This should make some folks ask serious questions regarding Clinton Anderson

Statement from Clinton regarding Academy Horse incident
by Clinton Anderson 28. March 2013 11:27

First of all, this is nobody's business other than mine and the horse's owner. If people would pay more attention to their own lives, their own horses and their own problems, the world would be a much better place. But there are too many looky-lous and sticky beaks that want to stick their nose in and stir up trouble when there's no trouble to be stirred up.

#1 People need to get a grip on themselves. Animals die. Humans die. It's called life. In fact, there's this bumper sticker that was invented that says "s*** happens." People put it on the back of their bumpers because that's what happens in life. It's called s*** and it happens. Sometimes it's somebody's fault, but a lot of times it's nobody's fault. Again, it's referred to as s*** happens.

#2 It's unfortunate that the horse died. Reality is we don't know how he died because the owner didn't want to get an autopsy. Horses die at my ranch. Yes, it's called life. We have 60 horses on the ranch, we have dogs and we even have cats. In fact, we had a cat fight in the barn last week, and one of them died. Shocking, yes. It's called life. Animals die. Yes, even Clinton Anderson's animals die. It's called life. I know this is shocking to know that as good as I am and as popular as I am and as famous as I am, my animals don't live forever either. Holy s*** , I must be human. For any moron that's getting his panties in a wad because a horse died at Clinton Anderson's ranch, get a life.

#3 It's unfortunate that the owner had to go and start this whole fire because I'm the one that has to go put it out. I've apologized to the owner; it's not my fault the horse died. It's not the owner's fault the horse died either. We don't know how it died. We believe it had something to do with either a brain aneurism or a heart attack because it died extremely quickly and there was no struggling involved. Reality is it was the owner's choice not to get an autopsy - she didn't want to get one.

I apologized to the owner; in fact, I've spoken with her on three separate occasions about this subject. We sent the owner flowers and we refunded all of the owner's money. I did everything I possibly could. In fact, I even offered the owner a Signature Horse free of charge. I went above and beyond to try to help her through the grieving process. A Signature Horse, with all its training, is worth $25,000. She declined the Signature Horse because she said the horse was too small. I had a horse picked out for her that was 14.1 hands high, and she didn't feel like a horse 14.1 hands high was worth having even though it was free and is worth $25,000. Just for the record, the lady is 5'9" and I'm 5'11", Mindy is 14.1. I rode Mindy in front of millions of people for 15 years and never had one email or comment that said I looked too big on Mindy. Just to set the record straight. But she didn't want the Signature Horse - no problem whatsoever. Since she didn't want the Signature Horse, I offered her the opportunity to send another horse to the ranch for the six-week program and we'd train it free of charge.  Again, I went above and beyond to take care of a grieving customer.

I bent over backwards to take care of her needs, and now I'm having to fix this kind of bulls*** and I'm tired of it. So reality is if you think your horse is going to live forever, you're an idiot. Do we do everything in our power to take care of animals on the ranch? Yes, we do. The reality is every once in a while it keeps coming back to that bumper sticker "s*** happens."

So people, get a life, get out of business that doesn't involve you and start focusing on your horsemanship and your own lives. When people start doing that, they'll have a lot more success with their horses, a lot more fun and a lot less drama. If it sounds like I'm irritated and I'm cranky about this, I am. All we've done is taken an unfortunate situation and turned it into circus and absolute mess. It didn't have to go this direction. This is my statement and this whole subject is done after this.

 

 

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Comment by Geoffrey Pannell on May 10, 2013 at 7:53pm

what evidence are you basing the idea that the horse died as a result of abuse?

Comment by Marlene Thoms on April 1, 2013 at 11:33pm

If an autopsy can be had for less than $1000, it begs the question why CA wouldn't find it easier to pay for it and clear his operation of blame, instead of offering a $25000 horse as replacement.

Comment by Marlene Thoms on April 1, 2013 at 11:30pm

Train your own horses.  That way you will know that anything that happens to them is your direct responsibility and that any successes they have will be because of YOUR training. 

  There is it in a nutshell. or If you need help training, get the trainer to train YOU. I would not send one of my dogs or horses to a trainer unless I had seen directly what they do , day by day, and even then I'd have them showing me what to do.

   Besides that, neither we nor the owner has the slightest idea what killed this horse. We cannot presume if was something that was done in its handling (unless an autopsy showed some signs of abuse perhaps). This owner chose this trainer, with all the usual disclaimers and probably a pretty tight contract "we will not be responsible for harm that befalls your horse etc.". CA's attitude seems callous, but maybe that's because he has exhausted  his patience trying to assuage the owner and missed the mark. If we are supposed to judge based on supposition and complete lack of any evidence, ask yourself if you would like to be judged on that basis if a horse died in your care.

 

Comment by E. Allan Buck on March 31, 2013 at 6:50pm

I do understand your perspective Jackie.  And thank you for the enlightening post.

It is that I am amazed at the silence when horses are subjugated and abused by a famous person.
This man and others like him, make it hard for good local or regional horse people to make a decent living.  these horse abusers are con artists and all the while teaching the wrong things to novice horse owners and to the star struck followers.

Comment by Jackie Cochran on March 31, 2013 at 11:32am

Oh, I'm not ignoring it Allan.

Decades ago I decided that since I was horse poor I had to learn how to train my horses myself. Now, decades later, I will not buy a horse because my MS prevents me from training effectively (though if my life changed I do know ONE trainer I would not hesitate to send a horse to.)  My take on sending a horse out to training--if you do not know enough to train the horse yourself you will RUIN the training you spent a lot of money on!

If you send a horse out to train where the trainer's students do the actual training you are not getting the benefit of that trainer's skills and accumulated knowledge, you get someone who may have less horse experience than you training your horse.  Not something I would want to spend top dollar on just to be able to say that my horse was trained at the farm of a well known trainer.  But that is just my point of view and I realize that many beginners "fall in love' with horses that are totally unsuited for their level of riding or training knowledge, thus the need for professional trainers.  As usual, it is the horses who suffer from their owners' lack of knowledge and skill.

There is so much training information available now on the web, on videos and in detailed books.  The information a person needs to train a horse is out there and it isn't all Natural Horsemanship either. 

All I had access to decades ago was a few general books that my horses had not read.  It was very challenging for me but I did learn how to train a horse mostly on my own, and if I did not have MS I would be doing it still.

Train your own horses.  That way you will know that anything that happens to them is your direct responsibility and that any successes they have will be because of YOUR training.       

Comment by E. Allan Buck on March 30, 2013 at 7:44pm

I am in shock.  I cannot believe that this is being ignored by Barnmice members.

 

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