General Discussion

Re: Your Favorite Professional Horse Clinician

reiningldy — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 09:00:08 GMT

I'm the type of learner that must understand the how and why of something– not just "do this because this is how it's properly done". There are scores of clinicians for horse training – but I love Buck Brannaman for his way with horses. Jane Savoie bridges horse training and riding by helping me understand the mechanics of the horse's movements. But for strictly riding clinicians, and in my opinion there are very few, there is no one like Colleen Kelly (colleenkellyriderbiomechanics.com/) whose specialty is biomechanics — how the human body sitting on the horse affects every movement the horse makes. Her list of accomplishments is phenomenal and her work applies to riders of ALL disciplines. She takes the hoity-toity out of dressage but her students are Olympians. A two-day clinic with Colleen was the best money I have ever spent on a horse clinic for myself. I look forward to the next time she's in my area.

Re: Your Favorite Professional Horse Clinician

Gailforce — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 19:36:32 GMT

i am taking a horsemanship class right now--ground work with your horse.

one of our homework assignments is to watch different trainers on youtube without the sound. it's amazing how they are so much alike, yet it's all about branding...do it the "clinton anderson" way or "parelli" or whatever and they are doing the same things.

which is good as our instructor is doing it the "clinton anderson" way cuz that's the one i've seen live, but, others recognize the "parelli" method.

whatever it is, the training has changed from 30 years ago when i was a horse crazy, sucking all the knowledge in, teenager. and i like it!!

Re: Your Favorite Professional Horse Clinician

BlueRoanMustang — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 17:30:11 GMT

I don't have a favorite clinician; I like to glean from all of them- western & english as I'm not very loyal to a riding style. I probably know Clinton Anderson's Method the best, my sister is crazy about his method and I think I have it just about memorized!

Re: Your Favorite Professional Horse Clinician

ShireHorse — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 14:26:50 GMT

I've heard of every one of those clinicians- they're all good. My biggest point is that I try my best to learn something from everyone. It doesn't matter to me if they're English or Western, I want to at least learn one thing from them. I just like Clinton the best because I've learned SO many things from him. I think the most important thing to do is to take what you can from everyone and use it, or just learn something new and have a go at it. It never hurts to learn something new, and that's my goal when I'm watching any clinician! I think I saw a video once of Chris Cox doing cutting in an English saddle, I must say, he's got an amazing seat! :)

Re: Your Favorite Professional Horse Clinician

Mark Sellers — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 19:45:40 GMT

Stacy Westfall puts on great clinics. She is a disciplined rider with roots in reining and does amazing things with well trained horses. Her clinics are rather sparse, but worth the time if one comes to your area.

My personal favorite is Andrea Fapanni. If you want to learn how to train a horse, and if your skill level is advanced, his DVD series are invaluable.

I've enjoyed Clinton, Parelli, Lyons, Cameron and the others, but find that their focus is on the beginning rider and they really don't go into good equitation. I like Chris Cox because he does do some more advanced techniques. I enjoyed a clinic at the Equine Affaire in Pomona, Ca where Chris demoed his reining horse riding in english gear. After doing some basic dressage and jumping activities, he took his horse into a sliding stop and roll-back that was amazing!

Mark Sellers
Horse Health Matters

Re: Your Favorite Professional Horse Clinician

ShireHorse — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 13:07:30 GMT

no we didn't win anything, but during the ball toss, the ball Clinton picked up and said that was twelve inches away from the post was actually my dad's ball. He was pretty close to winning the halter and lead rope! (I think if he'd won it he would have given it to me, though.) :)

Re: Your Favorite Professional Horse Clinician

Gailforce — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 22:20:49 GMT

sorry, i got no problem with swearing (as long as it's not over the top. (i hate too much gratuitous swearing), but, i have little tolerance for racism and sexism. ask my husband, he tries his stupid jokes on me too often and can't understand why i don't think they're funny.

saturday, we were on the opposite side and sunday in the center (bottom of the u shape)

we tried to jump and scream for prizes but we weren't in the right areas

did you or your friend win anything?

--gail

Re: Your Favorite Professional Horse Clinician

ShireHorse — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 14:25:17 GMT

Yeah, I did catch that one. What I meant by choice of words though is that while most people wouldn't consider some of the words he used, like the 'D' one for example, a swear word, I will always consider that cussing. Other than that I didn't mind any of his jokes, except when he used some inapropriate words. By the way, where were you sitting during the tour? I was in the section where Clinton let the NWC ask their questions. (I was with me neighbor) Hope all is well!

Re: Your Favorite Professional Horse Clinician

Gailforce — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 22:39:17 GMT

Giant Cheeseball:
Now, I will say Clinton's choice of words in some of his jokes was not exactly appealing to me, but some of his jokes I thought were pretty funny

i thought he was very funny, but, a couple times he went too far....did you catch the joke about not worrying about the chinese tourists falling off horses in the grand canyon (or something like that), because there's lots of them, so, it doesn't matter if they lose a few?

my friends and i kind of just looked at each other with a, "did he really just say what i think he said?" look.

i guess with comedy you have to take the risk telling a joke and sometimes it doesn't work. what can i say, i'm not funny. i do love humour though.

i am going to look up the ken mcnabb clinic. i wouldn't be taking my horse to it, cuz we don't have a horse trailer.

