ClintonA....

becdubie · ClintonA....

So a friend gave me a couple Clinton Anderson DVD's to watch. I just watched one titled "exercises for the trail"
This is the first time I've watched him.
His plan to get a 'broke horse"
Long Rides, Wet Saddle Blankes and concentrated training (arena stuff)

he said " A tired horse is a Good horse"
...NOw I know a lot of good horses that aren't tired.

Watching this DVD did give me a lot of ideas on things I can do with Bubba now that we are venturing out of the arena etc...but I'm not sure I want him looking like CA's horse. The colt he was riding...had his chin tucked to his chest almost the entire time. CA had a fairly loose rein but the colt still tucked his nose in and was sort of staring at the ground even when he was circling him around the trees at a trot...Even when he let him go straight for a little while or was even just standing there it was like there was an ivisible wall preventing him from bringing his nose out to a natural position ever.

His horse had a look on his face that was like, well "THIS SUCKS, I HATE THIS GUY, I CAN'T WAIT UNTIL THIS IS OVER AND HE LEAVES ME ALONE"

Plus that guy just talks too much and bends the horse ever 3 seconds...

Not impressed.

alexwein

Hmmm, was going to say something, but I have nothing good to say about this fellow, so maybe best to keep my thoughts to myself. Except maybe to give you the good advice I've been given recently: "trust your instincts"!

PasoBaby_CarolU

Our Back Country horse group watches his DVDs in the winter when we aren't discussing rides. I find there is a lot to learn, a lot to overlook, and a lot to wish you didn't see. When Alayna was where we watched some Clinton on RFDTV. We finally turned it off. IMO he hits young horses too much and flexes older horses too much.

But, he did have some good things on the DVDs about barn-sour horses, helping horses learn to turn, using things along the trail for training, etc.

Just like most anything else, you have to pick through a lot of fertilizer to find a flower.

ElaineW

don't like him
he looks rude and unfeeling..
yeah a horse needs boundries,,
but there's no reason to do some of the
things I have seen him ..
i know a couple students of his program,, they have
jumpy horses that run around them 10000000 miles a hour.
actually looks dangerous to me.

But that's me, and my opinion only.. not ment to make anyone feel the way I do.. just saying...

Jack

I like Clinton Anderson for many different reasons. He's pretty well thought of in the reining business. Clinics are just a small part of what he presents to the horse world. He has an excellent breeding program and unlike many clinicians, he competes himself.

Here he is winning a OVRHA event.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ocp3qwGoJ3k

Jack

BuffaloBill

I bought two DVDs of his No Worries Club. There are things to learn from them, but all in all I didn't like it much.
The first DVD was Regaining Confidence - about two women back into horses after decades. He mainly showed them how they could keep the horses at a distance to stay safe etc. What I didn't like about it was I couldn't see any phases at all, the horses were surprised by a phase 4 (to speak in Parelli terms) out of nothing without warning. Out of nothing he showed the women how to hit the rope with the end of the stick - hard. Of course it was effective, and I thought this was because he was dealing with these unconfident women who simply wanted to stay safe.

the second dvd was about trail riding with a pulling horse. there he showed how to bend the horse again and again, and he does it with his own horse all the time - I understand the purpose, but I couldn't understand why he doesn't stop it when the horse reacts (his own) at once and soft. He simply does it something like automatically, while he's speaking etc. All of the time. I simply couldn't see a reason why one should do this again and again and again.
Another thing was the tiny circles around trees with the horses nose on his chests - this was unnecessary and rollkur western-style.

His horses seem very obedient and his riding is effective, but there's no art in it.

Also, he said again and again in the trail-riding dvd that the horse should learn to hate to go (the horse hat too much go) and should learn to think "please let's stop" - I didn't like this kind of definition of his aim.

Sunnypony

I'm member of his No Worries Club (I was curious

).

