Curious if anybody has any experience with her clinics? Worth the cost? There is a 4-day clinic going on near me in August, and I am thinking about asking for some help with the cost for my birthday, but want to make sure its worth it. Looking at around $1000 for the clinic, stabling, and probably camping for myself.
I audited one, didn’t ride in it, just watched. She is an amazing instructor, very patient, very quiet and calm with the horses. She was amazing. I would ride with her in a heartbeat even tho I am an english rider. She is VERY patient with timid riders also. She works alot on fear issues and how to feel secure and safe. Also, she seems to be a truly nice human being.
Yikes, that’s a lot of lessons at home or hauling out to pretty decent trainers. I’d audit unless you are pretty sure any clinician is going to give you what you and your horse specifically need and the others in the group are in pretty much the same place you are.
Even the biggest and best name clinicians can be a waste of limited resources if they don’t jive with where you are and what you are doing when you participate in their clinics. If the others in your section are all in different places, that doesn’t help with what you need help with either.
However, you can ALWAYS learn from watching a good clinician working with a variety of horses and riders from a neutral vantage point without worrying about your own horse, possibly being either ahead or behind where the others are. The clinician, any clinician, has to work with the group in the ring mostly as a group, even the ones who are better with individual attentions can’t do that at the expense of the group, That can mean you don’t get too much out of the clinic for what it cost you as opposed to private lessons tailored to where you and your horse are at that time… 1k is a lot of lessons. Auditing will cost but not nearly as much.
Will say if you are familar with the clinician, the ternimology they will use, the type of problems or theory they typically concentrate on in clinics and it is what you feel will help where you are with the horse right now? Maybe.
I just think if you have not seen a clinician teach personally before and you and your horse may or may not respond to their approach? Money might be better spent auditing or taking some private lessons even if you have to travel a bit to get a decent trainer.
I have taken many clinics in two disciplines and benefitted from some, wasted money on others and most were in the middle. But always enjoyed auditing and learned things I could use without dumping a ton of money on it. Or sitting on the horse watching them spend their time with problems I didn’t have or being hopelessly in over my head wishing I hadn’t spent so much money on something that was not going to help me much or at all.
You can learn much more in a good clinic than from most lessons. I organize some clinics and many come back again. If you can afford it I would go. You can also learn a lot by auditing
Everybody is different as is every horse. I think clinics can be better then lessons but not necessarily if the rider has a limited budget and is not at a point where that’s the wisest use of limited funds as opposed to, say, 2 lessons a week for 2 months from a local, competent trainer plus auditing the BN clinic.
YMMV. Depends.
Dang, Draftmare! That’s more than the dues at the hunt club! And you know that we’ll all give you our advice at the bar after every hunt. We’re not a shy group!!
Shelby (Hi Sydney!)
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