Clinton Anderson's Lessons Well Learned: Why My Method Works for Any Horse

It's an easy read for those of us time-challenged multi-taskers who rarely have time to finish an entire "conventional" horse-training book.It's a GREAT guide to the progression of Clinton's training method and covers what Downunder Horsemanship MATERIALS (videos in particular) one should study at each step of the way. I like it a lot more than his first book - this one should be called "DownUnder Horsemanship for Dummies" (or "The Ten-Minute DUH Manager") - it is so well-organized and will make a terrific reference manual for those of us who want to go back and fill in the "holes" in our horses' educations. Maybe they will come out with a small-format paperback we can keep in our pocket at all times.It lists 20 lessons horses have taught him and that you will need to understand in order to teach YOUR horses. For those of us who are Mark Rashid fans, Clinton's new book strikes a chord; each lesson kicks off with a story about a particular horse whose particular "issue" or "issues" added another building block to Clinton's education.Plus, though I've read the story of Clinton's evolution from "just a normal kid" to the leading trainer of SEVERAL generations, somehow this book clarifies that progression in a very entertaining and illuminating manner. I am ever so much more in awe of his talent than I was before, and yet the book isn't written in a bragging manner. In fact I'm not sure even CLINTON realizes how remarkable he is.What I love about it is that at times you actually believe that if YOU apply yourself to the study of horsemanship as assiduously as did Clinton, you might grow up to be famous. Me, I'd happily settle for being able to train TWO horses to a decent degree of accomplishment - MY two. This book will help a LOT. And I'm only halfway through it.I love the title of the last chapter - truer words were never spoken - something about most people who hope to turn the corner in their horsemanship quit before they ever get to the corner.In my estimation this book will definitely take you AT LEAST to the corner. Read it, keep it handy as a reference tool, apply its lessons to your own horse and you can, like Clinton, go wherever your dreams may take you.

Those three words sum up how I feel about this book. It is awe-inspiring because here is a man who is not afraid to tell you that he wasn't born a natural horse man. He is telling you that he had to work hard to get to where he is and he is not afraid to show you how he learnt those lessons - whether he was proud of his actions in a particular scenario or not.It is encouraging because you can see that with hard work you can get there too. You may be at the beginning when Clinton was a young man and he was learning to deal with young horses, disrespectful horses and eating a lot of dirt. But you know that through his lessons learnt, you can see how you might be able to get to where he is, too - or at least get far enough to create a respectable team with your horse.And lastly it is motivating because it gets your fingers itching to try his method with your horse and feeling hugely optimistic that it is going to work for you.This book is best read accompanied by his other book, which has all his exercises stepped out beautifully, as this book doesn't have that. This book is all about how Clinton learnt from horses throughout his career from a boy of 15 to where he is now. Each chapter is started with engaging and attention-grabbing text that immediately brings you to his situation and you are suddenly an onlooker watching a 15yo Clinton struggling with a frustrating black mare. I don't want to give away too much more because it really is one of those books that you want to gobble down all yourself with not too many spoilers ;o)

I try to keep an open mind and use various horse training methods as a professional horse trainer. Clinton Anderson has the easiest program by far for me to show my clients how I work with their horses, thus they can continue learning and teaching their horse when they leave. His first book showed each exercise, word for word as well as photos, which is excellent for the beginner horseman and professionals alike. This second book I feel helped me to keep on track as a professional, and how to communicate training to my clients in a better, more productive way. And also to help clients wishing to purchase a horse when the client just doesn't get that even if they pay $50,000 for a horse, the horse's training still has to be maintained, or the horse isn't going to continue to perform at the level they expect. And, if they have a bad minded horse, 'rescue' etc, do they have the time, knowledge, and experience to train the horse? He makes the reader ask themselves a lot of hard questions that many horse owners don't want to know the answers to. The ideas and suggestions he gives will keep me motivated to keep trying to help newbies in the horse industry by giving them this book to helping them to understand their questions, ideas, and thoughts once they have left our farm with either a training horse or a newly purchased horse. Great product Clinton! Thank you for not going over the same boring thing like other authors! Any professional in the business, or any new horse owner will be able to use your concepts, and get a better working communication with their horse as well as the horse industry as a whole! I highly suggest both books!

I took some time away from horses (13 years) and got a new horse a few months ago. The change in me from being young and confident to now a 40 something mom makes me approach riding quite differently. I kept seeing references to "Natural Horsemanship" and seeing people do groundwork beyond just lunging and showmanship training and had to know more about it and it's usefulness. I had grown up showing so I am not a novice, this book and Clinton's other book havebeen just what I need to fill in the gaps and help make sense of a whole lot of techniques I had been taught and why they work and a whole lot I never knew.

I really enjoyed his first book and still refer to it quite often. This book was different in that it is a look back over his life experiences and how he came to the conclusions he has and how that was then taken and packaged as his 'method'. I am a fan of this method.I enjoyed reading it, he has had an interesting life and it was nice to see the why behind some of the exercises along with the anecdotes.That was the positive.On the negative.I don't see me reading it again and again as I did with his first book. I enjoyed reading it but there just wasn't enough meat on the bones to want me to read it again. This is not an instruction manual like the previous book, this is almost like sitting down next to the man and him giving some interesting stories as to how he ended up where he is. Fine for what it is but I preferred the first book.

Daughter loves this book!! Great for learning new things or simply to refresh your memory! Easy to follow and will inspires any horse lover! So if u follow horsemanship or do a different discipline try this it does work!!

Item as described. Bought as gift.

Clinton Anderson ist einer der besten Lehrer unserer Zeit. Es gibt ja nur einen Horsemanship und jeder Horsemanship-Trainer erzählt im Grossen und Ganzen das selbe. Aber Clinton weiss halt viel besser, wie man es dem Menschen so erklärt, dass man es wirklich erfolgreich anwenden kann. Meine Pferde und ich profitieren daraus enorm.

This is an amazing book. A must read for everyone! I've been using Clinton's METHOD for 10 yrs. now. It gives everyone some good examples of how to use equine bahaviour to have a better relationship with your horse.