Clinton Anderson Presents: Desensitizing to Plastic Bags

G'day mates, Clinton Anderson here from Down Under Horsemanship. You know what? Horses are a beautiful creature. They're smart, they're very graceful, they're strong, they're athletic. But then at times they can also be very dangerous. Pressure. I believe horses are dangerous by nature, but they don't realize how big they are. They don't realize how strong they are. They move very very quickly. When you can gain your horse's respect and learn how to control your horse, not only can you do it safely with your horse, but you can also get your horse to enjoy the time that he spends with you. My job or my core purpose here at Down Under Horsemanship is to inspire the dreams of horsemen. And I'm going to show you by understanding, by moving the horse's feet forwards, backwards, left and right and gaining that horse's respect, there isn't anything that you can't teach your horse. All you have to do mate to get tremendous success with your horse is follow the Down Under Horsemanship method. So listen mate, sit back, relax, because we're going to inspire you with the method. He would shy at things that he wasn't used to, tarps, plastic bags. He would spook. I was afraid of getting hurt, of him spooking on something that had no control. I, you know, had seen his shows a couple times and I thought that, okay, there had to be a trick. It had to have been a trick horse. And I thought to myself, yeah, let me give, let him have my horse and see how he does with that. I'll shut up now. I'm Clinton Anderson and I have a method for training horses. Getting horses to behave is simple. It's training people that's the real trick. Join me as I tackle some of the most challenging situations with problem horses and with problem owners. Montana, he's just very unpredictable and a little, can be unruly. He just has a mind of his own and does what he wants to do when he wants to do it. We were going out on a trail ride. Laura's horse was in front of Montana and he bucked. I don't know if it was because maybe Montana was getting too close. Maybe there was a snake or whatever, but he bucked. I was in front of Wendy and she said she saw my horse buck. I don't recall. I just remember being on the ground. Laura fell off. She actually wasn't hurt. She just kind of tumbled to the ground, but her horse went running off and Montana followed. I don't remember anything else of that day, but I do know that because of that spooking, because of him running away, I wound up with a severe concussion and a broken back. So since then, what's happened since you had the accident? Well, everything, any little thing, any paper rustling, any white plastic bag. I've tried working him with tarps and he just leaves and he doesn't want anything to do with it. Right. Okay. First couple of things I want to do with you is I want to change some equipment here. You know, tools of the trade make a big difference. You know, if you're a handyman and you don't have good tools, you can't fix anything. So that was why I immediately changed the halter on the horse. I used my 14 foot lead rope. I used my halter with the knots on the noseband. So that way, when I jerked on him and pulled him around and reprimanded him for dragging me around, I got his respect a lot quicker. Right tools, right knowledge, get you the best result later. So give me this halter because this is what I call a creek halter. What we do is we throw it in the creek. Okay. So we're going to do something that you're going to think is shocking. We're going to try to scare this horse. The more we try to scare him, the less he will get scared. Okay. So we're going to do lots of stuff like that to him until one day he don't even move. He don't even blink. Okay. Does that make sense? That makes sense. Now, would you have ever thought to go run at him like that? No, no, no. I think you've peed on your leg more than he did. Okay. So he came close. I can have the disease that I do. Okay. You're far too jumpy woman. Okay. My horses was afraid of, of tarts and plastic bags and stuff. And I was really very surprised that he didn't use that right off the bat. Um, he used, uh, you know, the rope. That's it. Keep moving the arm. That's a girl. That's a girl. Keep going. That's it. Keep going. Keep going. Get ready. Stand still. Keep moving your arm. Ah, now rob him. What did he do there? Rob him, rob him with your left hand. Rob him with your left hand. Now, what did he finally do just then? He finally stopped. He stopped. And then what? He licked his lips, didn't he? Yes. See, he's a professional people trainer. He's trained you to what? Take away the pressure. Yep. And you wanted to, didn't you? Yep. I could tell you wanted to back off and I kept telling you to what? Get in there. The last thing you do is throw the whole rope over his entire back. So like pitch it over as if you're throwing a tennis ball over there. That's it. Now, jerk it out behind you. That's it. And throw it over again. Get your hand up by his eye. That's it. But actually throw it out of your hand. Throw it. There you go. Now slide and flick it back. Slide and throw it over. Legendary woman, you're looking good. And I want him to tolerate this and stand still and not move. Right, I'll hop out of the road because this is going to get ugly. Now, what I'm going to do now is I'm going to start spanking the ground with the stick and string. And I want him to tolerate this and stand still and not move. When he started with the stick and string and he started throwing some real pressure on him, I think when he, you know, did the little explosion and then he realized that, okay, I'm not hurt. You know, I'm not going to die and gave us the respect. When that happened, I think that was the breakthrough with him. There we go. Excellent. Good boy. Right here. You know what the good news is? It's your turn. Come over here, woman. I