Clinics..who do you recommend?

[runwayz]

I have an 8 yr old OTTB that had the last yr off for a bowed tendon, now healed.
My goal is to make him an all around ranch style horse.
I have the chance to participate in a Buck Brannaman clinic in a couple months.
I would like to hear any feedback on his clinics, I have heard positive and negative.

I am in Northern Calif and we have Charles Wilhelm up here too.
Any other suggestions on good clinics to attend?

Thank you all in advance!

[aktill]

I’be ridden with Buck and wouldn’t do so again. We’re the last stop on his yearly loop, and he seemed burned out on H1; the constant stream of negative comments was draining. The comment and quips that are funny or witty when you watch the movie get tiresome after days of the same sort of thing. Very expensive clinic for the little one on one time you might get too.

You also need to be familiar with all his exercises to really get much out of it…the people that were new were largely lost, and I did a lot of explaining during breaks to people who were too nervous to bring up questions I’m front of 20 people and 100 odd spectators. If you’re confident enough to ride up and ask questions, you’ll get an answer, but wallflowers may only get obtuse, “is he talking to me?” commments unless you’re really out to lunch.

What do you want to learn? Do you have a particular goal in mind? There are quite a few good folks in your neck of the woods.

If you’re a hackamore fan http://www.brucesandifercbh.com/code-3/code-8/index.html would be my first stop

[mvp]

My rule of thumb for any clinician…. and it stood me in good stead with Brannaman:

Go watch sans horse before you pay your money and take your horse.

With Brannaman, that’s especially true because there’s a lot to learn, and it comes in layers. One very expensive, very long weekend isn’t the best way to really figure out what he’d have you do and, more important, why. Also, watching him work on the ground, him ride, some others (who are better and worse in ways you can see or he points out) is really useful. If you watch one first and go try it a bit on your own, I think you’ll be more ready to absorb the finer points of the ground work and riding when you actually subject your horse, your wallet and your ego to him.

But aktill has asked you the right question: What do you want to learn from a clinician? And also, what do you plan to do with your OTTB ultimately? What’s his job?

[runwayz]

Thank you both. My goal with him is to just have a good all around horse. I would love to eventually work cattle with him, go on trail, etc…right now he is ready to start back under saddle. I ride English, but am slowly switching over to western. If he wants to jump later on that is fine too.
Basically I was told to start him over like a youngster.

[PeanutButterPony]

Richard Winters is fabulous.

[Huntin_Pony]

Lester Buckley is scheduled for a clinic in Santa Rosa this summer. I strongly recommend him. Full disclosure: I am the organizer of his east coast clinics (no financial interest in them, however).

See articles in recent issues of Western Horseman and Eclectic Horseman for more information about his training philosophy and see if it fits you and your horse. I think it will.

I can put you in touch with the organizer of the Santa Rosa clinic if you’d like. PM me with your email address and I will give it to her.

[mvp]

[QUOTE=runwayz;8042920]
Thank you both. My goal with him is to just have a good all around horse. I would love to eventually work cattle with him, go on trail, etc…right now he is ready to start back under saddle. I ride English, but am slowly switching over to western. If he wants to jump later on that is fine too.
Basically I was told to start him over like a youngster.[/QUOTE]

Remember, too, that in a Brannaman clinic, you’ll spend 3 or so hours at a stretch doing those (slow, gentle) turn around maneuvers. I’m paranoid but I’m not sure a large, weak horse needs to be doing that to his hocks and stifles. I haven’t ever seen anyone else complain or worry about this. But then again, I come from English World and I bring a different kind of horse to the equation. In any case, I think it’s a long time for man or beast to concentrate on getting a slow, repetitive move just right.

And for your horse: Sure, “start him over” to an extend. But the buggar really does know some of this already. Don’t grind on him/give him the whole “second grade curriculum” just because that’s what someone would do with a 3 year old. Tailor your work to this horse’s education and the particular gaps in it. I don’t think any good horsemen-- these guys included-- would have you stuff a horse into a fixed program. Rather, you need to be able to see the holes in his education and fill them. Along these lines, keep reading all the way to the end; you need to pick that end goal for your horse first.

