Pat or Clint

Eh. I don't really care for his methods much either...

I agree. The bid difference is that at least CA has proven that what he does works.

Not long after we got horses, I bought a book by CA. It wasn't bad, but I didn't get much help from it either. Haven't bought anything else from him.

FWIW, of the DVDs I've bought, I liked Larry Trocha's best. Chris Irwin used to have videos on Statelinetack, and I liked those - particularly for a beginner. I usually think Julie Goodnight has OK stuff. The John Lyons DVDs I bought were OK but not really relevant to my needs. One of his books was better, IMHO.

As someone who started at 50, I think DVD's on RIDING would be more helpful to the average beginner than DVDs on TRAINING. Larry Trocha has one on basic beginning stuff from a western perspective, and I could have saved myself a lot of trouble and maybe a bad back by watching it before I started riding.

That's true. But there's still a lot of "unessecary" stuff in his methods. But I'm not an NH follower at all, so I don't really care for most of them...

For me there is too much "playing" with these guys DVDs. One thing I like about Stacys DVDs is that there is no playing. What she does I have been doing for years before I ever got the DVDs. What they have given me is just the back up for what I was already doing and a bit of more finesse added in on some things. However I would like so see more on different things. She tends, which I agree with, to just hit on certain things with in each set of DVDs. Like one is just on body control. One is just on stops one on ground work one on starting young horses. Each give good info but not complete. Things is I do not think anyone can really give you a complete look at training.

I also like Al Dunning but he tends to only use one horse so you do not see green horses to finished or close to finished horses so I think you loose a bit of needed info there. Stacy tends to use several horses at different levels in hers.

Shawn is more about the mind part of training and showing in his DVDs which I like. It is nice to hear what goes through his mind as he is doing things.

Each of these trainers have one thing in common. They have all proven that what they are talking about works.

Yeah. Proving your training means a lot to me. When I was learning when I was younger, I never watched a DVD on horse training. I had a lot of mentors just in my family and right in my area, I found I could learn a lot more sitting down having a cup of coffee with the old cowboys at the sale yard cafe. So as far as learning from DVDs, it's never really worked much for me.. I've learned through experience and the people around me.

I think CA has an easier way about him, a little rougher around the edges perhaps, what you see is what you get
I can't get sucked into any of them but his riding looks more impressive by far (and hey - I know nothing about western riding)
I watch his TV series sometimes and I don't get the need to desensitise every single horse to the whip as some sort of a 'cure all'
If a horse has never been hit with a whip its not going to see it as a weapon of abuse, if it has been hit with one enough to make if afraid then why would it be disrespectful and lastly if I'm working with some smart ass horse that thinks running over the top of me and taking a flying kick as it passes by is a good idea then I'd much rather it were more than a little bit afraid of the whip
Maybe someone else can explain this?
Really though - what does it matter if I like the individual - I'm not going to be inviting them to dinner let alone sleep with them afterwards am I?

I do not like desensitizing a horse. I prefer to get them to the point that they have emotional control. Once they have that they learn how to work through new things much easier. They learn how to deal vs just getting use to certain things.

Don't care for PP. His methods would make my one mare into a monster and the other confused as heck.

I take somethings from CA, but only what I can use. I do like his handy stick though... Much better than some of the ones that you can get cheaper. I've had mine for almost three years now. Worked good to whack my paint across the rear when she was threatening to kick me. Hasn't done it since. Most of the time though it sits in my shed as I rarely have any use for it "lol:

I agree. I kind of like a snorty spooky horse to an extent. Means they are paying attention and not just plodding around with nothing between their ears.