Following the Gerry Cox article and some of the conversation that came up with it. I have to say, I have had clinicianitis for a long time. I'm allergic to clinicians and their bullshit.
I'm not talking about people who mostly train and instruct, but do some clinics on the side. I'm talking about those whose entire career is based on clinics at people's farms, at events, shows, horse fairs, etc. The Parelli's and Clinton Anderson's of the horse world.
There is a deep-rooted illness that exists among clinicians at this level, and there is no short supply of clinicians traveling to every event around the world.
I wrote several months ago that Clinton Anderson isn't an asshole. It was mostly sarcasm, but also partly true. He isn't an asshole, he's sick. He genuinely believes that what he is doing is right and correct and that he is better than most equestrians. It doesn't matter that the horse pays the price, to him he is validated to continue doing what he's doing by money and accolades.
These clinicians would be problematic in any career field. They could be the Donald Trump of politics or the Mark Zuckerberg of social media. It doesn't matter, they are loved by many people for often illogical reasons and put in positions of power that continue to feed their never-ending ego.
They are skilled at selling, manipulating, and denying what is really happening. At telling people what they've witnessed with their own eyes isn't true, and instead, they should believe what the snake-oil salesman clinician is selling.
Beliefs Can Hurt the Horse
Be careful what beliefs you ascribe to. If you defend a clinician or their method no matter what, without consideration of what flaws there may be (we are all only human after all), you risk damaging your horse. And your own safety.
People run to defend famous clinicians all the time. They've had some measure of success, therefore the person is their god.
The problem is what is this success compared to? Working on your own? Working with no conscious effort to improve and criticise your own work? Training under anybody will usually give you better results than wing-dinging it at home by yourself with no serious thought on the day-to-day work or what you're working towards.
Something is better than nothing, but that doesn't make it an ideal, or even right and safe.
The horse deserves to be defended with that amount of enthusiasm that is instead reserved for someone willing to say anything to get more money out of you.
That is a real sickness.
Join 3,000 Equestrians
Receive New Articles In Your Email
Great Blog. I came to horses later in my life at 40. I knew nothing about how to care for them or establish a relationship with them. One of my first introductions to training was Clinton Anderson…even bought the halter, stick and rope and went to a clinic. Kind of makes me sick now to think about it. But the good thing was it never felt good or authentic to who I was…I also sucked at his techniques so that helped. But mostly my horses said very loudly this is not the way. Since I always trust animals over humans I eventually listened. I have since found other support in learning that resonates with me & if I don’t agree with something I make sure I listen to my intuition and of course the best teachers on the planet ….THE HORSES. ✌️❤️
Thank you, Michelle. 🙂
It’s so great that you listened to your horse, many ignore this and choose to listen to the words of the clinicians while ignoring all the visual indications things aren’t quite right (and the gut feelings!).
The horse is indeed the greatest teacher. 🙂