Clinton Anderson clinic

Spent 10 hours there yesterday and about 8 today. Man, can he *talk* - faster than I could figure out, at times. But it was a good experience, much better than watching RFD-TV. He confirmed some things for me that I already knew, and brought up a couple points that were noteworthy:

-Humans are rewarded by praise, recognition and material things. Horses are rewarded by safety, comfort and food - in that order.

-Treats and lovin's and grooming for bonding are all great and encouraged - but treats should never be used in training. After a good training session, yes, but never during. And if you "treat" your horse but don't ask anything of it, you end up encouraging pushiness.

-He did say that just about any problem can be dealt with, *but* he likened some problems to a smoker who quits. They may never pick up another cigarette, but they'll never forget about it and will at times crave it. (Being an ex-smoker I can relate!) So if you can avoid a problematic behavior, especially during the first 6 weeks of saddle training, do it.

-Dealing with one problem will often uncover another.

-The first one that moves, loses. His example was two stallions fighting - the kick and bite at each other until one gives up and leaves. If your horse is moving your feet instead of the other way around, you got a problem that you need to reverse.

-Backing a horse up is very effective as a respect earner, but beware of a horse that only throws it's head up instead of actually backing up.

-Posting encourages balance. Ride, ride, ride and ride.

Okay, I'm too tired to think of anything else.... very very very pretty horses - mostly quarter horses, one Arab (for desensitizing - spooky, but oh, so pretty gray...) He did trailering, round-pen work, and a lot of 'commercials' which were annoying, but he usually gave the product to someone in the audience. And he didn't get really bad about pushing his own stuff... mostly.

On a scale of one to ten, I'd give it an 8.