Tag Archives: clinton anderson

FREE TICKETS TO CLINTON ANDERSON’S WALKABOUT TOUR IN LAS VEGAS JULY 19 AND 20, 2014

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As a Downunder Horsemanship Club member, I received a limited number of extra tickets to this tour stop. Clinton puts on a great show. I guarantee you will learn something that you can put to use right away with your own horses.

I was very skeptical when I went to my first tour a year ago. But after 2 days of watching him work with the horses (and the people) I knew this was something special. Although it is focused toward Western riding, the basics are the same for any horse.

More information can be found at this link: http://clintonanderson.com/Home/Events

Please contact me if you’re interested. I also have a discount code for the hotel that I will provide with the ticket.

I also have an extra ticket to an exclusive Members Only party on Saturday night. If you are interested, please let me know when requesting the ticket. Here is additional information on that event:

No Worries Vegas Club Party Clinton is rolling out the red carpet for members at the No Worries Vegas Walkabout Tour July 19th and 20th at the South Point Equestrian & Event Center. Part of the V.I.P. treatment includes an exclusive party. You’ve heard us talking about it for months, and now we’re ready to share some details. Here’s the rundown: 

When: The party will take place Saturday evening at 6:30 and will conclude at 7:30.

Where: All of the action will be in Exhibit Hall A that’s located near the arena.

 If you love to get free stuff and want to mingle with club members and the Downunder Horsemanship team, this is your scene. There will be cash bars and finger foods to munch on while you visit and mix around the room. Upon entering the party, you’ll be given tickets to enter into drawings for training kits, equipment and a ton of really cool stuff. We have enough prizes gathered to draw a winner every minute of the party. Prizes will be in the form of Downunder Horsemanship product and sponsor gifts, and our sponsors have been very, very generous!

The tour should be a lot of fun and I look forward to meeting my fellow horsemen!

HOW CLINTON ANDERSON’S METHOD HELPED ME CORRECT A BEHAVIOR PROBLEM WITH MY DRESSAGE HORSE

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DCIM100MEDIA

 

I was reminded once again of the hazards of equestrian activities a few days ago. My horse fell on me.

She had been giving me some trouble for a few days and it was getting progressively worse.  I was familiar with this bad behavior, as she had done it before. It had been over 6 months since the last incident so I thought I had trained it out of her.

The problem was her reaction to the leg and spur when I asked for vertical flexion (giving in the poll). She does find it difficult, but instead of resisting, she slams on the brakes and starts violently throwing her head around.  I ride her in a thin loose ring snaffle, but when she has resistance on her mind, she’s so strong she can rip the reins out of my hands.

On this day, she stopped, and started throwing her head around. I bent her nose to my boot and she started to go sideways.  I could feel her losing balance. I thought some sense of self-preservation would kick in and she would either stop or go forward. Instead, she pulled her head down and sideways, her front leg went straight out, and down she went.

It felt like slow motion, and she initially went down straight, like a camel. It gave me time to get my feet out of the stirrups. By the time she was all the way on the ground, she rolled slightly sideways onto my leg, but I was able to pull it free.

Her ongoing difficulties caused me to search for answers in unusual places. I’m most familiar with dressage training, but none of the techniques I tried on her worked.

I found the answers at a Clinton Anderson demonstration. He refers to his training techniques as The Method. I found the groundwork very effective and have been working my horse using his Method for about a year.

I was glad for it on this day. I didn’t want to get back on, so I did various groundwork exercises. After she was relaxed and listening, I got back on asked her to go forward on a loose rein. She complied and I ended the session.

I needed a way to translate the ground work to under saddle. The next day I asked my husband to help me. I put the rope halter on over her bridle, got on, and had him do the groundwork. She is trained to follow the lead, so whenever she got stuck, he would pull her head to the inside and point with his arm in the direction I wanted to go. If she didn’t respond, he would swing the stick.

This worked great, as long as she knew he had the line. The minute he took it off, she stopped.

I decided to leave the line on the halter and hold it myself. That did the trick. If she stopped and refused to move, I would pull her head slightly to the inside, and she would follow the lead.

After a few minutes, she was pretty solid and I could catch her before she stopped and essentially prevent the behavior.

The video shows the second day. I had my husband help me again. You can see at these certain points in the video where she stops and I work through a few different things. Initially I thought if I yanked the line it might help her focus, but I could see that after about a minute it wasn’t working.  Pulling her head to the inside was the most effective. Although the stopping never went away entirely, at least I had a way to deal with it.

Most people would say a horse that reacts badly to the leg should be made to go forward. I would say that too.  I normally would swallow my fear, put the reins in one hand, and either use a long jumping bat or spank her with the long rope. The problem is she shuts down, and if she is irritated with the bat or the long rope, she will either buck or swing her head and pull the reins out of my hands. The head swinging is what caused her to fall before.

I’ve learned that sometimes being patient and non-confrontational is the best way to handle her. Each horse is different, and if I do something that doesn’t work, I have to admit that I was wrong and try something else.