Re: Your Favorite Professional Horse Clinician

luneducheval — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 03:50:55 GMT

Gailforce, there is a good clinician that will be close-ish to you in October. Ken McNabb. If you want more info, email me, he is similar to CA, but not sell sell sell. Tells clean jokes. lol...

I don't know how feasible it would be for you to bring your horse down from BC, but email me, and we'll chat. :)

jmoon111@gmail.com

Re: Your Favorite Professional Horse Clinician

ShireHorse — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 16:57:15 GMT

Reining_Lover:
I will say, though, that I don't like Pat Parelli's methods--too confusing. I almost got hurt on a horse trying to do something he had showed the viewers at one of his tours.

I like to make a habit of pointing out one good thing about every horse clinician- and though I am no Parelli follower, I will say this. He's got a cool Frisian! :):):):):):):):)

Re: Your Favorite Professional Horse Clinician

ShireHorse — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 16:54:03 GMT

Now, I will say Clinton's choice of words in some of his jokes was not exactly appealing to me, but some of his jokes I thought were pretty funny. I can definitly tell you, my father enjoyed the clinic almost as much as I did, and that's saying something, for he's never been a horseman. Now he's telling everyone about Clinton Anderson, and I must say I am proud of how much information he learned from the tour! I came back with a lot too, though it was almost everything I'd already learned, I was still inspired. Hope you enjoy the NWC, my neighbor is a member and (lucky me!) she lets me read the magazines and watch the DVDS. I enjoy it very much! Have fun horsing around!

Re: Your Favorite Professional Horse Clinician

Gailforce — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 15:33:06 GMT

i went to the CA walkabout tour in washington as well. i thought it was an excellent 2 days, i learned alot, and it was good value ($50 for both days, free if you were a member--or know a member, which i did).

he is an excellent teacher of people. he explains things very well and very clearly. i came home and read through some of my other horse training books and was--oh, i get it now. the difference being that these other people are excellent horse trainers, but, not necessarily excellent people trainers and they don't explain things as well.

clinton anderson is not teaching anything new (i don't think), but, he has the knack of making it clear for the average person.

his dvd packs may be expensive, but, the books were a fair price and other items were priced well.

the knowledge i took home has helped me alot with my horse.

i did join his downunder club to see what else i could learn and i am borrowing my friend's fundamental series. is the club worth it? don't know yet, maybe not, but, we'll see.

i have been out of the horse game for a long time, so, his is the first live clinic i've been to in 30 yrs (!) and it was excellent.

on the negative side--he is rather an annoying full of himself guy. i think he's racist and sexist (i get that from some of his "jokes") and after awhile his sell, sell, sell is ick, ick, ick.

that walkabout tour would have probably only been a one day show, if there wasn't so much promotion of everything.

i haven't seen any other clinicians, but, i have read alot of books in the last 2 years and i can't fault ca's ability to teach people how to work with horses. the book i have is clear and explains every step in terms a layman can understand and seeing him live was fabulous.

and, truthfully, the stuff i did buy there--even though he pushes it down your throat--it is good stuff and they sell it for less on the tour than it costs at the store.

SO--to finally answer the question....Clinton Anderson gets to be my favorite clincian this year by default since he's the only one i've seen and the fact that his method is working really well on my horse

Re: Your Favorite Professional Horse Clinician

Reining_Lover — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 12:29:11 GMT

My favorite clinician is definitely Clinton Anderson, though I use different techniques from different trainers to fit the horse--because I believe that no matter how good a training method is, you've got to listen and adjust to the individual horse. I like Stacy Westfall as well; she's big on safety. But I've also gleaned tips from Chris Cox, Ken McNabb, Craig Cameron, John Lyons, and various other "cowboy" clinicians. I will say, though, that I don't like Pat Parelli's methods--too confusing. I almost got hurt on a horse trying to do something he had showed the viewers at one of his tours. And Julie Goodnight and Lynn Palm aren't among my favorites, either (no offense).

One thing I don't agree with that Clinton Anderson recommends (though he doesn't strongly recommend it constantly, like recommending his method or the Legacy boots or the Pyranha fly spray, etc.) is working with the babies too hard, too early. I like John Lyon's approach--gentle, yet not permitting disrespect from the baby, and developing a relationship that lasts a lifetime.

I'm also not happy about how it's all about CA now. All about his "method", and there's nothing in the world better than his "method." He's driven the prices up. He makes you feel like if you don't buy his incredibly expensive Fundamentals, Intermediate and Advanced packs, you won't get anywhere. He did away with the cheaper Gaining Respect and Riding with Confidence DVDs. I liked him a couple of years ago, when he was more humble, better than I do now. I still like the training method, but I'm a little unhappy with the attitude. Honestly, I was glad when he didn't win the Road to the Horse--maybe that'll knock him down a few rungs.

Re: Your Favorite Professional Horse Clinician

BoyleHeightsKid — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 05:48:17 GMT

No offense intended to anyone here, but Julie Goodnight needs to stick with what she knows. She's good with the horses on the ground but in the saddle I'm not the least bit impressed.

She needs to take some dressage lessons before she's going to teach anyone dressage. Another thing that annoys me is that the Majikal Mylar Bit fixes everything. Even a rider with bad hands