Emerging Athletes Program? Your Experience?

[MsJump21]

I am considering applying for USHJA’s EAP for 2022 and using the show season of 2021 to gain experience at rate A/AA shows at the 0.9m and 1.0m level. I read the EAP page on USHJA but I have a couple questions. How can you qualify for the regional clinic? I understand that the rider needs to be eligible and have scored an 80% or higher on the horsemanship quiz, but do you have to have earned a certain amount of points at shows, be top 3 for 0.9m and/or 1.0m in your zone, or just to have ribboned in the majority of the classes you competed in for the year? I am on a limited show budget so I would only be able to do 3 maybe 4 rated A/AA show until the qualifying date for 2022. How competitive does the rider need to be to be considered for the program?

Also, does the rider have to go to all the regional clinics to be considered for finals? Is there the option to go to more than one for experience?

I would love to hear other’s experiences participating in the EAP clinics and whether or not you found it worth it.

[tmc]

EAP doesn’t require show points. If you meet the eligibility requirements here for participation in a Regional Training Session, you apply, submit three letters of recommendation, and complete the HQC Level One Quiz all by the year’s deadline. Then the Emerging Athletes Program Committee reviews applications and selects riders to participate in each of the Regional Training Sessions, which you can only do one of. If you have questions, you can always email education@ushja.org!

[MsJump21]

Thank you for your reply! I took your advise and contacted USHJA and they clarified my questions.

[kaya842]

It seems like you have your answers to your other questions so I will share my experience from 2018. I qualified and got accepted to the regional clinic in zone 7, the clinic was at HITS Balmoral. The facility was pretty, they were still doing updates to it at the time though and it was in a rather sketchy area. I brought my OTTB who was quite “up” being there, despite normally being very mellow and calm in new environments. The clinicians were Anne K. for the riding portion and Anne Thornbury for the management portion. Thornbury was awesome, I loved every second spent with her. I was pretty disappointed that the entire experience was about 95% riding and 5% “management” (which was VERY basic stuff) considering they promote the clinic as one the focuses on all around horsemanship, not just riding. Unfortunately for me, I was in the process of getting a new saddle and had a loaner that had arrived the day we left for the clinic. My poor horse HATED it and was terrible for the entire clinic. It was bad. We didn’t get very much value from the riding portion due to the saddle issue but also due to how the riders were group together. We were very obviously grouped by experience/ ability and Anne K focused all of her attention on the most advanced group (which had riders who had been competing at 1.25-1.30, whatever is just below the height limit for EAP, regularly) while the other 2 groups got considerably less detailed instruction.

Honestly, no it was not at all worth the time, effort and money (about $2K even with the grant/ scholarship). I didn’t learn a whole lot I didn’t already know in the management portion (the only exception being when we examined cadaver legs). I was personally called out by the EAP team in front of the entire group for wearing shorts during the week, as it was “unprofessional”. No one had talked to me or mentioned it once during the week, and I find it incredibly rude and unprofessional (oh the irony) to call someone out in a public setting without trying to address the issue privately first. If they had talked to me privately they would have learned I have medical issues with heat (Chicago, IL mid July is hot and humid and we had several days of 100 degree weather) which was why I wore shorts.

I might have felt different if I wasn’t publicly called out and my horse had been better, but I still don’t think it would have been worth the money.

On a side note, Anne K told the group that there are some individuals who needed to lose weight in order to be competitive in the sport/ if they wanted to advance or excel which I also find wildly inappropriate. No one was grossly overweight or out of shape, and, again, even if they were calling attention to them in a group setting is unprofessional as heck.

[MsJump21]

Thank you so much for sharing your experience! It’s sad to hear about how unprofessional Anne K behaved at the clinic. Hopefully this behavior isn’t portrayed with the other clinicians.

[MsJump21]

I would love to hear others experiences!

[fair_judy]

One person’s opinion of Kursinski is hardly a viable platform on which to judge. Some people have to be the center of attention and make every excuse for poor performance ( the borrowed saddle).

[kaya842]

@fair_judy Well that’s rude and highly uncalled for. You weren’t there, haven’t ever seen me ride or seen my horse but feel free to pass judgement on me based on one post. Did I say Anne K is a terrible meanie and I am a better rider than her? Nope. She is incredibly knowledgeable, but my circumstances, at that time, combined with the set up of the clinic didn’t allow for much opportunity to learn from her. The clinic has been restructured since, and I believe she no longer teaches in these clinics. I shared my experience, which is exactly what the OP asked for. My “poor performance” doesn’t give anyone the right to act they way they did (calling me and others out in a public format, without speaking to us first). You don’t need to ride at the expert level to be treated kindly and riding at an expert level does not mean you are exempt from acting in a professional and polite manner.

[fair_judy]

You indicated that Kursinski gave intentional short shrift to lower level groups… which is an insult to any clinician. If your mount was as uncooperative as you indicated no responsible clinician would risk over facing the horse/rider combination. Finally, your long gripe about your personal clothing issue was hardly germane to the OP.