I included another video to demonstrate some of the groundwork.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xq0sB5eXVZ0 Liesl – riding with rope halter and 14 ‘ lead

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noS8ivJ0I-U Justine – groundwork exercises

DRESSAGE TRAINING USING BEND

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Today I’d like to share some video of my horse Liesl. She’s now seven years old and as I detailed in prior posts, it has not been easy with her.

About a year ago, after I learned of Clinton Anderson, and studied his techniques, I realized I was trying to make her change to fit my method. I was thinking in a very narrow way. She wasn’t responding to me in a positive way, so there must be something wrong with HER. In fact, there was something wrong with ME.

I needed to change my approach. To do that I needed to understand why she acted the way she did. Now of course I can’t really know the operation of her mind, but I tried to break it down into smaller pieces and not assign emotions to her actions.

The techniques I learned really helped me unlock her potential. Whenever something isn’t working, I don’t try to force it. I take a step back and think about why she might be acting the way she is. What can I do to convince her that it’s easier to do what I want?

One of the techniques Clinton uses to supple his horses is bending left and right, both on the ground and under saddle. The key is to bend the horse, then hold the pressure until the horse releases. It’s not just sawing the neck back and forth.

When I first tried it with my horses, I couldn’t believe how stiff they were. Neither one of them could bend more than slight sideways. It took weeks of daily practice until they could easily swing their necks from side to side on the ground.

When I started it under saddle at a standstill, the immediate reaction was again stiffness. I couldn’t get much bend. The video is taken after a few weeks of practice.  Liesl actually tries to beat me to each side, I’m barely touching the reins and she offers the bend.  The video also shows the desensitizing to the stick and string.

When they are moving it’s harder to feel the give but I would describe it as almost like a hollowing, rubber band feel in their neck and body, and they lighten in the mouth. This horse was so stiff every time I asked for the bend in either trot or canter she would revert back to her most common resistance, which was stopping.

At that point I had to ask consider the possibilities – was it impossible for her, or was it too difficult and she wouldn’t try? Since she can’t talk, I assumed that yes it was difficult, but that I should still ask, and accept less. After a little trial and error, I found the place where she can try and feel successful.

The longer video shows this work in the canter, and I’m incorporating the half-pass. She’s still very stiff, so I don’t ask for perfection, but I do want extra bend in the sideways to help supple her.

She’s also just starting her flying changes. They are still awkward but I’m not too concerned if she changes before I ask, or if she changes a little bit late. I’m just trying to give her the idea.

I’m finding that this bending concept really helps me to understand why things go wrong, how to deal with it, and also to be accepting of less as long as they try. It makes for a pleasant ride every day.

I work on my own and make many mistakes. I’ve learned not to be afraid of the mistakes. Horses are very forgiving, and I’ve been able to undo more of my training errors than I believed possible.

I’m so glad I found this technique and didn’t give up on this horse. And I never thought I’d say that I enjoy riding her. What an amazing transformation. It never would have happened if I was too stubborn to admit I was wrong, and change.

Video links are below:

http://youtu.be/Gfi5zUlBH4c
http://youtu.be/835MPOUW9xo

DO THE OPPOSITE

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I’ve been struggling with my Grand Prix horse the last few weeks. He is really tight and stiff in the back, and I have a hard time getting him looser in his canter. Since I work alone, I have to be self-motivated and try and come up with solutions. My first idea is to do the opposite of what I’m currently doing, just to shake things up. If I’m holding too tight on the reins, I let them long and loose. If I’m leaning back, I lean forward. If I’m kicking too much, I stop and just use light leg aids.

It is really hard to change yourself like that. My first reaction is to try and fix whatever happens when I do the opposite. That just sends me back to what wasn’t working, so I have to fight off that feeling. I try to stick with the opposite approach long enough to understand what is changing. Then I have to decide if I think it is enough of a change to warrant continuing on with it.

That is the problem in dressage. Changes can take days, weeks, or even months to manifest themselves. You have either been traveling down the wrong road and have to go back, or you picked the right thing and you’re closer to your goal. It is the waiting to find out that’s hard. And if you were wrong, you feel like an idiot for wasting all that time. I try not to let those feelings haunt me.  I learn a lot from my mistakes, it just takes me a long time to realize the learning.

I’m a member of Clinton Anderson’s No Worries Club. I really like it because he has a huge library of videos on his website that cover just about any problem you could ever have.

I went to the site and searched for dressage, and four videos came up. The first one featured a top dressage horse ridden by a professional, and the comments weren’t all that helpful.  The next three were a series with another dressage trainer. In one of the videos, Clinton put on a top hat and tails and rode the dressage horse. It was amazing. He is so humble and doesn’t take himself too seriously, even making fun of himself a little bit. He rode the horse really well, and clearly he’s an expert horseman. Watching that really buoyed my spirits.

I took notes and found that these videos gave me some great ideas for my own horses. Clinton is an expert at suppling a horse, and although it isn’t the’ dressage way’, it is extremely effective. I ended up having two great rides today. Thank you Clinton Anderson!