Guyot…if you are getting few auditors, why not post on the Events Forum of COTH.
https://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/forum/announcements/events
When I was putting on clinics, I used to advertise in the local horse rag’s calendar (it was a print publication)…but the COTH makes it much easier to disseminate the info electronically.
I am always interested in auditing new clinicians/trainers.
Who are you having in your clinic next weekend?
Charlotte Lassiter from the U.K. She’s fabulous and been coming to the states for last few years regularly again. A local barn closed and somehow I lucked out to take over their clinic dates with her. She also goes to Florida and somewhere out west to clinic usually before she comes here… maybe Kansas?
Would love to have enough interest to be able to have a clinic two weeks apart so on the start of her US clinic trip and then again on the end of the trip. Right now she comes every six months which is great. Twice a couple weeks apart every six months would be amazing. First trainer I’ve ever met, ridden with I would move my life to ride with, she’s that good! (And I mean that as a trainer and as a person)
Who are you focusing on? Is it the AA without regular instruction? Or the AA with decent local instruction who wants another viewpoint? For the first, you would want someone who comes regularly - likely wont be as big of a name. The second group might be more enticed by a bigger name (and will pay a bit more for a once in a while deal).
Cant help you with specific recommendations as my only experiences lately have been watching clinics on UTube!
The problem that I saw—AA’s did not bother to attend.
Because of the onerous “qualifying” requirements…
The USDF seems to feel that someone’s “qualifications” are only thru show scores…so people just didn’t believe the view was worth the climb.
If a rider spends their limited time and funds in education and training, then some people will not have show scores.
If you have to put together some performance/resume/portfolio just to go to some gd clinic…well, foggetaboutit.
And this from someone who did just that for a VADA clinic with a rider from the SRS…so the view has to be worth the climb.
There were no qualifications for auditing the AA clinics that USDF sponsored. There was an application process to select riders at different levels.
If we are talking the Adult clinic - it was pretty expensive. The last one they had that I audited was $150/ride (plus stabling) and $50/day to audit. They did require an application process. It was not an AA clinic, it was an Adult clinic (as compared to the Junior/YR clinics they sponsor).
I have a problem paying that much when at least part of the focus is on the auditors, and there is a big profit made with that auditor income - that last one I attended had at least 30 or 40 auditors, which comes out to several thousand in auditor fees. AND the hosting chapter was selling raffle tickets, selling lunch, selling some other stuff - they brought in a bit of profit too.
USDF has switched up how they do clinics now, it looks like they just give money to GMOs to put on their own things some of which look like AA only clinics. I think the GMO gets to decide on the qualifications and fees though, so depending upon who puts it on and where it might be really expensive. But they don’t get the money if they make a profit so my thought would be that they would be trying to make them less expensive? https://www.usdf.org/education/nei.asp
Those are not “clinics” (at least by my definition)…they are “symposiums” geared to an audience, and thus the “selection process.”
Now 'splain to me why a rider would want to go thru a selection process and pay big money to be a guinea pig rider for a paying audience?
This approach may be ok, as perhaps the clinician wants to get some point across and needs appropriate horse/rider combos…but don’t sell it as a “clinic.”
The riders for these “clinics” should have had a free lesson for the trouble of traveling a distance and being a demo rider for an audience. This is what was done when I was a 2nd Level demo rider for an L-judges program. I got a free admission to the L-program if I was a demo rider.
A “clinic” in my mind is a session where the rider simply pays the clinician (or organizer) a fee and gets a lesson. Auditors can take away what they can, but the lesson is focused on the horse and rider.
I have ridden with CdK at Hassler’s Riveredge. I had to “apply” to ride but it was pretty straight forward process. Ditto for riding with the SRS rider in the VADA clinic. Clinics with other Cadre Noir trainers at private farms have never required “qualification” to ride…usually the long-term students got first option at the riding slots and auditing was free.
Riding in the AA clinic was geared both to riders and auditors and included a lecture, not like the L program demo riders. It would be great if it could be free, but someone needs to cover expense of airfare, hotel, meals, day fee of the presenter.
I do believe that auditors should pay less for riding in a symposium - closer to the audit fee. But they should also be getting some value out of the ride.
We have local symposia in which basically every applicant has had the opportunity to ride. I know there were a couple times where a rider had significant enough control issues that their trainers talked them out of it, but generally our GMO has arranged rides to allow all applicants to ride - and obviously that means there has been a smaller pool of applicants in general than one would assume.
To me, one of the problems with the adult clinics was timing. USDF informed GMO’s when it would be. I remember the most recent one with Hilda Gurney in the Phoenix area (AZ TD is more likely to remember if it was in Scottsdale or elsewhere) was poor timing for many of us to take a weekend out of town for a symposium. There’s also the geography issue which always pops up. I didn’t even consider an Adult Clinic in Colorado or something. Our region extends from Mexico to Canada, and it’s absolutely stupid that USDF and USEF continue to treat us as if we should attend events at all reaches of our region.
