I would like to prove a point to a friend of mine. I will not be disclosing my position or my friend’s position on the matter. Just a little experiment.
I need your unfiltered, completely honest opinions of Clinton Anderson’s training methods.
I don’t care for his “methods” at all. I wouldn’t spend a dime to buy any of his DVDs, etc. A total hack.
Does anyone call him Clint, rather than Clinton.
Unfiltered. That’s easy!
The guy was fired from reining trainers for a reason.
The horses he does show go to a reining trainer, not him.
Hate the over bent rubber necking. There is no subtly to his cueing even on a broke horse.
He came thru here twice, our 4H group had free tickets to go watch him.
He is a good, effective trainer, he is on the too quick and rough side, demands utter attention from his horses and doesn’t mind to push them hard until they comply.
He overbends his horses way too much, which he can correct because he is such an aggressive rider, but it tends to get the less skilled or experienced ones he teaches in trouble with that, horses then learning to cheat on them.
For us, it was a learn what to do and why and learn what not to do and why while watching him.
You can learn from anyone, some really like what he does and apply it to their own training, others just won’t go there, they train without needing to fight horses at all and more quietly, liking their horses attentive, but not jumpy and bug-eyed.
Compared with, say, the Parelli group, that are clueless, CA at least knows what he is doing and where he is going with his training, didn’t invent fuzzy terms and concepts to fill what he didn’t know.
I can’t stand him.
He get obedience at all costs…and to me, the horses he has worked with have “dead eyes”.
The term “learned helplessness” is a good fit for the horses I’ve seen after many people who emulate him are done with them.
I particularly don’t like how his methods blend with warmbloods. All the fast turn backs blow their hocks and minds.
Give me Tom Dorrance anyday.
I think he goes too long and too hard on horses in each ‘training’ session. A horse submitting because it is totally physically and mentally exhausted is not true horsemanship.
I could “tolerate” him for amusement purposes only…until I saw him “retrain” an event horse/jumper. Sickening! I’ve never watched him since then!! He should stick with western horses if he must!! He knows NOTHING about English horses!!
He’s a bully and I can’t stand him or his methods.
I’d rather shove sand in my eyeballs than watch him. He’s a nasty bully not a trainer
I would not send a horse I hated to that man…
I know very little about him or his methods, but that “patience pole” creeps me out!! A 10’ ish metal pole cemented into the ground & you clip the shank to the top? And walk away? Thanx, no. Sounds like a recipe for disaster!
I do get the concept behind it, but I’ll pass
Actually the patience pole is a good concept. It allows the horse to fidget without getting into trouble. It teaches them to stand tied and wait patiently. You don’t just walk away, you stay where you can monitor the horse.
I do think he’s too rough and works too much on the bending and yielding thing.
What Bluey said. If you do a Google search, you will find that he has consistently performed well competitively through the years. He was one of the first NH trainers that I was exposed to, and I do feel that there is some merit to his methods. But he goes further and faster with a horse than I do. I prefer a quieter, more gentle approach.
Thank you all, exactly the types of responses we are looking for. Keep em’ coming!
If you are going to do a session or program with him, you and your horse need to be VERY fit going in. He works both horse and human hard.
That said, there was a day when horses and people were both more fit than they are now, on average. He comes from a particular culture that way, and it aligns his expectations. Horses that are fit enough stand up to it ok.
I think he’s effective without being extreme, in most cases. Occasionally he pushes much harder and goes faster than I would.
I’m more than a little concerned that some of his proteges that work on his ranch - maybe most of them - don’t know where the line is. CA has an expensive program for turning out certified-type trainers. They do a lot of the work on training-board horses. They expand the number of horses that go through that program, and it’s caused the program to expand beyond the point of really effective oversight, imo.
I respect that he expects a good general base both on the ground and over obstacles from all horses, regardless of discipline. He emphasizes core skills that are general in nature and athleticism, as a base to build toward whatever discipline.
I consider his methods a blend, based in NH but using a lot of traditional methods as well.
CA is not ever going to be everyone’s cup of tea, and that’s probably more true of him than other NH trainers because he has a much higher expectation of training and work level. Many of the others are preparing horses and humans for a fairly soft life together. CA is not on that program, not even a little bit.
Bottom line, CA is training WORK horses, not pets. Not just a few maneuvers and tricks, but hard working horses and riders at any discipline. I’d say don’t even look his direction unless that aligns with your riding and goals. If it does, you might get something from his program. There are other effective NH trainers with much easier programs, though.
Although I MIGHT go to CA with me & horse together (if I could afford it), I would NEVER EVER send a horse to his program without me. It’s too much of a training mill without sufficient consideration for horses as individuals, imo. It can be useful with me there to draw a line and say ‘stop’ if I consider it necessary, but otherwise I don’t have enough trust in the experience the horse will have on its own.
If you are looking for a certain type of program in that general area, Chris Cox is definitely worth a look. He’s in Mineral Wells, I think about 45 minutes from CA. He’s older (I think) and also from a western reining-type tradition. Cox is a bit more traditional in method overall, but uses the soft, communications and trust-oriented training methods. He doesn’t approach it with the aggressive attitude of CA. He’ll work with anyone on general horsemanship, but trains and schools for western riding.
Cox has done an amazing job of opening the minds of some old coots in the ranching end of western riding to using more effective communications with their horses. He can get through to hard-minded people who didn’t know they wanted to learn something. The horses have benefited greatly.
Cox handles a LOT of horses, but overall his facility and operation are much smaller and more traditional than CA. Much. More of a basic ranching orientation, less show biz, although Cox does a lot of showing.
Cox has done some videos showing that a horse with a good mind and proper basics can basically do anything, even if it is outside its training discipline.
[QUOTE=CopperFoxFarm;8889266]
I know very little about him or his methods, but that “patience pole” creeps me out!! A 10’ ish metal pole cemented into the ground & you clip the shank to the top? And walk away? Thanx, no. Sounds like a recipe for disaster!
I do get the concept behind it, but I’ll pass[/QUOTE]
IMO…The Patience Pole is a good thing. It is just a way to tie a horse safely, to let them learn to chill out.
It has a swivel at the top and a rope/chain (owners choice) you attach the lead to. That lets a horse walk 360* around the pole. There is no chance of winding the rope around the pole, and snubbing the horse. It is 10ish feet tall because then you can have all size horses using it.
As we all know, good judgement must be used as to how long a horse is left tied and what the weather conditions are.
Arrogance and machismo don’t have a place in horse training, and that’s clearly reflected in his horses’ dead eyes and bodies screaming for relief.
Short answer: His name makes me cringe.
Longer answer: for the full run-down on what I witnessed, check out this post from last year. I’m very sorry to say I never followed up with angry letters, mainly because I ran into some unexpected health issues. All cleared up now, but busy worrying about other things in life. http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/showthread.php?469717-Proud-member-of-the-Clinton-Anderson-quot-Tree-Hugger-Club