Perhaps the very best 3 things you can get from any of these guys are:

1. An understanding of a horse who “braces” and a feel for what a horse who “has let go of the brace” feels like. They get a little abstract when they speak of a mental brace. (That refers to a horse not always ready to softly do whatever you asked of him, right then, or at least to try if he doesn’t understand. It’s something like “willing compliance” as a basic approach to requests.

But the simpler/prior/true sense of it has to do with the horse stiffening a part of his body. And usually, this means he doesn’t move when you ask him because he’s out of balance and cannot. Learning to see that is worthwhile. Sometimes, too, (and for lots of ammy-owned horses) the horse doesn’t move promptly when asked because he doesn’t know that he owes you a response when you ask, right away.

2. Learning to ask a horse to move a leg when he can. That is to say, ask a horse to put down his foot somewhere else when he has the leg off the ground, not when he’s standing on it and can’t comply even if he’d like to. Again, this relates to the cause of any kind of “brace” above. In practice, this means timing your request with his feet. I found that doing that on the ground helped me improve my timing immeasurably under saddle. This is the hardest physical skill to learn of any the Brannaman types will offer you. (But learning the same degree of feel for a hackamore horse is probably equally hard.) In any case, you just need to put in the time here.

IME, it’s worth watching a clinic… then going home and practicing with your beast…. and then taking a clinic with some professional eyes on you. I wouldn’t compress all this into one weekend.

3. Understanding the basic “a horse who never, ever braces his body (and, it follows his mind)” when he’s doing a job. This approach to riding is sophisticated and it does not match the philosophy behind all disciplines. IMO, it means a horse who is very soft and responsive…. reactive to requests but not hot about it…. mentally “right there” but not worried. Physically, it means a horse to goes of the smallest aids from your seat, leg and hand. This horse finds it easy to change speed and direction quickly because he is taught to hold his body in balance all the time.

While this sounds good and even universal in theory, most people do not make up horses to be as “unbraced” as these guys who have that “brace” concept do. If you haven’t done this and ridden a made up version of this kind of horse, it might seem like a long, rather fussy project. IME (and speaking for myself) most people tend to slack off on the basic project of keeping the horse soft and balanced 100% of the time, either in hand or under saddle. It takes an incredible amount of attention.

If you can’t/don’t want to sign up for that level of attention, you’ll have to accept a rather ersatz version of the whole training philosophy that these guys espouse.

JMO.

[Pocket_Pony]

I’ll reply with more later but want to comment on BB’s nor cal clinic. If it is the one in red bluff the footing isn’t very good so if your horse is just coming back from rehab I wouldn’t recommend it. More later. …

[airhorse]

Martin Black, Joe Wolter.

[mestle]

I agree that you should watch any clinician before deciding to ride with them–see if their style suits you and what they have to offer.
That being said, I would recommend that you attend the whole Brannaman clinic as an auditor rather than a rider if you can. Much less cost and you will see more without worrying about what you are doing. Its been my experience as both a rider and auditor, that I probably got more solid information from watching. In most clinics I have attended, BB as well as others, unless you are “that person” who seems to be at almost every clinic that literally demands a ton of attention or are having significant difficulties you will be on our own much of the time practicing the exercises. All clinicians I have seen are very willing to work with anyone who asks for additional help and answer questions but some folks are not comfortable being the center of attention. Auditors can ask questions as well as participants in any I have attended.
If you decide to attend the BB clinic try to get hold of the 7 Clinics DVD set beforehand from a library or something so you have a foundation for what you will see at the clinic.
Have fun!

[Tee]

Pat Wyse is awesome (http://www.horsewyse.com), but I’m not sure how many clinics he’s doing anymore. I’ve done 10 clinics, I think, with three different horses and have always learned something new.

[runwayz]

Awesome info! Thank you all!