I’ve never been lucky enough to buy ‘ready-made’ horses, and I’ve never been able to afford to send horses away for training when problems arose – all I can afford is lessons once a fortnight, or once a week when we have some extra money. Because of this I have to deal with setbacks, tricky situations, and even outright resistance on my own quite often, which made me decide to keep an open mind, and try to learn about horses, horsemanship, and training methods from anywhere I can – including different disciplines such as western, racing and even Spanish bullfighting. I’m preparing a series of posts – each focusing on a separate discipline - that looks into techniques, ideas and training tips that I found useful over the years.
The first discipline I would like to look into is western, and would like to focus on the well-known rider, trainer and most of all showman Clinton Anderson – the Marmite of western riding.
I first became aware of Clinton Anderson, and his Downunder Horsemanship method when flicking through the channels one afternoon. The very moment I clicked on the Horse and Country channel (my favourite channel of all) I saw Clinton sitting on a horse, holding the reins with two fingers only, and as soon as he moved one hand slightly to one side the horse touched the tip of his boot with his nose – no force, no resistance, just a lovely supple movement. Like this:
Normally at the first sight of western I would change channel, but when I saw this I thought – wow what a happy supple and attentive horse. This might not be a dressage movement on its own, but producing a horse this supple, happy and obliging can only be a good thing – so I wanted to know more.
I stated watching the Downunder Horsemanship series on H&C channel, and I was pretty much hooked. Clinton has a no nonsense, straight to the point, black and white attitude to horse training. His motto is ‘Make the right thing easy, and the wrong thing difficult. Sounds simple enough, but how many of us could actually put this principle into practice on daily bases – not many people I know (with a few exceptions of course). In his programme Clinton breaks this principle down step by step into what he calls his Idiot proof method. I don’t know about you kind reader, but to me Idiot proof works, because it is simple, step by step, and easy to understand (something some of the dressage texts I have read certainly lacked).
Another thing I like about Downunder Horsemanship is the amount of time Clinton spends on the ground schooling, gaining respect and understanding. I have always been a firm believer in training on the ground as well as training in the saddle, and I found a wealth of techniques he uses that works wonders.
After watching his video on how to supple a horse from side to side I thought several horses to yield and touch my boot while holding the reins with only two fingers (having less than an ounce weight in my hands), and it works. The horses became supple, very light in the hand, and what’s more I was praised by the physiotherapist as the horses were well muscled and lose in their backs. This exercise if the equivalent of the carrot stretch if executed correctly. I found this exercise useful when riding young horses especially when they lose concentration, or when something disturbs them. It helps to stop for a second and ask for one or two lateral flexions on each side, praise them and ride on – most of the time the horses’ concentration is restored; they can carry on working relaxed and soft.
Another technique I found incredibly useful from the Downunder Horsemanship is the one rein stop – which saved me in some hairy situations, and helped me bring young, inexperienced horses back under my control without much drama, and accident. I recently trained a 4 years old ex-flat racehorse, who was very hot and fizzy, strong, and his mouth was (unfortunately) like a brick – no brakes at all. One of his ‘party trick’ was to bolt full, gallop full speed putting a flying buck in every five or six stride, while got a hold of the bit. It was deadly and very fast. When he wanted the rider off he meant it. The only way I could ever get out of this situation without falling off was the one rein stop, which helped me stop him every time.
These are only two of the beneficial, no-nonsense techniques Clinton Anderson described in his programme, however there are many more that I tried, and found useful. His Downunder Horsemanship series is played on H&C channel regularly, and is full of free advice any rider of any discipline can use. His blog has a weekly advice section which is also available free of charge, and I believe is well worth a look.
I’m aware of the criticism Clinton receives from time to time, some people feel that his methods are harsh and that he makes horses work too hard. In his defence it is important to remember that Clinton Anderson is a top competition rider and trainer. He has never claimed to be a ‘horse whisperer’ of any sort, he competes at the highest levels, and he produces horses after horses at that level. Most professional riders who compete at high levels will work horses hard, and will use methods that some pleasure riders might find harsh (whether they are harsh or not). Love him or loath him I think Clinton Anderson’s show and website is well worth a look, as it is full of good, down to earth advice. Advice that poorer riders cannot afford to miss out on.
Thank you for reading.
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