My boyfriend and I are down in Redmond, Oregon this weekend attending the Walkabout Tour with Clinton Anderson. Clinton is a natural horsemanship trainer originally from Australia. He moved to the States ten years ago and has been teaching people how to gain respect from their horses at various clinics and with his show, Downunder Horsemanship, on RFD-TV. I get a kick out of him. He has a pretty good sense of humor and obviously is very passionate about what he does. I was pretty impressed with him today. He really went non-stop all day. When he wasn't in the ring, he was signing autographs in a booth and answering questions. Even after his long day, he told everyone he would stay after until every ones questions were answered. Now that is dedication! The tickets to the Redmond event were free and he gave lots of his products away. They had a raffle as well and all the money goes to a therapeutic riding program in Texas, so I have to buy one tomorrow.
Today he worked with Sherry Cervi, a two time World Barrel Racing Champion, to demonstrate some techniques for better barrel racing. He worked with a 6 year old Thoroughbred from the track that he referred to as a "crack head" because she was so amped up. By the end of the day, after at least an hour of lateral flexion drills and one rein stops, he got her to trot easy on a loose rein. She was a trembling mess when she first came in and it was great to see the transition.
He did a great liberty demonstration with his mare, Mindy. This is a picture of her laying down on command when they were all done. It was really beautiful to see horse and human so connected, I got tears in my eyes. I told my boyfriend it wasn't about the amazing performance, it was really just the way she looked at him. I know that sounds a little cheesy, but I think as horse owners, we all strive to get that "look", that understanding.
We are looking forward to tomorrow. There is a trailer loading demostration I want to see. This is a shot of Clinton signing someones boot.
13 comments:
Some day I should really take the time to watch a video of his, or the tv show. Sounds like you had a terrific time, and how cool that the tickets were free!
Clinton Anderson is great. Wish I could get RFD-TV. Cable here doesn't carry it. Tommy Garland is on there too and he is a great horseman too.
I'm so jealous. I've never had the opportunity to go to any clinics. I do get RFD-TV and must get better at checking the schedule.
Pass us more info, please, on what you learned.
I love RFD-TV! I have come home and caught my city boy boyfriend even watching it. Clinton told us he is the #1 equine program on RFD and #2 overall program, right behind "Antique Tractors." It got a laugh, but he probably wasn't kidding:-)
My husband and I went to a three day Clinton Anderson clinic this weekend as observers. We really liked his RFDTV program ... until this weekend. We no longer like Clinton Anderson at all. In person is much more agressive and sarcastic. He really did not seem to care about the people at the clinic or the horses. I have lost all respect for him after attending his clinic. In addition for as much as the participants paid him to attend this clinic, he could have at least brought a better speaker system. No one could hear very well at all. Overall I am not impressed at all and I will never buy anything of his again and I will certainly never attend one of his clinics. I am sticking with Chris Cox.
I agree with the last person totally!! Many of us from our hometown attended the Las Vegas show just this weekend. I asked a question and he looked at me with glazed over eyes and gave me an answer as if he was an uninterested robot. So much for being there for us to help us learn. No smiles and personality like he has when he is doing shows or clinics. He treats people in person terribly. He sure was a rude to our three girls (one of which is in a wheelchair.) When they wanted a photo and him to sign home of the items they bought from him. He was surely not giving us TWO EYES as I tried twice to get a photo he was totally distracted with something going on with his employees, acted like we were not even there, whistled loudly that hurt our ears and yelled at his employee. Our girls now think he is a total jerk and I am glad they get to see the real side of "celebrity." They will have no further disillusions about the real Clinton Anderson! They didn't even want to follow his training methods after that! I guess I have to have further talks with them. Nice going, Clinton, in ruining an otherwise great weekend for those girls!
I am sorry to hear about the negative experiences and that CA has not changed his behavior. Sounds like he is getting worse.
Saw and heard lots of reports that he was really "tipsy" in Las Vegas. No excuse for that or rude behavior to general public. Certainly not acceptable if children are around. Very unprofessional. He does continue to "bite" the hand that feeds him. CA is glad to take US $$ but refuses to be polite to Americans. I too am sorry to hear he has continued on this negative path.
My husband and I used to like his RFD-TV show too....until we had a similar experience as those reported here and on other blogs. Best way to stop this kind of behavior and avoid being an enabler is to not watch the show, stop spending money on clinics, tour stops and products and report bad behavior to appropriate people at the events. Write letters to the organizers and sponsors of programs and let them know of your experience and wish to not support this kind of unprofessional conduct.
3 words for Clinton Anderson-
Anger Management Therapy!
or better yet 12 step AA program.
Clinton Anderson is such a shyster!
A very ill bred and rude one at that. On top of his bad language in his tour stops when children are present he throws tantrums and verbally attacks other people in front of them. Way to model behavior for the kiddos Clinton.
Photogchic
Hello, Was inspired to help after receiving this from a family friend.
"Her grandmother asked them to make the page.... ..............This is where we could help her. She had the option to move to another part of the state (OK) and be near distant family who Rodeo and train for Barrel Racing; and she had picked “Clinton Anderson ” and his program as the professional horsemanship trainer she wanted to emulate. Help her earn this opportunity again. Starting out this is for motivation and to get her and a horse physically conditioned. With your initial offerings of support, she will know people want to help her reach her goals. From there she will have goals and a reward for the accomplishment. I think taking steps in development will be the best approach. As we all know; “If you earn it you respect it!” Your help will go to Autumn and the horses “only” and cover a year of training and supplies.
The general direction for her will be getting Clinton Anderson "Down Under Horsemanship ” tools to hone skills, progressing to Professional one-on-one training and clinics. The end goal is to attend Rodeos and gain the training needed to be accepted into Clinton Anderson’s “Clinician Academy ” at the age of 18 yrs occurring in two and a half years. As she develops her knowledge, builds confidence and is exposed to more Horsemanship opportunities she will choose her path. The whole story page is at www.gofundme.com/renewedpassion
Thanks for any guidance or support of goal,
Dads Who Care
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