hope you ate your breakfast because it's about to get ugly. You thought you were going to come here and I was going to fix your horse. I was hoping. You should have read the fine print. Wendy thought she was coming here and I was going to fix all her problems and she was going to go home and not have to change the way she interacts with a horse. And her horse was going to make a miraculous change and she wasn't going to do anything. Well, she got a rude shock that she was part of the large part of the problem. Once she realized if she changed the way she behaves with the horse, her horse will change its behavior. Spank a little harder. Come on, get those chicken arms moving. There you go. Good girl. Now he's thinking about moving. Keep going. Keep going. Keep going. Keep going. Get in there. Get your hand up beside his head. Get in there. Get your hand up beside his head. Up beside his eye. Up beside his eye. Get your hand up beside his eye. That's a girl. Get in there. You're letting him get on the other side of you. Get your hand up beside his eye. Keep moving your arm. Don't stop moving your arm. Spank closer to him. Come on, woman. Your arm's not tired yet. Ah, now what you doing? He stood still. What else did he do? He cocked his hind leg, didn't he? Rub him. Come on now, you got to retrain this horse. You spent a long time training him to run away. Let's fix it. Okay, don't rub all the hair off him. Let's keep going. Righto, do it again. You know, in the beginning, Wendy was a very typical owner. She was kind of frightened of the horse. She'd lost her confidence. You know, she broke her back. I don't blame her for being scared. So basically, what I had to do is show her, to get her confidence up, I had to give her control of the horse again. And that's what I tried to show her. By gaining control of his feet and getting his respect, she'll have control. Once she gets control, then she'll have confidence. And then in the end, she had tons of confidence. But when you analyze it, the confidence came from getting control of the horse. I'm going to have you ripped, woman. By the end of this TV show, you're going to be ripped from head to toe. You're going to have muscles you never even thought existed. You're probably right. Okay, come on, move that arm. That's it. That looks good. Oh, I'd retreat there. You are a legendary woman. Excellent job. Righto then, so let's move up the ladder now to something a little bit harder. Let's maybe use a stock whip, something that makes a crack like a gun. Okay. Okay, let's do that. Okay. So let's have a go. You ready? Not bad. Not bad. I'm going to take someone's eye out with that thing. There, he didn't throw his head up at the end, did he? No. So he needs a little bit more work with the whip out in front of him, doesn't he? Yeah. Okay. But not bad for his first lesson. Not bad at all. Okay. Check out our latest catalog from Down Under Horsemanship. It's filled with beautiful imagery and in-depth information on all the products used in this show. Visit our website or call this number and we'll send it to your door free of charge. Step up your horsemanship with the Clinton Anderson Method. Now available in a complete set. Fundamentals starts you on your journey to ultimate control. As you learn to communicate with your horse, earn his trust and respect, and gain control of his body. Intermediate opens the door to ultimate performance. As you build on your knowledge to create a safe, willing, and supple partner, you control with a feather light touch. And now, all new, advanced delivers ultimate inspiration to fine tune your application of the method and reach the highest level of horsemanship. Clinton Anderson offers you the ultimate collection of his wildly popular training method kits at a packaged price. This exercise is called the sending exercise. Now, I put the string around his neck to do two things. That's going to represent the driveline. If I apply pressure with the stick behind the string on his neck, that'll cause him to go forward or yield his hind quarters, which means get him to turn and face me. Right. If I apply pressure in front of the string, that will cause him to stop, turn, or slow down. Okay. Okay. So look at it like this. Let's keep this simple. You ready? Behind the string, gas pedal clutch. In front of the string, steering wheel brake. Doesn't get any simpler than that. Okay. I ask him with the halter with the stick with rhythm. One, two, three, four. As soon as he moves, take away the pressure. Now watch. Okay. Belly button, tail. Now I whacked him on his butt just then for two reasons. When I stepped towards his hind quarters, he made no attempt to turn and face me. So I whacked him on his butt as a reprimand. And so, hey, listen, when I step towards your butt, you better give me two eyes. Okay. So if he gives me two eyes, I won't whack him on the butt. Okay. Long way from his heart. He'll learn. Clinton's teaching style is wonderful. He repeats. So you can kind of retain what he says. I don't have the best memory in the world. So sometimes I don't retain it, but it was very easy, very easy to follow. And it was immediate results. So now he's giving me that respect. Yep. Notice that I'm using less stick, aren't I? Yes. That tells me that he's understanding the lesson well. That was pretty good. So he's doing that pretty good here. Now let's add a little more, another dimension to it. Let's get the plastic top out. Cause you said he's frightened of that, didn't you? Okay. I'm going to give him to you cause this is damn dangerous. So I don't want any part of this, but we're going to get the top out and you're going to see if you can do it and stay alive. I understand that. Um, and I actually saw it from my own eyes that, um, making him think instead of react, um, is the way to go. And to start off, um, I mean, a child has to start off with little baby steps before