
still and relax.
he is more than welcome to move his feet, but
instead of going anywhere, he just goes around
in circles. After awhile, the horse realizes he’s
just defeating himself—no matter how much he
moves, he’s never ever going to go anywhere, so
he might as well stand still and relax.
Instruction
find yourself in dangerous situations. You
need to start at square one with your mare,
working with her in the roundpen to gain her
respect and get her to use the thinking side of
her brain. By working in the roundpen, you can
establish the fundamentals of respect without
being connected to the horse. Because you’re
not connected to the horse, she is able to get
further away from you, which makes the initial
training sessions much safer for you. Once
you’ve earned her respect in the roundpen, then
you can move on to basic groundwork exercises
like Desensitizing, Backing Up, Yielding the
Hindquarters and Lunging for Respect. The
more you can move your mare’s feet, forwards,
backwards, left and right, and reward the
slightest try, the more respect she’ll have for
you. Detailed steps to starting your mare in
the Method can be found in the Fundamentals
Series both on my instructional DVDs and in
Arena Mate lessons you can take to the barn.
To learn more about the Patience Pole, review
the 2009 Summer Journal article “Tree or Post of
Knowledge.” You can also purchase a Patience
Pole from Downunder Horsemanship and it
can be delivered right to your door! Visit the
website www.downunderhorsemanship.com for
more details.
Earning Respect
Q
I recently purchased a twenty-two-yearold Quarter Horse mare who is broke. She
has roped, barrel raced and been on the trail. I
had the vet check her out and she is very healthy.
She doesn’t look or act like she is twenty-two.
I have tried to get her respect on the ground.
My husband has worked with her also and she
just won’t give us respect. I don’t know if she is
just too old or what. Please help! -smain1040
A
Every horse can learn to be respectful
– no matter how young or old they are.
Horses are big, powerful animals and unless
you teach them to respect your space, you’ll
Every horse is capable of being a respectful partner. The best place to
start earning your horse’s respect is on the ground.
Most Valuable Lesson Learned from Clinton
Knowledge is the Answer to Keeping Your Cool
by DUH Team Member Rachelle Wilhelm
Since I started riding, I’ve never been very
good at keeping my emotions out of the mix,
whether it is to baby my horses and treat them
like my best buddies, or to get frustrated and
discouraged. For the most part, I didn’t view
using emotions when dealing with my horses as
a bad thing because I wanted my horses to like
me, they seemed to be well-behaved (or at least
they did what little I expected of them without
much trouble) and it helped me get through
some tough situations. It wasn’t until I took on
a new challenge in my horsemanship journey
that I realized my old way of thinking needed
major help.
I got my current mare, Val, in a roundabout
sort of way that didn’t turn out as I had initially
hoped. In exchange for working a local vet’s
horses for the summer, I was given a three-yearold mare. The catch was that she wasn’t started,
but part of the deal was that the vet would help
me break her. However, one thing led to another
and because of a job relocation, I found myself
alone with a barely started horse. Riding a broke
horse is one thing, but teaching concepts to a
three-year-old was a whole new game. While I
felt fairly competent on a broke horse, I didn’t
have a clue how to bridge that gap with Val. I
quickly realized that she expected me to be the
expert—something I wasn’t ready to be.
my temper make me do something I’d regret,
leave the ring in a huff, throw Val in her stall,
go cry in the tack room and then beat myself
up for the way I had acted. Then I’d run down
to the barn, feed Val a few treats and try to win
her affection. We didn’t get a whole heck of a lot
accomplished, and for awhile, neither one of us
enjoyed seeing the other. Luckily for me, I found myself being
interviewed for a position at Downunder
Horsemanship at a Walkabout Tour. It was
the first time I’d ever heard of Clinton or his
Method and at one point, he said, “Frustration
begins where knowledge ends,” and he went
on to describe how it’s normal to feel upset
and discouraged when you don’t have the
right knowledge. Even though what he said is
common sense, it opened a new way of thinking
for me because each of the times that I had
let my emotions take over it was because I
didn’t know what else to do. I had run out of
knowledge and had nothing to fall back on.
At first, everything was fine—we’d trot, canter
and practice basic guiding, but when it came to
time to move on, things got ugly. I wasn’t quite
sure how to teach her to do more advanced
maneuvers, and she had no clue what I was
asking her to do. To top it off, Val leans more
on the hot-blooded side of the scale and was
extremely reactive. Most of our sessions would
begin well enough, but as soon as I started
demanding more from her, she’d get confused
and immediately shut down on me and resort
to throwing her head up in the air, overreacting
and just getting jumpy. I’d get frustrated and
before long, we’d both be drenched in sweat
ready to kill the other.
Once I was honest with myself and gathered
the right knowledge, the things I was able to
accomplish in a short time amazed me, and
still do today. What I like best about the Method
is that I never run out of answers when I’m
working with Val now. No matter what we’re
trying to accomplish—sidepassing on the
ground or shoulder in/shoulder out, I know
step-by-step how I should ask her to execute
the maneuver and how she should respond. If
she doesn’t, instead of beating myself up for
making a mistake or getting frustrated at her,
there’s an answer waiting for me. It’s even true
when the unexpected occurs. Instead of her
spooking at something, and “sucking it up and
just riding through it” like I was taught to do in
the past, I now have the tools to not only fix the
problem, but make my horse a little smarter at
the same time. While Val and I still have a lot to
accomplish, and a long way to come in working
our way through the Method, we have a much
better partnership thanks to Clinton.
