thoughts on Clinton Anderson ?

i really like his methods, of course i wish all his stuff wasnt so dang pricey, but i know a lot of people dont like him.....what are everyones thoughts ?

THX

=]

If I had to choose a NH trainer, it would either be him or Dennis Reis. CA does things in a simple and easy to understand way. He doesn't pussyfoot around his horses or make a circus act out of it. I know that some people will say that he is more of a "reining" horse trainer but all the reining horses I know are the most well trained and broke horses I have ever been around. Of course, thier stuff is really pricey (not as much as others) but IMHO, you really don't need to buy the name brand stuff. You can get whips/sticks/lead ropes/halters at your local tack store that will work just as well.

I agree with smrobs. CA is to the point and with my personality and the way I want a horse to respond, I think his methods are easy to understand and leave very little interpretation for the horse or me.
From some research I have done all these trainers that have their own products are pricey and like smrobs stated you can find the same sort of stuff someplace else for cheaper.

ok thanks guys !!

yeah i would never buy his ropes or anything, but even the videos are a lot

I went to one of his clinics (thanks to my trainer :). I do like some of his premises and that he basically trains the people to be confident and how to establish respect. However, I am a little on the fence about how his methods work on really hot headed horses. He does use a type of flooding (you keep doing it until they stop moving and relax), but some hot headed horses will run themselves into heart attacks before they calm down. I also didn't like one his clinicians. The audience called him out, ha. The other clinician was great though. So I am a little on the fence about him. I think he is great for teaching people and lazier horses, but as I said I don't know about hot headed horses...

ETA: Yeah, his stuff (most NH) is super expensive. I borrow his DVDs from my trainer or sister-in-law ;)

I have been to his clinics - I like the basic ground exercises and he is easy to understand - I like to take little bits from all the clinicians - they all have good tips - I have a reiner and like smrobs said, there is nothing like that type of training for any horse! I have a friend that SWEARS by Clinton Anderson - my only problem with her is that she skips over important lessons and in my opinion her horses get confused and don't learn on the intended building block methods of Anderson. It is sort of "to each his own" - what method(s) are more practical for you and your horse. I do enjoy Clinton Anderson's Clinics - real people, real problems.
Anderson doesn't bring in a ringer to work with - I have seen his methods work, I don't tend to agree with him 100% on everything, but that is not to take away from what he teaches.

I have used CA's methods on both 'calm' and 'hot' type horses, and they do work well on both. I've found that hotter horses, once they get the concept, you can't do anything to take it away from them, so while it may take a bit longer at times for them to understand what you want, they often retain it really well.

Of course, like any trainer, there may be things I don't agree with, but for the most part, I think CA is straight and to the point, and if you are doing things 'correctly' the horse catches on quickly.

All these big time clinicians have worked thousands of horses all over the world. If the techniques didn't work on every kind of horse they would have been called out on it by now. An individual person may not be able to make the methods work on every horse but rest assured that if any of the clinicians we ussualy talk about were to work on your horse for an hour your horse would do things you have only imagined. Clinton Anderson, Dennis Reis, Pat Parrelli, Buck Brannaman ect. ect. didn't get were they are by only taking the gentle pet ponies. Many times when they ask for horses to use at demonstrations people bring them the worst horses they can find and often lie about them as well, yet the horses leave much better than when they came because these men are horsemen.

Very well said, kevinshorses!

Clinton Anderson is one of my favorite of the name brand NH trainers. I've used his groundwork with great success on a more "hot and nervous" horse, and on a more laid back horse, and got great results with both. He's a great "people" trainer; I hauled my mom (she's not really a horsey person, but she's awesomely supportive of my obsession, ha ha) to one of his trailer loading demos once, and she said afterward that he explained what he was doing wonderfully, and she really understood what he was doing and why.

If you're looking for a "trainer in a box," CA would be pretty high on my list of recommendations. A big part of that recomendation comes from the fact that his TV show is somewhat informative (while no one can become a trainer by watching a TV show...) and educational, as opposed to the standard "info-mercial" that many other trainers have.

He's ok. Better than most. He's got great posture, and great teeth.