I often think that Parelli is just "Parelli Pony Club Flower Power Love" and Clinton Andersons stuff is good for me to balance that. I think he's mostly a common western trainer and for those people who don't have access to a western trainer his stuff could be a good possiblity to learn. I think it's an effective programm for those who want to ride western and don't have a too special horse.

What I like most is that his club is more familiar than the Savvy Club, there aren't so much members and you can discuss there and aks questions to CA. I also love that there are no levels in his program.

What I don't like is, that you can't watch older DVDs there (like the back issues in the Savvy Club), you can just watch about 250 TV Shows and you can download the older magazines.
His magazines aren't as good as the Savvy Times, but there are always 1 or 2 really nice articles in it.

becdubie

My friend and I are sharing DVD's so she will get a dose of Parelli and I Clinton.
She will benefit from Linda's L1 (she has no phases and doesn't understand how to be nuteral) and I can learn some things from Clinton...I'm sure...things I don't want, things I do want.
So far about 1/2 way through the "Exrcises For The Trail" all he has done is talk about running circles around trees...I was even FFWing to get to someting different. Felt bad for that colt he was riding..he (the colt) looks miserable. I do have to say that in Parelli land at least the horses have nice expressions on their faces and the horse is allowed to relax a little.
He does seem to expect more from his horses quicker...doesn't talk about any kind of bond or relationship with the horse (that I've heard yet). Sort of seems to treat the horse like a tool....I definately see he is competition oriented.
I'm trying to learn to be more persistent and to ask more of Bubba at higher speeds so maybe watching him will help me find a balance. If I can stand to listen to him talk non stop...I hate his stupid stories....they seem made up to me.

whisperingwindfarms

Outside of dissing him regularly for advocating The Vice Breaker, I have learned a lot from him. I rarely like anything he does while he has a stick in his hand, but his trailer loading is excellent and some of riding exercises have helped me tremendously.

I started with Pat mostly because I liked Pat's personality better than I like Clinton's - that remains the same. Nevertheless, he offers much to those who are looking for it. My favorite saying of his is: "Heart attacks are free. Let me give you one!".

becdubie

I'm watching another one about riding in a group. Now I notice that CA ALWAYS does a one rein stop with a flex to both sides. Appears to overflex...but I don't know maybe I'm missing the point of why he does it.

I don't do that with Bubba. I do practice it and make sure he will flex but I prefer he just stop when I stop riding and say Whoa and if he stops..then good I don't need to flex him all the way....
example: Here I did pick up onone rein, then he stopped so I didn't flex him....VIDEO CLICK IT

Does your stop always include a major flex?

Sunnypony

I never stop with a lat. flexion (except in dangerous situations, for example if my horse spooks) because it's not necessary

PasoBaby_CarolU

I don't stop with flexing either, but like Nancy, I train it. I do stop with one rein though.

I found that if you stop one side of the horse, the other side stops too.

bit

I tend to agree with Carol, you can learn good things if you can sift through the manure. I'd rather learn from someone who reallly gets horses, is kind to them, kind to the humans and teaches good horsemanship. Went to his tour stop a couple of years ago in KC. Trailer loading looked more like abuse, and poor horse was exhausted. She went in the trailer to get away, to save her life. It wasn't pretty. I guess I don't see connection, just obedience with his horses.

Jack

I believe Clinton Anderson is responsible for the revival of Kel Jeffries method of colt starting. I've found it to be a very useful "bridge" between ground work and the first ride. How would you compare this method to some of the more traditional ways of first mounting a young colt?

When I begin with a new rider I always begin with "lateral flexing" at the stand still. I sure get tired of saying, "pick up, reach down and pull to your hip", but I know how important this lesson is to the beginner. I myself use lateral flexing a lot when I start working with a new horse. I want the horse to understand that I "can" stop him whenever I want, and have found that this understanding results in a horse that stops willingly at all gaits, including the gallop, with little use of the reins. This of course is assuming that the horse is paying attention to the rider. When a horse is in a reactionary pattern I automatically use lateral flexing to control the horse until he returns to a thinking state. I find this ability is very important for my own safety.

