I have always wanted to audit a GM clinic (I’m not good enough to ride in one…yet) but as far as I know, he doesn’t come to Canada. Does anyone know anything about “out of country” clinics? Is there someone at his farm that I can call or e-mail to get some info?
Thanks Ponymom - hopefully I’ll see you (and JRG??) there. I’ll be the tall one, with short red hair, shivering in an orange blanket!
Sarah
Pony Mom… Getting a pair of TS was a good idea (although in the future, look to Ebay for deals. My daughter has 3 pairs and I never spent more than $45-60 for them - and they were new!). A turtleneck is fine as are long undies as long as they are neat, trim and conservative.
As for the new horse stuff, again neat, clean, conservative. Oil and darken any pieces of really new tack, no colored pads (or zebra polos!). I know a lot of this sounds basic but this is a man who has a TREMENDOUS respect for our sport and the traditions of our sport. So why fly in the face of that?! As for the horse herself, groomed as though she were going in the ring at Devon…but without the braids. And again if you want to make brownie points, oil her feet before she goes into the ring like you would at a show (it’s standard practice for lessons at Hunterdon).
Finally, remind your daughter to be attentive but not nervous. Follow directions EXACTLY and promptly. A good thing to practice are turns vs turns in reverse because he’ll throw those in. Again, George is a really good teacher. He will work her hard but she will come away with a lot of new found abilities and confidence after the whole thing.
And no…you never feel 100% comfortable calling him George…at least I don’t! But when the man insists, if you are smart you do what he says!!
My trainer took 3 of my friends to the clinic he did this past Friday (don’t know where it was) and was thrilled. He worked the girls to death, but was never rude. He was strict, but seriously if I was paying that much money to ride for 2 hours, I wouldn’t want someone just standing there telling me that everything’s perfect.
Plus, before they left, he pulled my friends over and told them that our trainer was doing a very good job with them. 
how can you find out what his schedule is? I would love to audit one of his clinics.
I notice a lot of you guys talking about “not being good enough” to ride in GM clinic. How good do you think one should be to participate in one of his clinics? Should you be showing successfully at the level you’re entering, or ??? Just wondering, I don’t think I could travel far enough to get to one of his clinics!
Gayle I like your assessment of being ready. It does take a certain feeling of accomplishment to feel up to the task. But I am cautious about waiting too long to be ready. If we wait until we feel we can do everything that “might” be asked of us, why would we want to go? We already know how to do all of that 
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A good clinician can always moderate the content to fit each and every person/horse in each group. I doubt a good clinician would allow others to suffer for one person’s challenge. If the divisions are closely balanced with talent of horse/rider teams, everyone should feel they came away with a kernel of knowledge.
Auditing is step one. Then we know what will be expected of us should we come “ready” to ride the next time. Just don’t wait until you know it all to finally show up. It will be too late.!
If I say I am not ready to clinic, I am afraid I am saying I am not ready to learn. I need to be a sponge and absorb all the knowledge I can.
Oh LOL Pony Fan
You’ve brought back such great memories of George for me…thanks.
At 39 I still struggle with the “George” thing. I first rode with him when I was a teenager and I’ll always think of him as “Mr. Morris SIR”
I’m spectating in December at The Oaks and can’t wait!
I was able to audit one of GM’s clinics last November. From watching, I found him to be very tough, but fair. One rider, a fairly youngish junior, fell off when her horse stopped at a liverpool. As she sat there on the ground, crying, obviously upset at falling, GM asked her first if she was hurt. When she shook her head no and said she wasn’t, he then asked “why are you crying then? Are you hurt? Do you need to go to the hospital? If you are not hurt, you shouldn’t need to be crying.” Essentially, it was a “toughen up” kind of speech. I was reminded of the “There’s no crying in baseball” scene from the movie “A League of Their Own”!