he can, you know, run across the yard. Um, and that's exactly what Clinton did. What'll happen is as he gets listening to me more, he'll pay less and less attention to the top. See, I'm an effective leader and you're going to be an effective leader. Does that make sense? Horses can only think of one thing at a time. So if he's thinking about spooking at the top, he's obviously not what thinking about me. Okay. So I need to give him more jobs. So he's acted like that top's not even there. Hasn't he? Yeah. So let's do something a little different now. Let's put the top on the ground. Okay. Like so. Okay. Just like that. Now, what I want to do is I'm just going to bring him up here. Now this will probably be a little scarier for him. I just let him have a look at it. Now I'm going to approach. There we go. And then yield. Change. Point. Hop back just a little bit further. There we go. So notice that I didn't spread it out real big to begin with, did I? Too bad you can't see me from behind. My jaw is down around my knees. You terrible horse. Good boy. Okay. Excellent. Yield. Point. Ah, you fruitcake. That was too damn easy. Bask him again. Point. Oh no. By the time we got to the plastic top, we'd already got him using the thinking side of his brain. But when we first came out and I got the stick and string out and I whacked the ground, he really took off, didn't he? You know, took off, jerked the lead rope through my hand, drug me all over the arena. So if we would have got the tarp out first thing this morning, he would have done the same thing with the tarp. But I tried to start with the easiest obstacles first, you know, the rope and the stick, and then built my way up to the really scary ones. But by the time we got to the scary ones, the problem had almost fixed itself. That is phenomenal. He's kind of ignoring the tarp, isn't he? He is. Because he's too worried about me. When I say worried, he's not worried about me, but he's focused on me. Yeah. The tarp's the least of his concerns. Okay, mate, go saddle him, bring him back, and we'll do some more with the method. Okay. There you go. If he spooks, what side of his brain is he using, thinking or reacting? Thinking. Oh, reacting. That's exactly right. Sorry. I was just about to whip you, okay? Yeah, reacting. He's using the reactive side of his brain, okay? Now, when he gets reactive, what's on his mind? Whatever spook at him. Whatever he's upset about is his focus, isn't it? Yeah. So how do you get a horse to go from the reactive side of his brain back to the thinking side? What do you do to do that? Keep his feet moving. Yeah. Which way? Forwards, backwards, left, and right. Yeah. In fact, the more you change directions, the better it works, doesn't it? Yes. Okay. When he first had me up on his back and in the saddle, I was a little apprehensive that he wasn't going to pay attention to me, that he was going to do just whatever he wanted to do, and he didn't. And then as I relaxed, he relaxed. Now, do you think he's focusing on the tarp? No. Why not? Because I keep on too busy moving him. Come on. Pull that left rein. Go, go, go. Did I say walk? Hurry up. Come on. He's gaining weight. Turn left. And I never thought about him going over the tarp. I never thought that that would happen, and I didn't think about it. And I think that's why he basically eventually went over it. Rub him on his neck. Rub him there. Rub, rub, rub. That's it. What do you think? Amazing. What's so amazing about it? That I'm not in the middle of the arena. Right. I'm seriously speechless at what was accomplished today. I would have never believed it. I was told to me that he could do it in a day, and I just did not believe it. I have seen it. It can be done in a day. Now, when I say turn, just turn into it and go back the other direction. Ready? Turn left. Turn in. Go the other way. Go. Trot, trot, trot. Focus on the circle, not on him. Don't look at him. I think she truly understood that knowledge is power. The more knowledge she becomes in the method, the better she moves her horse's feet forwards, backwards, left, and right, the better job she does with her horse. So more than anything, she got it. If she didn't understand why we did what we did today and the theory behind it, the horse will just regress when she goes home. But I don't believe the horse will regress because I truly believe she understands that she was a large part of the problem. Now, she's a large part of the solution. Does he even know there's a tarp there? I think he does, but I don't think he cares. That's right. That's exactly right. He knows it's there, but he's not worried about it because you're becoming an effective leader, isn't he? When we finished and I looked down and that horse was standing in the middle of the tarp, it was amazing. It was wonderful. It was wonderful. Listen, mate, I'm very proud of you. You did an excellent job. Thank you. Your horse really doesn't want to be bad. He just didn't know any other way to act, did he? No, he didn't. Very good. Well, listen, guys, I hope you've enjoyed this week's show. This show really proved to you that it doesn't matter whether you're 65 and got your first horse, you were raised with horses, what problems you're having with horses, if you follow the Down Under Horsemanship Method, I guarantee you're going to get extraordinary results. Remember, if you want your horse's behavior to change, you have to change the way you interact with him. When you change the way you interact with him, he'll change his behavior. No point doing the same thing if the same thing's not working. Listen, mate, keep up the good work and we'll see you next week on Down Under Horsemanship. Let's go get a drink, mate. Thank you. If you'd like more information made on any of the products you've seen on today's show, click on our website at downunderhorsemanship.com and we'll send you a free catalog, mate.