Whether you like him personally or not, Clinton Anderson does have a lot of good information to offer the inexperienced horse owner. Like Parelli, that is his targeted audience. One must recognize that "exaggerate" the lesson is a big part of what is done at these type of clinics.

Jack

becdubie

Good point Jack...the DVD's I'm watching are are in fact teaching DVD's for his no worries club. I'll be sure to keep that in mind.

cynthia peterson

Because CA was close to me (down the road 15 miles) I actually seen how to do Parelli better then some Parelli info I had at the time (just the old Levels) To say CA and Linda P would be the two extreme examples of opposite of what I thought Pat was teaching would be the right word. (Too tough, too soft) CA was better to begin with, I think years of teaching hardened him. I think Pat said something like he thought he would be teaching "alligator" hunters to begin with (experienced cowboys) and it was hard for him to scale down to his customer base, women and beginners. Pat Parelli handled this much better. I don't think CA wanted to stay at that, resents it, and he has the talent to go and win and "gets" to be in that world. He has a excellent seat, of course youth does help, and he does do things precisely, to the good and the bad. His Material and DVDs are extremely well done, cover everything and are well filmed (he had something like 3 professional camera men doing them, even in the beginning) He also can keep on his format, he has no Linda or Mark to direct him. That can be good or bad. His constant bending is his downfall. A little, yes, but it seems to be a thing with him to overdo things. Still, he has things to learn from, taking with a balanced mind, and temper it with Parelli and it may work. I think Linda said something like CA "rode with them" one summer when asked if he "did" Parelli. I do like his other sources too. Still the too tough thing going on. I will not go into how I know this.....

Still, the man is a marketing Genius. He seems to run the whole thing himself. He never had to have wives to further his program. (and watch the money) And he never had to have someone buy part of the business to bring money in. You have to hand that to him. Of course his advertising assc. like the vice breaker (a shocking collar like the dog collar) is disturbing.

jackspark

Like him and his material. I have been to several tour stops and he has always given me time to talk to him and been gracious. I have learned a lot from him and credit his direction to undoing a lot of my Parelli misconceptions. He was a good balance to the Linda Levels, for me.

Nobody is ALL good or ALL bad. If you want to find good things, you will.

cynthia peterson

jackspark: Yes, I would concur CA is the flip side of Linda Parelli. I think it is important to point out again that CA could be his own man, he didn't have to have a buyout or a wife to chip in with direction.

I would say I think Pat is more like CA then Linda. Maybe we can all learn from the three. Kinda' like the three bears story.

jackspark

learningthedance

I love his horse Mindy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAHxbnQpSss

Jack

Clinton apprenticed under Al Dunning though he doesn''t seem to mention him as a mentor. He recently did a RFD show with Gordon Mckinley, who he always mentions as his teacher.

On another recent show, he was teaching a mare to sidepass (groundwork) when an audience member asked him how he taught the horse to sidepass towards him. He agreed to show how he did it but first asked the questioner, "why would you want to do that?". His feeling was that most people don''t need to teach the horse to "push" towards them but rather need re-enforcement of keeping the horse away.

I thought that was a good point, and believe he recognizes a lot of what he does as "showmanship" (circus?) to please the crowd and not something that is really needed to have a good horse. I appreciated his canter in mentioning how unneccessary sidepassing towards the handler is and also enjoyed watching him display his skills as he achieved it.

Jack

jackspark

Interesting. I wonder what the beef was with Dunning. He either mentions Jefferies or McKinnley as mentors. I've never heard him talk about anyone else.

PasoBaby_CarolU

Clinton also spent several weeks with Larry Whitesell learning Gaited Horsemanship. He then did his own DVD set on how to get gait. He didn't credit Larry either.

Al Dunning is one of my favorites. His old tapes are what I still use for Reining training.

jackspark

I have watched that DVD set and got some fairly good info from it. I guess ya never know what goes on between clinicians or mentor-mentee relationships