While I was no stranger to being on the back of
an unruly horse, the fact of the matter is there’s
a big difference between being on the back of
a broke horse acting up and being on one you
have very little control of. There were many
times I’d abandon my lessons for fear of letting
Each Journal, we’re featuring the most valuable
lessons you’ve learned from Clinton. In 800 words
or less, tell us the single most important thing
Clinton has taught you that has helped shape your
horsemanship. Submit your stories to
journal@noworriesclub.com.
124 - Most valuable lesson learned
Essential Tools to Aid in Training
6 City Tour to Discover the Method
Clinics to Learn the Method One on One
No secret formulas. No Magic. No fluff.
Clinton anderson’s method can teach any horseMAN
how to develop safe, responsive, and willing horses.
V I S I T clinton a nderson . com or D ownunderhorsem a nship. com for more info
Dear Clinton and Amy,
Dear Clinton,
Thank you so very much for sending the picture from the
clinic. It was a fantastic experience and Harley came home a
much better horse. I was really grateful for all the help from
your team. They were great. It’s too bad you weren’t around
about thirty years ago when I had to break all those race colts.
It would have been much easier on me if I had the knowledge
of your Method back then. Ya’ll keep up the good work.
Just wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed
the Las Vegas Walkabout Tour. It was great seeing
you work in person. I have been watching the
groundwork and riding DVDs for about two years
and have transformed my mustang, Hawk, into a
wonderful, respectful companion—the envy of the
stables.
This is my first horse. He was captured at about
two and a half years old. I got him at the age of four
as a gift. I got bucked off once, kicked in the chest
once and then learned about your training Method.
I worked with him on the ground for one year and
then started to ride.
Once again, thank you!
Glenda Clyne
He is now seven-years-old, I’m sixty-nine, and
we really enjoy each other thanks to you. We
still do exercises on the ground each day, and I
am still improving my skills thanks to the new
Fundamentals Series. Thanks for providing the tools that have made
horse ownership so special and rewarding.
Happy trails—it’s a good life!
Charles Rea
126 - Member letters
Clinton,
Hello,
I was at the stock horse show this weekend and noticed
that a little bitty girl kept staring at me and grinning.
Later that day, her daddy walked up and asked if my
horse was from Downunder Horsemanship based on
Rio’s brand. I proudly said, “Yes.” He proceeded to tell
me that he didn’t notice the brand, but his four-year-old
daughter did. She ran up to me with a giant grin. The dad
said she thinks Clinton Anderson is the greatest! They
even took her to meet you and had you autograph her
little book sack. How sweet is that story?! The power of a
good reputation and a strong brand. Good people deserve
success. Congrats.
This weekend my husband and I went on a large
trail ride with a dozen or so other riders. During the
six-hour ride, we received numerous questions and
compliments, all wanting to know how we get our
horses to behave so well and be so relaxed on the
trail ride. Most of the questions came from people
riding jigging horses or the ones that just couldn’t
stand it if they weren’t the lead horse. Along the way
we explained what we felt was THE BEST training
program on the market, with our horses as solid proof
that it works. Several people asked if we would be
interested in taking their horses for training to make
them behave like ours. We patiently explained that it
took more than thirty days for the “miracle” to happen
and that the owner had to understand and enforce
the lessons that lead to a nice, quiet trail horse. I
got the feeling that most of them just weren’t ready
to make the commitment, just in case their Little
Fluffy wouldn’t love them anymore if the rules were
enforced!
Take care,
Kathy (owner of Signature
Horses Jill and Rio)
Hello!
I would like to take a minute to say thank you for all that
you do for your No Worries Club members! I absolutely
love the No Worries Club. Where else can you go for great
training hints and support from other people who share a
great love for horses and who strive to have a wonderful
and trusting relationship with their horses? Thank you!
I bought my six-year-old Appaloosa gelding Drifter from
a horse rescue/dealer. He was a good horse when I bought
him, but he really needed a little fine tuning. He’s turning
out to be a great horse. We still have riding issues, but I’m
gaining the confidence that I need to get out there and go,
thanks to Clinton’s Method!
After the ride, we tied our horses up to the trailer and
went across the camp area to eat lunch. Each time
we glanced over to check on the horses, they were
standing with heads down, legs cocked and eyes half
closed. Again, our riding companions asked what the
secret was. Their horses were pawing, rearing and
whinnying, even after the long ride. I explained that
the secret was that our horses knew that they could
very well be facing another six-hour ride and it is better
to rest and be “invisible” rather than draw attention to
some excess energy that needs to be worn off!
I think that my biggest reward is when I see my horse
standing there quietly, looking like an old roping horse
tied to a fence hoping not to be noticed. That alone
makes him shine in my eyes!
