Lessons Learned with Ian Francis: How to Make Small Daily Improvements with Your Horse

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 lessons he learned from Ian Francis about how to make small daily improvements with your horse.

Clinton begins this episode by telling us a little bit about Ian’s philosophy. He was really big about trying to explain the importance of making deposits into your horse’s brain bank. He would say that if you make a deposit in your horse’s brain bank every day, even just a little one, let it sit, and come back to make another deposit day after day, eventually that wealth would grow. Little by little you feed your horse information, and, when done consistently, it begins to add up. Clinton mentions that he’s struggled with his horsemanship in the past because he’s a perfectionist. Making progress with a training horse isn’t about being perfect. It’s about making little improvements every day; making those little deposits into your horse’s brain bank.

He reminisces that Ian used to always say, “Don’t ruin something good because you’re trying to look for perfection.” Every day, you’re trying to get your horse somewhere between good and excellent, that’s the ideal area you’re shooting for. When you shoot for perfection only, you may end up screwing up good and excellent and get stuck with something worse. Ian used to say, “Don’t ruin something good in the pursuit of excellence.” Instead, make a little deposit in the bank, get your horse a little bit better that day, then come back tomorrow and do it again. Ian had a great knack of doing that and Clinton tells his viewers that nobody could quite communicate with the young horses the way he could.

Ian had a unique ability as a horseman, and Clinton mentions that he’s never been able to duplicate it. Although he’s tried his best throughout his career, Ian seems to be the master at teaching horses how to improve. He could just get young horses to understand what he wanted them to do. When other guys were out kicking and spurring and shoving and poking, Ian looked like he was doing nothing, but still produced results. He just had that ability to be able to get across to a horse very naturally without a lot of sweating going on. So, if you want to take a lesson from Ian’s book, remember to make those small deposits into your horse’s brain bank every day and you’ll be rewarded with incremental improvements.

Clinton Anderson has spent the past 20 years of his life devoting his time to creating the best training tools and videos available to horsemen all over the world. Unfortunately, you can’t bring your TV into the arena to watch videos. That’s why Clinton and his team have been hard at work developing a new platform to deliver the training in a whole new way, a way that brings 20 years of horsemanship and puts it in the palm of your hand. Now, you can always have access to the Downunder 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 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 to get information on any of the products seen on our show, head over to our homepage and download the Downunder Horsemanship app today!