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 watch as Clinton tells us about a few lessons learned from Gordon McKinlay’s famous saying, “The more times you pick yourself up off the ground, the better your groundwork gets.”
The episode starts with Clinton telling us about one of his favorite sayings from Gordon McKinlay. He tells visitors that it’s been around for years, he’s said it many times, and he’ll keep saying it. Gordon was famous for saying, “The more times you pick yourself up off the ground, the better your groundwork gets.”
In reality, that’s one of the hardest lessons a horseman has to learn. It can hurt your ego a little bit, and you can spit out some dirt or get covered in dirt. But, at the end of the day, it’s as simple as it gets. Every time Clinton got bucked off a colt, every time he fell off a horse, 99 times out of 100, it was traceable back to him doing a poor job of preparation, a poor job of getting his horse ready, and the simple act of not doing his homework. Although that can be a little hard to come to terms with, Clinton realized that every time he got bucked off, he got better with his groundwork. The idea is always to try and make sure you don’t get bucked off again. That’s the whole point—how can you make sure that these mistakes don’t happen again? The answer is to keep picking yourself up off the ground and learn from your mistakes in the process.
To help, Clinton focuses on trying to teach his viewers as much as possible so they don’t have to learn the hard way like he did hitting the ground. Unfortunately, sometimes you do have to hit the ground for the lessons to really sink in.
Clinton recalls about 10 years ago when he went to Ken Bray, the owner of Equibrand and a longtime sponsor of Downunder Horsemanship. Clinton was complaining about some things going on in his company. Ken listened to him, and then he calmly looked at Clinton and said, “Clinton, sometimes you have to get a few bloody noses to figure out how the playground works.” That’s as simple as it was, and it’s the same as Gordon McKinlay’s saying—you’ve got to pick yourself up out of the dirt to figure out how good your groundwork needs to get.
Clinton Anderson has spent over 20 years of his life devoting his time to creating the best training tools and videos available to horsemen all over the world. Now, you can experience the training in a whole new way, a way that brings 20 years of horsemanship and puts it in the palm of your hand. You can access the Method and get everything at the touch of a finger.
Always have access to the Downunder Horsemanship Method, even when you’re on the go or at the barn. The 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 100 hours of free in-depth training content. No Worries Club members will have full access to Clinton’s ever-growing training library and a massive number of members-only features and information. And the best part is that you can view and interact with each lesson on your mobile device or computer, giving you the ultimate access to the Method anytime and anyplace.
To learn more about the Downunder Horsemanship training method, become a member of the No Worries Club, or get information on any of the products seen on our show, head over to our homepage and download the Downunder Horsemanship app today!
Master Your horsemanship Skills
Like these tips? Join the No Worries Club and hone your skills with thousands of hours of Clinton’s easy, step-by-step method horse training videos.
