I want to share my thoughts and opinions about Clinton Andersons Lessons Well Learned book. A few of the lessons we will be going over in this article are:

Frustration begins where knowledge ends

Desensitizing and sensitizing is a matter of balance

Heart attacks are free

Frustration begins where knowledge ends

Horses can be great at building your confidence. You go back from the barn feeling like a million bucks. However they can wreck it just as easily and fast. You can get frustrated, angry, even cry at times. I know I have and if you have to that means you are human. Not just with horses but with everything in life, frustration begins where knowledge ends is very true. Once you run out of knowledge with the subject at hand, you then don’t know where you need to go or what you need to do to get the results you are wanting.

Knowing that once you are starting to get frustrated, it is a sign that you are running out of knowledge is a very good thing to know. Because once you feel that coming on, you know you need to go study and learn more.

Desensitizing and sensitizing is a matter of balance

Sensitizing is moving your horse away from pressure. Desensitizing is making your horse stand still when pressure is applied. You want your horse to move, stand still, move, stand still. Teaching your horse just one will not get you a well-rounded horse. If you sensitize, you will get a horse that is very responsive, but very reactive and spooky. If you just desensitize a horse, they will be bomb proof but will be disrespectful and not willing to move their feet.

Having the balance is what gets you a well-trained horse. Sensitizing is where make the horse move like backing, lunging, going over obstacles, etc. Desensitizing is where you make the horse unfearful of things around them, plastic bags, lead rope, anything spooky you can think of.

Heart attacks are free

This one means just desensitize your horse to as many things as you can will only make a quieter calmer horse. If you find things to scare your horse and desensitize them to it, they become more confident in themselves and you. If you never have anything to scare them with, then anything and everything can be a potential threat and they tend to become very reactive and spooky. The more you scare your horse and desensitize them, the quieter they will get.