CLINTON INTERVIEW

proud of that because it’s a real hard thing to do! You know most people can barely make a living in the horse industry, I got to retire. That’s how I got back now at 47. I’m back to training horses again.

I love Mike and Barbi to death, and we joke about it now. Barbi firing me, honestly is what made me become a clinician out of necessity because I needed money. We get along well; you can print that. I buy Barbi a cocktail every time I see her. We hug and joke about it, but really Barbi firing me was life changing. Because even though it was devastating at the time. I threw up for about four days, had no money, threw up for four more days, had no prospects, it forced me to go a different way in life. And my mother always told me, you know in life, “If one door closes, if you look for another, one will open for you.” At that age it was difficult to see the positive in such a bad situation, but it really was a major positive thing in my life. That’s why I hug Barbi every time I see her. Because if she wouldn’t have fired me, I don’t think I would have gone down the route I went……….

I never expected to hear that, it is a really interesting story. No, no. I was just good at it. I was better than the other clinicians, in the fact that I was good at teaching. That was my natural gift. It was teaching. I wasn’t naturally a good horseman or rider, but I was naturally good at the gift of gab and teaching people. I was good at it, and I made money to do it. People wanted me to teach and when you are broke, that’s what you do, whatever you can to make money. That’s what I did. You know what I mean? I really wanted to be a horse trainer you know. There was a job with Brett and John and Todd Bergen at Stone Ranch in Arizona. Andrea and I, we joke about it today. He beat me by two weeks to get that job. I called them up two weeks later and said, “I am looking for a job”, and they said “Man we just hired an Italian kid. If you would have called a few weeks earlier, you would have had the job.” Andrea’s and my career basically started at the same time. You know what I mean? Around 1997 we both got here. If I would have got that job working for them, I guarantee we wouldn’t be talking the way we are now.

Q - Most clinicians stay in their comfort zone, appealing to their base of followers and over time their game plays out and they become a has been. Few, if any, get out and compete in the real world. What is it that keeps you evolving when so many of your peers are unable to do that?

A - First of all I’m very competitive by nature. I like the thrill of The Chase of being a competitor. And two, I want to become a better horseman and the only way you become a better horseman is hanging around horseman that are better than you. When you compete against people that are kicking your ass, if you keep competing and keep learning eventually, you’ll get (hopefully) as good as them or maybe even better. I don’t know, I just like competition. I feel like competition and horse shows is a true leveling game of talent and ability. You know the problem with the clinicians is you can tell 2000 un-educated people that you are the greatest horseman in the World. They just believe you, because they’ve got nothing to compare to. I want to win the respect of my peers, the people I am competing against. If they respect me as a horseman and they respect me as a trainer and tell me I did a good job, well I have earned my peers respect and vice versa. I think the difference with me is, and you know this, only one other clinician that really does compete a lot is Richard Winters, and he mainly just does the Cow Horse, not the Reining. Richard loves to compete as well. Most of the clinicians, quite honestly, they’re not willing to humble themselves Tracy! You know it’s not easy to get your ass kicked at 47 in front of 100’s and 1,000’s of people! You get what I’m saying? If you are NOT Uncomfortable you are NOT growing. I’m willing to get uncomfortable, because I want to get better! It’s easy to stay in your own little pond, and not only that, but I also don’t care how successful you are at any industry. You could be the best Reiner in the world, best Cow Horse, best Cutter…… If you change industries, get ready to go back and be a Rookie again! I promise you. I promise, you take the #1 Reining guy and you put him in the Cutting pen. He looks like a Rookie really quick again! It would be really easy for me to stay in my lane and not get uncomfortable. Especially at 47 years old and I’m trying to compete against young guys in their 20s, but again if you’re comfortable, you are not growing. You’re not getting better. You gotta be uncomfortable to get better. In anything in life, I don’t care what it is, but if you are not uncomfortable you are not getting better!

Q -We touched on it earlier, you’ve got a lot of guts to get out there and compete against the best riders and horses in the western performance horse world. So many of us have high anxiety when showing. How do you feel knowing everyone is watching you in the show pen?

A -I don’t really care about them watching me, per se, because again I got pretty thick skin. I have dealt with the public my whole life. So, the insults and embarrassment doesn’t really hurt me anymore. So, I’m not worried about being in front of people. Do I like losing in front of people? No! I don’t think any man or woman that likes to be successful likes getting their ass kicked. So that bothers me. But I like the fact that it bothers me, because it bothers me to get out of bed at 3 o’clock in the morning and go do my job!!! You know, it’s the embarrassment of sucking that makes you want to work a little harder! I use the negative energy of getting my ass kicked to get out of bed and try to do better. You know what I mean? I take negative energy and turn it into positive energy.

Q - What are real tips that you can offer aspiring horse trainers?

A -Number 1: Nobody ever drowned in their own sweat. People are so lazy today, so if you’re a young person boy or girl and you’re willing to work hard, two things will happen. Opportunities will come your way. People think luck is about luck. Luck is when hard work and opportunity start meeting in the middle. When opportunity and hard work meet, that is called luck……. OK, so make your own luck. Usually, you’ll find the harder you work, the more opportunities come your way. So, work really, really hard.

Number 2: Be willing to start at the bottom. I worked two years at my first job at 15 years old. He didn’t pay me a cent, I worked two years for free! He gave me food on the table, a little shitty caravan to live in and I worked for free for two years. But he was willing to teach me, and he was willing to give me an opportunity to work with horses. So today I can make millions of dollars from the information he shared with me. But if I would have been a little Punk kid at 15 and said, “You should pay me to learn how to train Horses”, he would have said, “Get lost!” So be willing to start at the bottom. If being at the bottom means you clean stalls for a year, you clean stalls every day! You show up first and you leave last. And when you show up before everybody else, including the boss, and you leave after everybody else. If you do that long enough, not a week or two now, but a year…… people will notice that. And America right now is starving for young people that have a work ethic. Because we’ve got so lazy as a culture. So, if you are willing to show your boss that you’re not lazy, opportunities will come your way! Opportunities will come into your life. And be willing to start at the bottom and prove your loyalty.