Q&A With Clinton Anderson: How to Move Forward with an Unhandled Weanling

For the past 20 years, Clinton Anderson from Downunder Horsemanship has devoted his life to creating the best training tools and videos to help bring his method to you. Join him on his weekly endeavors to tackle some of the most challenging situations with problem horses and problem owners. This week, we watch as Clinton answers a viewer’s question: Where do you start when working with an unhandled weanling?

We start by hearing from the viewer, an avid follower of Clinton’s for the past two years. She mentions how she loves the Method because it’s easy to follow and the horses really seem to respond to it. However, a few months ago her mother and sister both got a weanling—both of which are mostly unhandled. She does indicate that, although they’re barely halter broke, they’re getting more friendly each day. Her question revolves around how to apply Clinton’s method to the weanlings. She says that she has started watching the training series, but most of what she’s seen seems a bit difficult to do with weanlings due to their size. So, the question is—where should she start? 

Weanlings are baby horses that have just been weaned from their moms. They’re between the ages of six months and a year, so they’re still pretty small. Clinton does offer a specific Foal Training Series that’s designed for horses from newborns to yearlings. However, because these weanlings are 6 months old and have had very little handling, they’re going to act like a wild deer. In their case, Clinton suggests following the beginning lessons of the Colt Starting Series.

In that series, Clinton takes a wild mustang that’s never been touched and shows viewers how to build trust to get the horse caught, how to put a halter on him, and how to get him leading and moving his feet. Clinton is basically saying to treat the weanlings almost the same way you’d treat a wild horse. Because they’re unsure of humans, you won’t be able to just walk up and put a halter on them, but at the same time, you need to get a halter on them. To accomplish this, you’re either going to need to put them in a roundpen and rope them, put them in a 12×12 stall and loop a rope around their neck, or run them into a chute and put a halter on them there.

Following the beginning exercises in the Colt Starting Series, you’ll learn how to get a halter on the weanlings, get them to give you two eyes, and all of the fundamental starting blocks you need to build a safe, willing partnership with them. Then, once you can get a halter on the weanlings, you’ll want to follow the exercises in the Fundamentals Series in order. 

Clinton Anderson has devoted the past 20 years to creating the best training tools and videos available to horsemen worldwide. Unfortunately, you can’t bring your TV into the arena to watch videos. That’s why Clinton created a way to bring 20 years of horsemanship into the palm of your hand. Now, you can access the mobile method and get everything at the touch of a finger. The Downunder Horsemanship app gives you access to digital training kits and lets you download videos and training content directly to your mobile device or view them on your computer. This lets you view and interact with each lesson wherever you are, giving you the ultimate access to the Method anytime and anywhere.

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 featured on our show, visit our homepage and download the Downunder Horsemanship app today!