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

I have read most of the popular natural horsemanship training books -- Parelli, Clinton Anderson, John Lyons, Linda Tellington-Jones, etc. Sean Patrick's "Countdown to Broke" is absolutely hands-down the best natural horsemanship book I have read. It is a detailed step by step "how to" make a horse. I am training my 2 yr. old gelding and Sean's lessons work. It is so rewarding to see a youngster improve and with Sean's book you are certain to see results if you follow his instructions. He goes into detail and its easy to follow. I have become a huge fan of Sean Patrick.

I am a dedicated student of the horse and avid reader of all things natural horsemanship related. I have read John Lyons, Clinton Anderson, Bill Dorrance, Buck Brannaman, Linda Tellington Johnston and a few others, so all in all I think I have a pretty good overview of the available methods on the market.
Though I am a huge Buck Brannaman fan, I live abroad and might never have the privilege to ride at one of his clinics, and I'm pretty much on my own trying to train my recently acquired 3.5 yr old filly. I'm a decent yet average rider, and since i bought her just broke to ride, with many holes in her foundation, I often feel well over my head with her...
Enters Sean Patrick and his Countdown to Broke. I ordered this book thanks to the many rave reviews on this site, and checking Sean's Facebook page.
Well, it sure was an excellent buy ! Sean's book is a do-it-yourself, step by step, foolproof method to break and train your horse to a very good level, opening on any discipline you'll want to specialize in. I don't know where to start about all the positive points of this book.
I guess the best thing would be the very smart, safety oriented and efficient progression of the exercises. Though my young mare was already broke, it was a pleasure to walk her through all the beginning process, filling all the holes in her foundation along the way. Sean has worked out a wonderfully smart plan to gain your horse's respect AND boost his confidence and make him bond with you at the same time. This is no little feat.
The next thing I like is how well explained everything is, with clearly detailed instructions and good color pictures. Sean has made his lessons simple and foolproof. Not everything is easy, but all has been chunked down to very easily digesting parts for both you and your horse. Plus Sean is great at telling you exactly how much emphasis to put on what lessons (when he says get 500 clean inside turns on your horse, lope him 6 laps in each direction from the ground, or repeat 10 forward movement sessions under saddle, etc).
Last but not least, Sean's attitude and take about things is just perfect. He's totally emotionally neutral, extremely matter of factual, and shows great concern about your horse's health, his emotional well being, and your safety at all times. It's the same no-nonsense, get-things-done way as Clinton Anderson, but without the egocentric, overly assertive macho style. Sean tells you to escalade pressure as much as you'll need to get a specific response, but in a totally non emotional kind of way, and always reminding you to STOP all pressure as soon as you get the slightest give from the horse.
All in all I'm still early in the process with my mare but Sean's method is giving us a game plan and has already been a great confidence builder for both of us. I feel Sean has greatly borrowed from John Lyons, but seems better at making everything clear, non confusing and obvious.
Really one of the best horse training books that I ever bought, and certainly one I expect to be going back to for many years to come.
Thank you Sean for this wonderful opportunity for the average rider/owner to improve both their training skills and their horse' ability.

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!

This is a marvelous book in its clarity and easy to follow lessons and photos. Sean and Alisha present a step-by-step, easy to follow method to bring your horse along. I especially appreciate that the language is correct and not loaded with "cute" jargon. I only wish I did not live so far from their barn as I would very much enjoy training with them. You will not be disappointed with this book and the practical approach to training.

I have spent a lot of time learning Horse Handling/Breaking methods. I am a keen rider, but I am not a "Natural Horseman" and I found this book to be one of the clearest, easily written, books I have ever read. Having it in a written form (as opposed to a Lesson or a Demonstration) I can go back and back to read over things which have slipped my memory. The best message I got form it is "repetition" which is the way to get the message over to your horse. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to improve their own horse or try breaking/educating their own foal. Read it, re-read it, then take it to the yard with you, and with repetition you will find that you yourself also remember the steps and you will have a better chance of improving your horse and your relationship with him.

The following Disclaimer of Liability opposite the Contents page says it all in regard to the value and reliability of the information in this book:

"The authors and publisher have neither liability nor responsibility to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the information contained in this book. While the book is as accurate as the authors can make it, there may be errors, omissions, and inaccuracies."

The disclaimer is right there are plenty of errors, omissions and inaccuracies in the book. For example, Sean misunderstands a very basic concept in learning called positive reinforcement.

If you need help with your horse find a horse trainer that takes responsibility for his work and doesn't preface his work with a disclaimer of responsibility like Sean Patrick does.

Before you spend a dime on any horse training books, dvds or horse trainers read "Equitation Science" by Paul McGreevy. McGreevy's book beats everything that Sean Patrick and all the horsemanship crowd have ever published on horse behavior and horse training. I hope that Sean reads McGreevy's book and revises his horse training in light of it. McGreevy's book is the greatest help that anyone has ever done for the welfare and safety of the horse and the humans that handle them.

Another vastly superior book to read about training horses is "My Horses, My Teachers" by Alois Podhajsky. Here's a quote from page 105, "One one side there is the unconditional subjection by force and punishment with which the rider may reach his goal more quickly but only if he has a good-natured creature with no tendency to fight. This kind of education, however, will undermine the individual character of the animal and result in obedience out of fear. The brilliance of such a horse will be lost and he will be indifferent towards man or even hostile. If on the other hand, the training of the horse is based on kindness, calmness, and ample reward as well as understanding for his personality, the result will be happy obedience on the part of the horse and pleasure in his work. It make take a little longer than with the other method but there will never be that ugly fight between man and animal. The charm and brilliance of the horse will be maintained, even enhanced, and preserved until his old age."

"The Modern Horseman's Countdown to Broke" is the "unconditional subjection by force and punishment" side of training that Podhajsky warns about.

I have read several horse-training books and found Sean's book to be very helpful and easy to understand. I like the way Sean lays the program out in easy-to-follow steps, with a clear description of each. I recently purchased a new horse and am glad that I found this book. I was so impressed with his teaching style in the book that I personally contacted Sean and signed up for his month-long Horsemanship School. Both my horse and I are enjoying working alongside Sean teaching each of his lessons described in his book. In the past I have sent horses to trainers and after getting the horse home, I was not sure how to continue. This program teaches you to train your horse, so once you get your horse home, you simply continue. I highly recommend this as a how-to text with excellent instruction.

I have seen a lot of DVDs that are currently available on horse training and some of these are very helpful, but this book is a fantastic step by step reference manual. I just study the lesson I want to work on and then go do it. The lessons are very clearly described and easy to understand.
This is a must have book for anyone wanting to improve their skills in training horses. If your horse could talk he would ask you to get.

I have owned Arabian horses for years,but have never considered myself a trainer. In order to approach the training of a young horse, I needed to know how much pressure would I dare put on a young horse, and what is a good sequence of training exercises? This book answers those questions and more. You come away with a better understanding of the communication between horse and trainer, and gain more insight to the actions and reactions of the horse.

This is an excellent guide to horse training with clear instructions for each step. It really takes the guess work out of the entire process. There is not a great deal of new information, but it is really worth it for those of us who like to have definite measurable step to be able to duplicate what needs to be done. I would definitely recommend this book.