The Modern Horseman's Countdown to Broke: Real Do-It-Yourself Horse Training in 33 Comprehensive Steps

I love this book. Well written and easy to follow.

Although I'm a seasoned rider, not much focus on horse training was ever given in my lessons over the years. I was in for a huge shock when I bought my first horse. That's when I first learned about natural horsemanship methods. I like Clinton Anderson and his methods, but find they can be pretty expensive to learn (clinics and kits) or not as retain able (if I happened to catch the show on TV). I'd never heard of Sean Patrick, but liked the reviews of this book and decided to go ahead and buy it.I am blown away by the amount of information and how sequential this method is. It's darn near dummy proof! I'm a very logical person, so getting to see exactly what I have to do without the flowery emotional words helps A LOT! I can't wait to try this on my horses. Someday, I'd like to break my own horse and try this method on a horse from the ground up. But, for now, this book is full of wonderful tools for any horse to learn!Update 7/14/14: I began my horse on the Countdown to Broke program three weeks ago and I am fascinated with the results so far! Yes, we completed all 500 inside turns and then some! My horse got softer and softer each time! It's absolutely daunting when you first read that in the book and you wonder how you'll ever get to that point with your horse. The trick is to complete them over the course of a few days. Start small, and as your horse becomes more attuned to your cue, he/she will get faster, softer, more sensitive, and more accurate at it! Make sure you continue to give your horse a break; I did 4-5 sets of 20 turns, with a break after each set, and my horse did very well with it.Update 1/12/15: I've still been working my horse and training according to this book. I re-read lessons before starting and study the book well at least 3-4 times per week. My horse and I are currently working on Lesson 23 and are on Day 31 of training. Although I don't have the time to work every exercise every day (and we'd probably be much further along by now if we had the time), I still take time out on the weekends with my horse to review a current lesson or begin teaching something new. Some things, like the head-down cue, I was able to continue teaching every time I haltered my horse to turn her out or bring her in. I've been keeping a training blog since day 1 on our successes and failures. I still love that this book gives you options and corrections if you're not succeeding. I've been telling all my friends about this book! Training a horse is not rocket science, and Mr. Patrick makes this clear to everyone. Of course, there will be some horses who need problems corrected by a trainer, but for the average horse owner with the average young or green horse, this book is a gem! I wish I could give it 100 stars!

Having been out of the clinic circuit for quite a few years now, I wasn't familiar with this trainer and bought this book and DVD based on the reviews I read. I used to attend a lot of clinics and have done my share of training, but with a new young horse needing training from the ground up, I found that I need some refresher learning to ensure I did everything as correctly as possible. I like Sean Patrick's approach, which is his own style gleaned from all the best training resources available to date. His common sense approach is easy to understand, but just in case I needed a visual when reading something in the book, I bought the DVD so I can see the training done as well. I haven't by any means finished yet, as proper horse training is a lengthy work in progress, but I feel very confident that this book and DVD will give me everything I need to accomplish my goals with my new horse. I even had a question on one of the lessons and emailed Sean Patrick for an answer, and he replied back with some great insight. I am a new and devoted fan of his work!

My husband and I purchased a young Gypsy Vanner colt a year ago. He was very pushy with food and didn't understand where his feet where going. We started with basic lunging and foot work but he didn't seem to understand. He just understood to move away from our pressure because it hurt. We started the program and quickly saw our horse change. This program wasn't about making the horse do uncomfortable activities. The steps where very effective and it allowed us to have an understanding of how an equine thinks. We made sure to do every step in order and 2 months later we can ride him! I feel so comfortable with him now that I would put a young inexperienced rider on him without a worry. Our horse never bucked during the process but his breed is known for being calm. If bucking had occurred, there was a section in the audio to address it. Overall, this is a fantastic way to learn if you would prefer to listen to audio rather then read a book!

This book is a useful tool in my horse training resource library. I have enjoyed reading the concepts and ideas in this book, and have put many into practice. I use this as a resource in addition to many, many other ideas from other sources for training horses of all ages. My older broke horses have benefited from these exercises as well. I would recommend this to someone looking for some extra ideas for training exercises for horses of any age to benefit from. I did not use this book's ideas exclusively, I tend to use blended personalized training formats for each horse that consist of a wide range of ideas, including my own and supplemented by others. It may be possible to train with only the ideas in this book, that is just not my style, so I can't say if that's possible. I have only taken the concepts that I found supplemented my programs and used them, I don't use exercises if I feel the horse wouldn't benefit from it.

I am using this book daily. The way it is written and the photos for each lesson are easily understood. My Australian brumby horse is already broken in (by a professional), however I think it was all too short and she has missed some major steps, so I am using this book to start her all over again. So far so good and she is loving all the attention.

I have leased backyard horses for about 10 years now. Then I came across a horse that has been pastured for over a years and didn't have much work before that. I used the lessons in this book to get that horse respectful and ridable again. I wasn't sure I would be able to too l do it but I was.

This book sells itself as step-by-step guide to breaking your horse from scratch, but it skips over halter breaking entirely. It literally says in the book that you should consult“A quality book on the subject” if you need to know how to halter break your horse. I thought that’s what I was doing lol. Of course I want to know how to halter break my horse! It Just skipped over the first major phase of training. Super frustrating.

I used this book (along with some others) as a step by step guide to break out my colt. These are similar methods I’ve used before, But it is very clearly described with great photos. I wanted to make sure I didn’t skip anything or do anything too fast and it helped me give him easy to digest sessions that really helped him become a great horse with nice soft buttons .

I love this book. got me through a lot of sticky points with my once abused gelding. i took a year as the book suggests you might. I have never looked back. went from 3 1/2 hours in -40 celsius trying to catch or get close to my horse, but now he comes when he's called. if you do everything and don't skip any of the important parts it really bonds you and your horse and makes an amazing partnership. i carried this book with me everywhere i went for a year. it might be covered in dust, sweat and tears... but i can still read it and it still goes with me. WELL worth every penny.

When I resuced my mare she was a baby and was so shy no one could get near her. I was at a lost as to what to do with her.Searching the net I came accross this book by Sean.The information helped me to reach my horse in a fair and logical way.The information follows a pattern and gives you the instructions you need for a sound and calm horse.I have a young friend who trains horses and she finds this book so helpful in her training methods.I believe that this book would help any person at any level of horsemanship to improve their skills.

Easy to follow and clearly laid out instructions to start a horse. I started a green gelding with this instruction and in no time he was doing exactly what the book said... I have paperback and on my Kindle. Great Information.

I bought this book thinking it would be a good way to get to know my new horse. However, one of the first things I read is that I need a round pen and a riding ring, neither of which I have. The introduction also says that the author recommends doing this with a horse that you are comfortable riding first. Well I only have the one. So I guess I should have looked a little closer at this before laying out the cash - it is not for the backyard horse owner. Having determined that it is not for me, I can say that if you had those things this looks like it would be a good way to proceed. I like the way that each lesson is broken down into sections, starting with 'goals'.