I might think Clinton Anderson was just the bees knees.. if I were into men who like to yank, crank and spank on young horses. Alas, I’m not. It seems a lot of women are though, which explains the popularity of Clinton Anderson and Shades of Grey. So here you go Clinton Anderson stalkers.. nearly […]
Willful Ignorance, noun. (idiomatic, law) A decision in bad faith to avoid becoming informed about something so as to avoid having to make undesirable decisions that such information might prompt. In 2005 I moved cross-country to work for a Classical Dressage trainer. Maybe work is the wrong word; I was a working student who preferred […]
They do not seem to care that they are yanking on the horse’s most sensitive mouth with a leverage bit. They do not seem to care that they are spurring the horse carelessly and excessively. They do not seem to care that the horse is willing to accept these abuses without striking out violently.
I’ve received several requests to write about my impressions of Clinton Anderson and his Down Under Horsemanship… but the truth is that if I were asked to give my impression about every clinician out there my blog would be full of the same repetitious posts warning of salesmen. In my mind, not only Clinton Anderson but, almost every clinician out there is little more than a salesman working away to sell a product and turn a buck.
Don’t get me wrong, there are many who are good-hearted and honestly believe in what they are selling, and then there are others who know that what they are selling is a pile of rubbish but continue selling it anyhow.
I really prefer having things told to me straight, don’t lie to me and then give an excuse as to why you couldn’t tell me the truth in the first place. That is why I strongly dislike this common and popular tool of Natural Horsemanship and feel it is of greater detriment to horse and rider than simply putting the facts out there.
What are your thoughts? Do you believe that Rollkur’s continued use is driven by success, fame, money? Are there elite equestrians you believe are using Rollkur to train but have not gained as much publicity as Anky Van Grunsven and Isabell Werth? What about Rollkur do you find appealing or repulsive?
The answer to this question may be more tricky. The individual motivations I cannot say, but I would be willing to guess that the amount of money involved in high level equestrian sports is enough to motivate a large number of individuals to using whatever legal tactics necessary to win. For example…
