My latest horse obsession has been Stacy Westfall and her bareback bridleless riding (video below). I have been debating whether or not to purchase her DVD set. They are a little pricey for me- though not as bad as some- but my main concern is if her training will fit us. The only horse trainer that I am able to follow right now is Clinton Anderson. I'm not big on Chris Cox, Parelli, or Frank Bell (all of whom are popular among most other horse folks) because they're dull, complicated, or weird.
I really enjoyed seeing Stacy on The Ellen DeGenerous show and she seemed like she was really down to earth. When she coached Ellen she didn't look too bad training wise but I didn't get enough to be able to tell for sure what I would get from her videos. Obviously she knows her stuff and what she's doing.
On her website you can buy all of her videos individually or you can buy all six of them as a package deal. Of course they are cheaper if you go with the bundle but more expensive if you end up not liking the videos...
The package includes: Basic Groundwork, Starting young horses, Basic Body Control, Bridleless Riding, Teaching your horse to bow, and Whoa- Teaching your horse to stop.
Decisions... decisions....!
4 comments:
I've also been curious about her DVDs! I wish trainers had something like 5 minute demos of what is on their videos instead of us having to fork over the dough and possibly be disappointed later.
I do enjoy Clinton Anderson, though. Just his book alone has been helpful. :)
Hi Nikki,
I got Stacy Westfall's DVD set for Christmas a year ago. I watched them all, but I was most interested in the starting young horses one. I was a bit disappointed with them and I think it was primarily because I had already seen most of the Clinton Anderson DVDs. I thought that she didn't really go step by step with starting the young horse in the video because she was rushing him for the purpose of the video. He does of course improve, but I thought it was way too rushed. And I haven't found anyone yet that can explain stuff as well as Clinton Anderson does (because the guy talks nonstop!) I've also seen segments of Clintons's bareback stuff and I've also seen Stacy's bareback stuff. While Stacy runs some beautiful patterns, Clinton Anderson is by far more methodical and clear in his explanations. I'm sorry that I sound like such a Clinton Anderson follower...I have some issues with how aggressive he can be and how he's trained so many horses that they definitely are not individuals to him anymore...but I've still by far learned more from him than anyone else. I resold all my Stacy Westfall DVDs and only kept the one on teaching your horse to bow (because I plan to get to that one of these days!).
By the way, have you heard of "Horseflix"? go to www.horseflix.com. You can join and as many DVDs as you want for $9.99 a month! They have some really great ones! And Stacy Westfall's set is on there! If you are unsure about the purchase, maybe you should rent first?
I was going to suggest HorseFlix too. That way you can "try before you buy." I've been renting through them since November. It's pretty handy.
I haven't watched the Stacy Westfall ones but I haven't seen very good reviews on them. I'm sure she has something good to offer, most trainers do. And if you're looking into bareback and bridle-less, she'd be a good one to watch.
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