Meet Method Ambassador Lindsay Merritt
When Lindsay was 12, she and her sister convinced their mom that their family needed horses. It wasn’t a hard sell – their mom is a lifelong horse lover and quickly agreed horses were just what they needed. When the horses arrived, the girls wasted no time exploring the trails around their Minot, North Dakota home. It wasn’t long, though, before Lindsay realized that while she loved riding, she didn’t know a whole lot about horsemanship.
She began researching ways to better understand her horse and train him. “When I watched Clinton for the first time, his approach to training just made sense. When we’d gotten our horses, my dad gave me a good piece of advice. He said we should pick one trainer to follow and stick to that training,” Lindsay says. “That’s some of the best advice I’ve gotten over the years. Keeping an open mind is important, but when you’re learning, it’s too confusing for you and your horse if you’re inconsistent and keep mixing different approaches.”
After training her first horse, Lindsay got Freedom, a green-broke gelding. “It took us four hours to load him on the trailer when I first got him. By the end of his training, I could point toward the trailer and he’d go running on it,” Lindsay says. “I learned a lot from him, and he helped me grow as a horseman.”
The more time Lindsay spent working with horses, the more convinced she became that she eventually wanted a career as a horse trainer. “I was probably 13 when I first saw a video about the Clinician Academy,” she says. “It looked like a dream come true to me and I started making plans right then to one day attend.”
Over the years, Lindsay worked hard to build her skills as a horsewoman. She attended a variety of lessons and demonstrations taught by Professional Clinician Shayla Smock and followed Clinton’s advice to work with as many horses as she could to gain experience. “I love working with horses and watching them catch on and make progress. The Method has worked for every horse I’ve used it on and gives the horses such a solid foundation. Once that foundation is in place, you can pretty much do anything you want with them,” she says.
As an ambassador, Lindsay is passionate about sharing the Method and safe horsemanship with others. “I absolutely love training horses and it’s so rewarding to show people what their horses are capable of,” she says. “We’ve all been at a point in our horsemanship journey where we’re feeling frustrated and just need a little help and more knowledge to start enjoying our horses again. The excitement people have when everything clicks is contagious.”
Lindsay is based in Bismarck, North Dakota, where she trains horses for the public and teaches private lessons and clinics that focus on the Fundamentals level of the Method. Learn all about Lindsay on her website and contact her directly at 701-240-3954 or [email protected].