We are lucky to have individuals who put on clinics, and generally even those who aren’t part of the barn doing the clinic will be invited for many. Both the GMO located in the Phoenix valley and the Tucson Dressage Club do some wonderful educational events as well. Because we’re a smaller community than some of the places dubbed dressage meccas, but have these opportunities, we have many chances to ride or audit. And I’m glad to see riders looking for ways to add options in other areas - kudos to the OP for that!
It might help if those who know of clinics, either private (unaffiliated with a GMO) or sponsored clinics (organized by a local dressage association) would put the area they live in in their posts.
Since a dressage clinic is a series of lessons and is not a group affair, what is preventing both AA’s and Professionals attending?
In the hunter world, clinics are organized by the height of fences they feel comfortable jumping, so you often have pros and ammies mixed. That constraint is not an issue in dressage.
I live in Southern Pines, NC. On FB we have a group which is called "Sandhills Area Equestrians, but people living in contiguous counties can join. Posts are often put up there, announcing clinics, regardless of discipline. Perhaps all of you have similar groups that you can join?
The Charles River Dressage Association in my area (Boston metro) puts on excellent schooling shows (better run that some recognized shows I’ve been to) and clinics that are geared toward AAs: crdressage.org
Yes, I know, I am talking about the old USDF Adult clinics. AZ TD commented on how they were not well attended, and I was pointing out one of the big reasons - they were EXPENSIVE. USDF advertised these as if they were something done to SUPPORT Adult Riders, but reality was, they were a money maker. The riders paid the full cost of riding in a clinic, and the auditors paid a (very high) audit fee.
If USDF wants to advertise that they are SUPPORTING the Adult Riders (not just AA - these clinics were for Adults, Open and AA), they would have been free, or low cost. And these clinics were not just for the AA.
My GMO is HUGE - and they used the USDF money to backfill a program they already had, so nothing new for the Adults or the AA riders. 
$1500 is a nice amount for a smaller GMO, but it is nothing when it has to support 3000+ members (actually, USDF gave 3 of the grants to my GMO, so I guess it is $1500 for every 1,000+ members).
I know this topic comes up every few years, but I’ll say it again - we need to include our grass roots riders, or we lose our membership and volunteer base!
All the reasons you mentioned is why USDF changed the Adult clinic program to the current GMO-driven program. It is a new program. When more groups apply for the money, the hope is there will be new programs offered. And the money is, AFAIK, designated per Region - not per x# riders.
Which, again, is useless in a region which stretches between Mexico and Canada. Of course, I firmly believe that should be re-drawn, and wouldn’t be surprised if there have been many many discussions about regions which I have no idea about. 
Around here we see a couple of barns bring the same clinician in 3-4 times a year and they are typically filled by the same AA’s each time as they consistently want to ride with that same clinician. So Barn A brings in trainer E while Barn B brings in trainer G. If you know that the barn is doing it, you can ask to get on their email list to ride and/or audit. They are laid back, fun clinics, typically done on a Fri/Sat so there’s a weekend day involved.
I don’t understand. Certainly there are GMOs (or chapters) spread around the Region? The idea was that if GMOs or Chapters could get $$, it would make clinics MORE local for you than one clinic every other year in one place in the huge regions.
This is what typically happens in my area. Some clinics are ran by local chapters and some are just organized by a barn or a trainer who volunteered to put it all together.
We have clinicians come in several times a year. Depending on who is running the clinic (by a trainer/barn or chapter), there might be a priority list. Example, if a trainer is putting together the clinic, the trainer’s students may have the ability to sign up first and if there are any openings, outside riders are allowed to sign up for the remaining spots.
We have the following people in our area that have worked with both professionals, amateurs, and beginners:
JJ Tate
Ashley Perkins
Charles De Kunffy
Janet Foy
Isabelle von Neumann-Cosel
Eiren Crawford
Lauren Sprieser
I spent this last weekend at the Southern CDS AA clinic and it was a rousing success. Some of the things that I think made it very successful were;
The clinician, Melissa Cresswick went above and beyond not just with each rider/horse pair, but also to include the auditors in the discussion. She was brilliant about asking questions to engage the peanut gallery in the lesson, answering questions and educating anyone that would listen.
The riders: each rider put themselves out there, did not get defensive even when challenged by Melissa. Everyone came with the intention of learning. There was a tremendous sense of camaraderie and mutual support among all the riders. There was a wide variation of horses; training levels, age, breeds, conformation, size…
The organizer, Nicole B. was super about communicating well in advance of the clinic and was there for everyone throughout the weekend. Snack and drinks abounded and box lunches were available for advance purchase.
The facility was terrific. Apart from some plumbing issues the first day, everything was wonderful. The footing was terrific and those who stabled on site were welcomed.
The sad thing is that there were few who took advantage of the free auditing. I totally get that for many of us, giving up time on weekend to not ride is tough. And who likes doing laundry late on Sunday night, almost got it all done, before going to work on Monday?
I really encourage people to take as much advantage as possible of such FREE education opportunities.
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