I am also glad to see positive posts concerning George. He is a friend of long standing, a superb teacher, and has a dry, but acute sense of humor. He is always right on the mark and doesn’t say things to be hurtful - but if the TRUTH hurts, don’t go, because he will be truthful. The amount of knowledge he can impart in a 1 or 2 day clinic is unbelievable. And if you are ever at shows where he is, make it a point to listen to him school - you will learn tons this way too. In a clinic, be serious, but be able to laugh at yourself, too. He is really very funny!
I can confidently jump 2’6" with my horse…but I don’t relish the thought of embarassing myself with my horrific equitation. When I have a stronger leg and a better hand, then I will consider going to one of his clinics (provided I don’t have to trailer my horse for 2 days to get to one!). I think that “not being good enough” for me translates into not being confident enough. When I’m happier with how I’m riding, I’ll be ready to face GM.
I rode with George a lot during my Jr/Eq days. Everything PonyFan is saying is right-on!! However I did think he had a screw lose for a while. I had 2 horses at the time, my young horse that was supposed to be my junior hunter but didn’t work out - so he became my junior jumper. And then I had my Eq. horse that I leased. My jumper used to dump me at EVERY lesson, especially if we were on the outside course. He hated flatwork with a passion and let you know by being extremely pissy. But George LOVED him. Now my Eq. horse was perfect, she never put a foot wrong. And he HATED her. As a 14-16 year old I thought he was crazy!!!
Now looking back I would assume it was because the young horse tried very hard - overjumping by 2 feet whereas the mare did what she had to and nothing more. Its all I could come up with. They were both TB so it wasn’t the TB/WB thing. However after the '93 medal finals that George judged he asked my trainer if she(my eq. horse) was for sale!! I guess she finally grew on him.
One of my favorite memories was riding in a lesson with my boyfriend at the time (he also did the eq.) and George getting angry because BF could not remember directions - And George called him a “Pinhead” from that lesson on. I had a hard time keeping my composure every time George called him Pinhead!!!
I am thinking about auditing the clinic he is holding in mid november at hunterdon in NJ. the only thing holding me back is that i might have my first intercollegiate show that weekend 
I would personally rather go to GM, but i guess next year my instructor is bringing the trailor so we can ride (the thought of it makes me want to pee my pants!!)
Yup. There was one semi-ugly spill in one of the sessions that I audited.
As soon as GM determined that both rider and horse were fine he got her back up and explained “blow for blow” why she had had the spill. He had her ride the same gymnastic again and talked her through the exercise. She fixed the problem and did great from that point forward.
<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Canter:
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I find it hard to believe that my experience with George has differed so greatly from what I’m led to believe are the experiences of the vast majority. It’s almost as if we haven’t all been riding with the same man.
[/B]<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Canter, you’re not alone; I’m forever defending GM, mostly to those who have never even met or seen him, but tells 2nd/3rd-hand tales as if they experienced it themselves.
The confindence posts make a lot of sense to me. I guess it’s kind of like deciding when to move up into a higher division. It’s a good thing for me to think about if I ever have the oppurtunity to clinic with a big name trainer. Thanks for the input.
I won’t comment on the boyfriend Pinhead thing.
After everything I’ve heard/read about GM, I had to audit the clinic he recently gave in Middleburg.
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He made no comments about any of the riders’ weight. In fact, the rider whose skills I heard him compliment repeatedly was quite overweight.
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He was never abusive. He delivered pointed, constructive criticism, and showed remarkable patience with all of the riders who made an effort. He was justifyably impatient only with a couple of young riders who clearly were not focused on what they were doing.
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The couple of times he did get his ire up, he made self-deprecating comments afterwards.
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He did not ignore anyone.
Apparently, he’s mellowed with age.
At any rate, the experience was invaluable. To say that I learned a lot would be a monumental understatement. I may never be an accomplished enough rider to participate in a GM clinic, but I’d audit another one in a heartbeat.
CACTUS: I have the exact info at home, so I’ll post it tomorrow, but I believe it is the 12, 13 and 14. Thank goodness my boss used to do the hunters, because I am about two weeks negative on vacation time already this year and feel bad about buzzing off for another day. But when I said “George Morris clinic,” her eyes lit up.
