My favorite trainers... yup, hard to believe but I actually admire, train with, and recommend other horse trainers, something I've found is a rarity in this profession. It has been my experience that horse trainers are the most territorial and touchy group of people I've ever dealt with. They never seem to have a good word to say about other trainers. Sure they all feel safe saying they like the famous ones (i.e. trainers that are unavailable to their cliental) but talk to any trainer about another local trainer and it's a whole different ball game. I guess they don't want to talk up the competition - but I look at it this way... 1) I can train a maximum of 6 horses at a time; 2) there are thousands of horses within a 50 mile radius of Hollister; 3) not all goals, expectations or personalities of every horse owner that approaches me for training will be a good match to my own; 4) I recognize that if I don't feel the client and myself are a good match I should direct them to other qualified individuals who might be able to help them.

Clinton Anderson - Down Under Horsemanship.

OK - he's famous now but when I met and trained with him several years ago he wasn't. I first saw Clinton Anderson several years back giving a demonstration on solving trailer loading problems. In about 45 minutes he turned a horse that absolutely refused to even get near a trailer into the most docile pleasent equine who was begging to stand in the trailer. And he did it without a lot of mumbo jumbo horse whispering nonsense. Needless to say I was impressed.

I learned that he was giving a 5 day horse & rider clinic and a friend and I signed up.

I took my spastic TB Sugar. Sugar is an ex-race horse, raced as a 2 year old, graveled and transfered to the breeding program at 3 where she pumped out a baby every two years until I got her as a 13 year old. I had owned her about 2 years and I felt that we had come a long way in her training. She finally learned that when the reins were pulled that meant stop not go faster, she was somewhat sane on trails, I had started her jumping small cross country courses, and most of the time she would get in a trailer without a problem. So I thought she was pretty good.

The Clinton Anderson clinic taught me that my expectations of Sugar were way to low and she was getting away with a lot of things she shouldn't. It was a tough 5 days (mostly on me) but at the end of the clinic I was absolutely astonished with the relaxed confident horse that was transformed from the flightly fearful one I had started with. Clinton's training method was to be as soft as possible but as firm as necessary. Ask softly and increase the pressure until you get the appropriate response. Pay very close attention to the horse and release the pressure instantly when you get a correct response. Do this each and every time and very quickly your horse will be responding to the lightest of touches.

Sugar had broken many lead ropes in her day and as a result I never tied her. Plus when standing with her in hand she would be constantly moving. By the end of the clinic I could tell her to whoa, drop the lead rope and walk away and she would stand without moving an inch until I came back to her (photo). And a lot of her fearful nature went away. Now she could be relaxed because she knew what was expected of her and how to give it to me.

Of all of the trainers I've been to, watched videos of, read articles on, Clinton Anderson is by far the most influential in my own training philosophy.

Clinton has become much more famous and his clinics are harder to find. But if you have a chance to go to one of his leactures or better yet clinics I can highly recommend them.

Not only is she my best friend, she is also an exceptional trainer and the smartest person I know when it comes to horses. I met Christine several years ago when I was looking for a riding instructor for my daughter. I watched her teach my daughter and decided I should take lessons from her also (this was in my horse dry years). We've been friends ever since and I guess she is my horse mentor. I still occasionally take lessons from her and ask her advise when working with any particularly difficult horse issues. Christine is also the MacGyver of horsedom. She can take an old toothbrush, some baling twine, and a discarded horseshoe and produce a 6-stall barn with breezeway and tack room. OK I'm exaggerating - but not by much.

I've gone to his leactures/demonstrations and viewed several of his videos and I greatly admire his abilities. But the thing I like most about John Lyons is the philosophy of "high-goals/expectation". I remember a quote by John Lyons in an article I read that went something like "When I clip my horses ears I want him to be perfectly still, with his head at my eye level, while standing in the middle of a food shopping parking lot, with circus being setup 10 feet away." High-expectations makes us strive for perfection in ourselves and our horses. The trick with this philosophy is to not confuse the end desire with the many, many, many steps it takes to achieve the desired result.