https://downunderhorsemanship.com
My girlfriend, best friend, and horse pal said come on over you have to see this trainer. I had always followed her lead when it came to training, especially with the humbling experience in New Mexico. Sometimes it didn’t work out for the best and they just loved taking our money for mediocre lessons, but I’m glad I listened to her this particular day. So, we sat and watched Clinton Anderson for the first time. This trainer made fun of owners treating their horses like children and had an entertaining no-nonsense method of training we hadn’t seen before. She had ordered the first set of his training DVD Round Penning, Groundwork, etc. We watched completely entertained and jumping with excitement to go out to the barn and try it out! Well, that lasted about 5 minutes before we were back inside watching the same material over again. The first time we were laughing the second, third, and fourth times we were paying close attention to the instruction. Then we recruited Mike S, who would watch the videos along with us and follow us out to the round pen. One at a time he watched and coached us while he would sit on the ATV outside the round pen, ( he’s a paraplegic) and tell us we were being “Nagy Mother’s” or “Hey, your horse is flicking a cigarette butt at you!” He became full of Clintonisms. Clinton has a way of calling you out that instead of being offended, you’re laughing along. The day each of our horses gave us two eyes while changing direction was amazing! We were completely worn out chasing the horse, and swinging the stick, but it worked!! There were days I didn’t think I could teach this animal anything! I’m not a horse trainer! Or what was I thinking.?!?!
I mentioned in an earlier blog my horse was head shy. Using Clinton’s approach and retreat method and a lot of time, the head shyness is all but extinct! Desensitizing him to plastic bags, rain slickers, and anything we could think of. Using the sending exercise to make him walk over tarps and logs. We may have done things back then a little out of order, and our grades would have probably been C’s at best. Nonetheless, we were loving it.
The Method worked and continues to work, we found a Trainer! You can checkout Clinton Anderson and Downunder Horsemanship at: https://downunderhorsemanship.com/discover/the-method/
Geography and Horses
We were having a great time, and finally, Clinton was doing a California clinic we could go and see. Rancho Murrietta, CA. We were so excited. We purchased tickets for the weekend, talked about the Wineries we could go to after, and deciding which lovely Temecula hotel to stay at. Oops, just one problem. Rancho Murietta is not located in Southern California just outside of Temecula. A few days before the clinic and trying to set up our hotel rooms we found out that Rancho Murietta is located in Central California, just outside of Sacramento! So instead of a two-hour drive down to Temecula, we were now looking at about a 7-hour drive. Luckily we are pilots! Ok, so our “cheap” weekend now involved the cost of flying and a renting car.
What a great show! To see him in person and working with ill-behaved horses, watching him and Mindy was breathtaking! His showmanship kept you drawn in. I just kept thinking that’s what I want to achieve! We watched and learned. Seeing him in person doing the same exercises we were trying to do really solidified the whole thing. It fueled our fires to get out there and work with our horses!
Next time we’ll double check the map before we sign up!