The long-awaited additions to our core training kit are here. As a learn-a-holic, Clinton is always adding to his knowledge, refining his skill set and finding ways to improve the Method. Since releasing the Fundamentals Series in 2010, the trainer has found ways to tweak the exercises to make them easier for horses and humans to understand and to execute. After all, that’s what being a good horseman is all about. If you can find a better approach to make a lesson easier for your horse, do it.
“The Fundamentals Series has been out now for well over a decade and has been a phenomenal success for people all over the world. It’s the foundation of the Method and has helped horse owners train their horses to be safe, fun and confident partners, and it’s helped them become better horsemen,” Clinton says. “There’s no doubt that we’re proud of the Method and how the Fundamentals Series has helped horsemen. However, just like anything, over time you find better ways to approach things. I take pride in always looking for ways to better communicate with my horses.”
Ninety-eight percent of how the Fundamentals exercises are taught remains the same. “We’ve just tweaked about 2 percent of how we approach the exercises. In fact, the changes are small enough that if you don’t incorporate them, you’re still fine and will continue to get good results with your horse,” Clinton says. “Even though the updates we’ve made are literally tweaks, I thought they were worth sharing with you. When I find a new approach that I think works better, meaning it makes learning a lesson easier for the horse and helps you get results more quickly, I want you to be aware of it. We let you know what changed, why we changed it and how you can apply it to your horse.”
Going to the Next Level
The Fundamentals Series’ lessons are meticulous about how to teach a horse the concept of each exercise. “The first time you teach a horse something it’s called the concept lesson. In the concept lesson, your goal is to get the general idea of the lesson across to the horse. For example, if you’re teaching your horse how to back up, you would first want him to understand that when you create pressure in front of his nose, he needs to respond to it by moving his feet backwards. As soon as he takes a step back, you’ll instantly reward him by releasing the pressure so that he knows he did the right thing,” Clinton shares.
After the first lesson, you’ll work on perfecting the exercise. Each time you work with the horse, you’ll look for a little more improvement. “It’s like teaching a kid how to write. In the beginning, if he keeps one letter on the page, you think he’s Einstein. Every year his handwriting gets a little bit neater. You don’t expect a kid to be able to write his name and keep it neat all in the first lesson. You build on what he knows and keep encouraging him to get a little better every day,” Clinton says. “This is probably the biggest problem we see with people who come to our horsemanship clinics and do lessons. Too often, we tend to get stuck in the concept stage and never expect more from our horses or ourselves. Challenge yourself. Set the bar higher.”
Naturally, as horsemen worked their way through the Fundamentals Series’ groundwork and riding exercises, they wanted more. They’d watch Clinton and his clinicians work with their horses at tours and see how soft and light and responsive they were and wanted to know how to make the jump from doing the Fundamentals exercises well to getting their horses to that level of refinement.
“It’s what we refer to as the Do It Now stage of training,” Clinton says. “You’re past the cutesy, cutesy concept lesson. The horse well and truly understands what you’re asking of him; now it’s time to really refine the exercise.”
Recognizing that there was a hole in the Fundamentals Series, Clinton wanted to add a refinement section to exercises he thought would benefit from it. “Refinement doesn’t pertain to all exercises because for most the refinement comes by moving through the Method and going to the next level. Take Circle Driving for example. The refinement of that exercise is the Intermediate Series exercise Circle Driving Transitions. One Rein Stops is another great example. That exercise is what it is. You can refine asking your horse to stop by working on the Intermediate exercise Stop on Whoa, and then Drive to a Stop in the Advanced Series,” Clinton says.
With those thoughts in mind, we set to work collecting members’ feedback and adding updates to the series. Initially, the updates were set to be filmed in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic derailed us, and then with the company’s move to Arkansas, everything was put on hold again. Finally, when everything was settled, the shoot took place.
The new footage includes Clinton answering common questions, offering success tips to get the most out of your partnership with your horse and in-depth training sessions in which he shares updates made to various exercises and how to refine them. Throughout the training lessons, Clinton works with Professional Clinician Kristin Hamacher as well as Academy students and their horses.
“Just like with all our other training videos, the students and horses don’t know the lessons, meaning that you get to watch them learn how to enter the Do It Now stage and make refinements. It’s important to me that we didn’t use horses that are already in the refinement stage because you don’t learn anything from that,” Clinton says. “These lessons are real and raw – you’re going to see firsthand how horses react when you ask them to put in more effort. It’s not always pretty. Oftentimes, you’ve got to go through the ugly to get to the good.”
What’s Included and Where to Find the New Lessons
The new footage is uploaded to the digital Fundamentals Series. That means if you’re a premium No Worries Club member or purchased the digital kit, you have access to the new lessons. To watch them, log in to the Downunder Horsemanship app, go to the Training Kits and Premium Content category and select the Fundamentals.
Updates to the Teaching Stage and/or an added Do It Now stage are available for the following exercises (found in the Refinement and Updates category, which appears after the Riding category):
Groundwork:
Riding Exercises:
Additional Material:
4. Success Tips (found in the groundwork section)
5. Follow the Method as Is (found in the groundwork section)
Years of testing and work have gone into developing the Method. The order in which the exercises are laid out in is how they should be taught. Clinton explains that while the exercises train your horse, they’re also designed to teach you how to be a better horseman and improve your feel.