Traci Woodard
Tracy McCormick
Susan Hastings – Texas
Amber Corona – Missouri
Julie Goldsberry – Louisiana
Karren Brown – Alberta, Canada
Melinda Fox – Texas
Michelle Osgood—Vermont
Sandy Anderson - Texas
128 - Member Photos
Desiree Britt - Texas
Jane Cowley – Tennessee
Jennifer Robinson – Texas
Karen Trolson – Washington
Nora Wolfe - Oregon
Phil Mason – Idaho
Terry Hamrick – Texas
Whitney Kincaid – Missouri
Member to Member:
Pillamindi Doll
Your thoughts on the retirement of Mindy and the special bond
her and Clinton have shared over the years.
adfrasier: I am so very
grateful I had the opportunity
to see that beautiful animal
a few years back. She's
one of a kind! The bond
between Clinton and Mindy
is so beautiful, and I am so
thankful that he shared her
with us. May Mindy enjoy her
retirement, and Clinton enjoy
many fun, no pressure rides
on his number one girl.
SGill: Retirement on a
beautiful Texas ranch with
a family that loves you...
priceless. Good choice,
Clinton.
Cbecker: Happy days in the
pasture, Mindy. Thanks for
inspiring us to get our horses
to be just like you. You have
been an excellent role model.
JanetL612: It is amazing how
one little mare has touched
so many hearts! She is one
of the greats in this industry
and will be remembered that
way through the years. She
is the kind of horse that I will
tell my kids and grandkids
about. What a superstar team
her and Clinton made. They
inspired a generation.
Jewel: I cried when Clinton
announced Mindy's
retirement (not that the girl
doesn't deserve it!), but it’s
hard not to tear up when they
are so wonderful to watch
together AND he is getting a
bit choked up!
130 - Member to Member
Patty Cakes: The times I
have seen Clinton and Mindy
together have been magical!
Their love and their bond that
they share is beyond anything
I have seen.
zimmerdogs: I remember the
first time I saw Clinton with
Mindy I think almost six or
seven years ago in Oregon.
It was before I even had my
horse. I still have the ticket
stub. Clinton was so young
and skinny, and I got all
choked up when he worked
Mindy. I think that’s why we
are all so fond of her—Clinton
and Mindy were together at
the beginning of his career.
tkdmom: Mindy is truly a
magnificent horse and the
two of them together is sheer
bliss! Thank you Clinton and
Mindy for such a beautiful
farewell performance!
Ellen: It’s bittersweet that
her time in the spotlight has
come to an end. It reminds
me of what a true horseman
Clinton is, not so much the
fact that he is a great trainer
and incredible teacher, but
that he just simply, sincerely
LOVES this mare.
wild bill: I will admit that
when Clinton retired Mindy,
we all got a little choked up.
If you stop for a second and
think about it, the best horseman in the world, telling the
world that the best horse he's
ever known will not ever be in
the public arena again—it was a
moving moment.
HiddenValleyRanch: I think
Mindy, for many of us, was the
first glimpse of what IS possible
in a horse/human relationship.
In a way, we all "grew up" or at
least "grew" in our horsemanship seeing what she could
do. Thanks for Inspiring the
Dreams of Horsemen everywhere, Mindy. Enjoy your retirement—YOU DESERVE IT, LADY!!!
Banjo’s Mom: The first time
I saw her was in Vegas. I had
tears in my eyes taking in her
beauty and grace. I had more
tears when I witnessed her retirement. It was very emotional;
I have never seen anything like
Clinton and Mindy. It was not
tricks to wow the audience; it
was a relationship and a beautiful dance. I will never forget it.
Whim: I applaud Clinton for doing what is best for Mindy. I am
sure it was a very tough decision and it is going to be hard
not to have her at the tours. She
was one of the main reasons I
went to the tours. Sorry Clinton—Mindy out trumped you.
LOL! She is a true testament to
the Method.
Obtain specialized training information delivered to your doorstep
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through the exclusive No Worries Club forum. Join today mate!
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MEMBERSHIP INCLUDES
•8 information packed DVDs
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•Up to 50% off tack and DVDs
(priced as marked)
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•
worries
Journal
131
D ow n u n d e r h o r s e m a n s h i p.cFALL
o m 2010
• - No
88
8 - 2 8 7 -74
32
2285 N US HWY 377 • Stephenville, TX 76401
Discover the
Method
It only takes two days to become a
better horseman. Begin your journey
toward real horsemanship, attend a
Walkabout Tour stop near you.
MAY 7-8Rancho Murieta, CA
June 4-5
ST. Paul, MN
July 16-17Seattle, WA
Aug 27-28Columbus, OH
Oct 15-16
katy, TX
Dec 10-11
Scottsdale, AZ
remaining 2010 tour date:
Nov 6-7, 2010 Murfreesboro, TN
Presented by
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OVER $6,000 IN PRIZES GIVEN AWAY AT EACH TOUR STOP!
children 12 and under admitted free.
D ow n u n d e r h o r s e m a n s h i p.c o m
•
8 8 8 - 2 8 7-74 3 2

Vegas tourcation - No Worries Club

Transcription

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