Clinton Anderson Presents: Desensitizing to Plastic Bags

Desensitizing to Plastic Bags through Proper Training

Clinton Anderson from Downunder Horsemanship has developed a way to train horses, regardless of their past problems or traumas. It all begins with training the owners so they can gain their horse’s respect and understand how to properly control them. Join Clinton on his weekly endeavors of tackling some of the most challenging situations with problem horses, and problem owners. This week, we join Clinton as he helps Wendy desensitize her horse to plastic bags.

Clinton starts by making sure that they’re using the right equipment. He recommends a 14-foot lead rope and a creek halter so he can strengthen his training and gain the horse’s respect faster. He then tries to purposefully scare the horse so that he can slowly start to desensitize to things that spook him. The more you scare your horse, the more they’ll realize that they’re not going to get harmed and they’ll become desensitized. To take this process to the next level, Clinton shows Wendy how to spank the ground with the stick and string. At first, her horse got a little spooked, but after a while he realized it wasn’t hurting him and he slowly started to show respect to Wendy and Clinton. Clinton has Wendy take over so that she understands what she needs to do to continue this training at home. Since your horse needs to respect you as the owner, you have to take responsibility in the training process. The more you work with your horse, the more confidence you’ll have and your horse will feed off of that confidence and show you respect and submission.

After seeing Wendy gain some confidence with the lead rope, they move on to using a stock whip, which makes a crack like a gun. Once he starts to desensitize to that, they move on to the sending exercise. In this exercise, Clinton puts the string around Wendy’s horse’s neck to do two things. Putting pressure with the stick behind the string on his neck will cause the horse to go forward or yield his hindquarters. Putting pressure in the front of the string will cause him to stop, turn, or slow down. They start to get into a rhythm and Wendy’s horse starts to submit and show more respect to them both. He seems to be understanding the lesson well and is making progress with the training.

To take things to the next level, Clinton gets out the tarp. Since Clinton and Wendy are distracting the horse, he acts as if the tarp isn’t even there. When the tarp goes on the ground, they slowly let him get used to it. This is because the training got him to start using the thinking side of his brain. He had to be eased into the obstacles before facing the scariest ones. At this point, he’s almost ignoring the tarp completely.

Clinton reminds Wendy that anytime her horse starts to use the reactive side of his brain, she needs to return to the basics and get his feet moving. Move them forward, backward, left, and right to get him to start using the thinking side of his brain. She needs to continue to practice these trainings for her horse to grow into a confident, submissive creature. The more they work the fundamentals, the better behaved he will be and he’ll continue to desensitize to external factors.

Clinton Anderson has developed a method to help train any horses, regardless of their problem. It doesn’t matter whether you’re 65 and just got your first horse, you were raised with horses, or the problems you’re having with horses, if you follow the Downunder Horsemanship Method, you’re going to see results. Unfortunately, up until now it was nearly impossible to access the method when you’re on the go or at the barn. That’s why we’ve created three new ways to get the content you need; at the price you want. Our Downunder Horsemanship app gives you access to your digital training kits and allows you to download videos and training content directly to your mobile device or view them on your computer. The Downunder Horsemanship app also offers over 86 hours of free, in-depth training content. You can access all of the training material through three different levels by joining our No Worries Club.

To learn more about the Clinton Anderson training method, become a member of the No Worries Club, or to get information on any of the products seen on our show, head over to our homepage and download the Downunder Horsemanship app today!