Has anyone subscribed to the monthly or lifetime access to the Tristan Tucker Method website? Do you think it was a worthwhile investment?
Iām not sure about the things on his website butā¦ The farm I used to work for would fly Tristan in a couple times a year for a private clinic to work with staff and youngsters. I got to spend a lot of time with him (I was usually who picked him up from the airport) and audited a lot of his sessions. He is a great guy and I LOVE that his methods actually work out there in the real show world. Horses seemed to genuinely like him and his training
I purchased the videos before he switched to the monthly thing. Iād wait until there is a ālifetime accessā deal so that you donāt have to pay forever.
Yes, I find his method useful and the videos valuable. I also follow Warwick Schiller and get different things from each.
Between them, theyāve changed the way I interact with horses, and the way my horse behaves. You canāt un-see this stuff. On New Yearās I watched my horse calm himself down ā he knows where relaxation is, and heāll put himself there. And I help by not reinforcing his initial switch to high alert.
There are many good trainers out there, these arenāt the only ones, they just happen to have popular online communities and publicity. None of this is new or groundbreaking either. But Tristan in particular does have the creds to bring it to the English crowd, which historically has not been very open to the rope twirling set. 
Thatās really changing though. For example Elisa Wallace does videos and you can see the groundwork she does with the Mustangs. And when I go to shows I can pick out various riders in warmup using these methods.
I always joke that it took a reiner to get me to understand that the brakes are NOT in the reins and bit, and to be comfortable riding around on a loose rein or even in a halter. I would never have been comfortable doing that before Warwick.
180916_5329 by Wendy, on Flickr
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Going back a couple years ago I watched everything of his I could find that was free - and thereās lots out there really. It helped me with a complicated horse I took on a few years ago. And, if you sign up and give them your email they will send you free vids to watch and special offers.
I finally did the lifetime subscription around Christmas time (they had a 30% off special) and am really enjoying following the training program. He is very thorough, slow in explaining things, and even demonstrates with horses that are just being introduced to the concept. I find it to be money very well spent.
I got a lifetime subscription a few years ago when I was trying to āfixā a traumatized horse. I was unable to fix her, but Iām glad I have the subscription. He has added a lot of content since I first got the membership, and so I keep getting more content for free. Iām using it now that I have a young warmblood, and Iām glad itās there whenever I need it. There are lots of bonus videos like trailer loading, teaching Spanish Walk, stretching the shoulders, going to a show and case studies. The trailer loading was especially helpful. I find that some of the methods western trainers use donāt work well on warmbloods, so I appreciate that Tristanās methods do. My mare can be quite a turd, and I think I would have struggled a lot more with training her to load without using his method.
I tend to do the math on these things by thinking about the value I get out of lessons. I pay $85 for a 45 minute lesson, and I think I paid around $250 for the TRT subscription. Am I getting as much value as I would from 3 lessons? I would say definitely yes.
One thing I really like about his approach is thatābased on the YT videos Iāve watchedāhe gets the relaxation and focus working in hand or on a lead, without whirling horses around in a round pen. I always worry about possible damage to hocks etc. esp. with young horses let alone big-strided WBs being extensively roundpenned.
Definitely worth it. Tristan Tucker and Warwick Schiller are the two sites Iām very happy to pay to access, and get a TON of value out of.
