Does anyone on the board have any experience with clinics with Arthur Kottas? I have the opportunity to ride with him in a few weeks and I’m not sure if I should audit first or take the plunge and ride. My horse is training Fourth but is a sensitive, occasionally naughty mare. I am definitely a competitive rider not “Klassical”
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I would audit. I rode with him once, and just didn’t find that I got value for my money. There was a lot of instructions on where to go (ride a circle, go across the diagonal, good…) but nothing on what to do to improve my riding or train my horse. VERY different than what I experienced with KM, but then, KM is unique.
So it depends on what you want to get out of it - as I said, I would recommend auditing to see if what you see is what you want.
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Who is KM?
Karl Mikolka
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Why not audit if you are not sure?
The OP likely sorted out what to do in that last year and a half.
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Perhaps htm the new OP also has an opportunity and wants to know if the $$$ are justified.
I recently missed an opportunity to audit him but have made the observation that unless you are already working well past third level, you are not likely to gain anything more than you would get from any good instructor. If you are looking for help with piaffe, passage etc. go for it, for the Chief Riders of the SRS excel at that work.
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Audit. He comes to my area regularly. I get lots out of watching, but wouldn’t want to pay $$$ to ride. You can “get” what he’s after and use it quite nicely by watching two or three lessons. IMO John Lasseter is better (another SRS guy)…who is very underrated and looked down upon these days.
IMO again both of these people have a huge depth of knowledge but whether they will condescend to share it with you is another thing. 
They have seen a lot of housewives in nice expensive riding clothes on schoolmasters fail to master a 20 m circle or a volte over the years and it’s made them jaded in the extreme. As in …just phoning in the traffic directions and wondering if the Canadian dollar is worth anything - should have stipulated US $ only.
Lasseter was great for me…jumped up and yelled and got really excited. Not sure if I was really bad or really good…but he was interested in me and my horse at least. Said everyone should have a TB in their barn to keep them humble. I think he was amazed that he didn’t have to tell me to steer and actually ride my bucking TB. I have ridden with him a few times and would again in a heartbeat. Very similar approach to Kottas (without the lisp)…good stuff if you can eke it out of them. But 90% of the other people riding would have said cookie cutter lessons and in a sense they were right. But if you can’t ride an accurate (and i mean ACCURATE) school figure they just zone out right there.
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it is always a good idea to audit first.
He comes to our area - some get a lot out of the sessions and some do not.
He does not blow smoke and I think maybe he works better with experienced riders who have the basics down.
I have observed that they put some riders on the longe. Tough on auditors if that happens to several riders in a row, and sometimes that does happen. 
I think if the clinician feels that the best learning experience for the rider, who has paid $$$$, is to be longed, so be it! Though it would be nice if the clinician explained what he/she was seeing and hopes to accomplish, for the benefit of both the rider and the auditors. (IMHO the best use of longeing is that the rider can fully concentrate on developing the ability to feel without thinking how to control the horse. But that should be another thread.)
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