Clinton Anderson Blew My Socks Off!

by Admin on April 27, 2012

Clinton AndersonI like to do things with my wife.  It keeps her happy.  No understanding why she wants to put up with me but there ya go.  Anyway… I told her I would go with her when Clinton Anderson came to town.

Clinton is my wife’s favorite Aussie turned Texan horse trainer.  Whatever…

I forgot about it and then the tickets magically showed up.  Uh oh… put up or shut up time.

It was a 2 day event that was amazing beyond anything I could have expected.  The thing was run more like a rock concert than a horse training lesson.  Good grief!

The announcer came through loud and clear, loud music, smoke, 4 sided scoreboard with media center and more.  Clinton enters the arena (in Tulsa, OK) to the sounds of close to 3,000 screaming fans.

WHAAAAAT?  Did Aerosmith just enter the room?

Nope, it was Clinton Anderson!  OK Yawn…. I had brought my Samsung Galaxy Tab with me in case this got too dull.  I had earbuds too.  Yup I am prepared.

Clinton Anderson and HorseWell waddya know.  This guy is funny as hell!  He puts on a show with his personally trained horse that is quite a demonstration.  That horse acts better than my kid did growing up.  Wow!  Hey better than my wife too come to think of it.  (Sorry dear!)

For two days this went on.  I was spellbound.  This guy could train a fence post to do backflips I believe.

They brought in a horse that was just one step short of a bucking bronco that would just as soon run over you as look at you.  Clinton’s job was to get this horse to load in a trailer.  Yea right.  This thing was snorting and running all over the place.

About 30-45 minutes later Clinton had that horse RUN into the trailer by himself.  He WANTED to go into the trailer.  Previously he wouldn’t go anywhere near the damn thing.

Note:  The trick was to make the horse uncomfortable outside the trailer and let it rest INSIDE the trailer.  It was simply brilliant.  I can’t tell you how many times I have watches a team of mad folks try to get their horse in a trailer.  It usually works in a couple of hours too.

There was a charity event too.  You could buy a tennis ball for $5 and during a segment of the event you could throw the ball toward a stake in the middle of the arena to win a prize.  After that was all done he had all the kids come down and pick up the tennis balls as fast as they could.  I gotta tell you this may have been the funniest part of the whole weekend.  Clinton was hollering at them and trying to get them to do this or that.  Little kids just don’t follow instructions all that well as most parents know.

Anyway I was super impressed with this 3 ring circus of entertainment.  The training lessons were well done with enough humor that I couldn’t stop watching.  It actually got me excited about training horses and horses are NOT my thing.  They are my WIFE’S thing.

So great job Clinton Anderson.  You have a new fan.  If you get a chance to go see him you should DO it.  You will learn, be entertained and have a great time.  You can learn more about Clinton at DownUnderHorsemanship.

The Big Rig

 

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Horse Search In the Middle of Nowhere Part 1…

by Admin on February 28, 2012

Palomino Baby

Wifey tells me that there is a beautiful palomino baby that she wants to go see.  It is “down south” of town.

OK…no problem.

We hop in the car and head “south”.  OK we live in south Tulsa already so we are heading SOUTH!

Through Bixby and out into parts unknown.  The concrete turned to asphalt.  The asphalt turned to dirt/gravel.

Buzzards are seen circling overhead.  The road soon turns to rock chunks the size of your fist up to the size of a loaf of bread.  Had we suddenly turned onto a trail in Colorado?  No…surely not.  We were headed “south”.

I noticed that the buzzards seemed to have disappeared.  Good.  We must be out of range of them now.  What could POSSIBLY go wrong?  Do you remember seeing a house anywhere?  No?  Me either.

The road kept going and going and going.  Left, right, further and further.  We must be near Dallas I thought.  Nope wifey says we are just “south” of town.  RIIIIIGHT!  I guess the anticipation factor was worth some mileage.

Finally! We arrived.  A very nice house and a very nice barn were right there in front of us.  It was beautiful out here but where was “here”?  You can see from the background of the photos that this was in a pasture that went on forever and a bit more.  There was NOBODY around.Nowhere Palomino

The horse was beautiful.  The lady was very nice.  The barn was immaculate as was the horse.  The price was just a touch steep for an untrained baby for our blood.  So we decided to pass on it.  The horse was probably even worth what she was asking but it just wasn’t right for us.

Something about the middle of nowhere breeds horses.  I don’t quite get that.  Wait till you hear about where we DID buy wifey’s palomino.  (The crossing of nowhere and no place. ) Next time…

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Tale of Damage and the Borrowed Horse Trailer

January 12, 2012

Let’s talk about damage.  Yup, real bonafied damage.  The kind that makes your wallet go UGH!  This story starts with a horse that we had for not too long.  It ends in Kaching!  What’s in the middle? One fine day we have gotten our shiny semi-new horse out and have got her tied to the [...]

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When You Don’t Know What You Are Doing – Buy a Horse!

October 18, 2011

Of course this is all my own fault and it turned out OK over the years, but let me tell you this started out life as a disaster.  Just sayin’… Keep in mind that about half of what I tell you is either out of sequence, wrong or made up.  Just ask my wife.  But [...]

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Enter the Horse Woman

October 12, 2011

I had been married to her awhile when she started jabbering about horses.  First it was “aren’t they pretty?” and soon that turned into “wish I had one” with the emphasis on the word “I”. I managed to do the manly thing and ignore this whole problem for awhile.  It has been so long ago [...]

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