Clinics are intended to give an overview and to provide a basis upon which to go home and use that knowledge. If you learned one thing to add to your repertoire then it was worth it.

[kaya842]

That’s what happened I’m sorry I insulted someone you clearly admire, but that was MY personal experience. There were several other pairs in my group and the other lower level group and they were all given very generic information, just going through the motions. How the other group was treated had nothing to do with me or my horse.
It may have been worth it to you but not me and it’s not for you to decide what is “worth it” to someone else. Not sure why you are arguing with me over my opinion of my experience, not exactly “germane” to the OP now is it? Neither is you trying to attack me and stating that I must be the center of attention. I stand by what I said, it was not worth the money, time or effort involved.

[Sing_Mia_Song]

I am sad to say that I am not surprised about AK. I clinicked with her once several years ago and was in her “upper echelon” of treatment, but she was so rude to the rest of the customers that I really considered walking out. I was relieved that she didn’t come back for the second day (we were led to believe that there was an illness in the family but it turned out she was flying to Europe on a horse buying trip. {Cough.})

[Rel6]

I did it many years ago with Melanie Smith Taylor (circa 2011). There was no horsemanship component then - riders were supposed to be responsible for their own horse’s care but most had a parent or helper doing the horse care in the barns.

There were two height sections - I can’t remember exactly the split (maybe 1.0 and 1.15?). I was in the higher one and because I didn’t have a mount at the time, I leased a horse appropriate for the height. No one jumped over 3ft, which I was frustrated by only because I had paid more money to lease a trickier but more athletic horse. Had I known the height would be max 3ft I would have leased another horse available to me in the barn who was more of a school master type - I do think I, personally, would have gotten more out of it that way then trying to figure out a trickier horse in that setting.

At the end of the day, I would have chalked all of that up to a learning experience and been pleased that I got to attend except that I truly had a miserable time with the clinician. I was riding through an acute migraine attack (I get chronic migraines so this isn’t completely unusual for me, but does cause bad brain fog), and at one point she had added two new jumps to the course that I left off when it was my turn. I was yelled at in front of the entire clinic and told that if I wasn’t professional enough to listen the first time, I didn’t deserve another chance (and wasn’t given another to try the exercise).

I echo @kaya842’s sentiment of finding it highly ironic to be called out for professionalism in such an unprofessional manner.

[fair_judy]

Did you inform the clinician of your brain fog? Would a do over at that low height you just described as not challenging enough have made your day?

Clinics are about learning new concepts. You take these concepts home and incorporate them into your personal program.

So tired of the cringeworthy sense of Look. At. Me. It’s the death of horsemanship.

[supershorty628]

Judy, maybe you should have a cup of tea and take some deep breaths because your over-the-top rudeness to some people on this thread is unlike you. Are you doing okay?

[initiate1987]

I’ll chime in with some positive experiences, though I didn’t ride in the clinics. My college barn hosts every year and I audited in 2017 & 2018, and had a friend ride in the 2017 edition. They were taught by Julie Winkel and Karen Healey, and I believe both years the in-barn instruction was done by Anne Thornbury.

I thought the clinics were very well done and remember that just as much attention was given to the lower level riders as the upper levels. If I recall correctly, there was only one high section (section that could go to the National session at the time) and the rest were lower. In fact, I had really loved Julie’s clinics and thought the exercises were very fair and educational.

I think it really depends on individual experience, much like most clinics. People have mixed experiences with clinicians all the time. Heck, we invited a BNT to do a clinic at my barn one year to do a multi-day clinic and everyone loved it. He was invited back the next year and the clinician seemed like a different person. He was not invited back again. Sometimes people have bad days, sometimes clinicians do too. Some people don’t do as well teaching students who aren’t their own, or just aren’t great teachers in general.

I’ll finish with that I just looked at this year’s schedule and the clinicians all look amazing. I don’t think you could go wrong with any of the sets this year, and I hope you do try it. Most of the reviews I’ve heard have been very positive.

[Rel6]

I genuinely don’t understand what you stand to gain by attacking people for sharing their honest experiences, or how me having a bad experience is reflective on my horsemanship.

Many people have had great experiences (I was encouraged to apply by a friend who had loved it), some people did not (at my clinic at least) and my experience was almost 10 years ago. OP can take it for whatever weight she wants to. And you can take a deep breath, and try to realize that not wanting to be belittled at a clinic you’ve paid a lot of money to attend isn’t an unreasonable expectation or a sign of entitlement.

[trubandloki]

I can totally see a clinician including an educational thing about paying attention and how important that is to the whole group. The ‘you failed so you are done’ lecture does not seem appropriate for something like this.

[Tha_Ridge]

@fair_judy

Did you inform the clinician of your brain fog? Would a do over at that low height you just described as not challenging enough have made your day?

Clinics are about learning new concepts. You take these concepts home and incorporate them into your personal program.

So tired of the cringeworthy sense of Look. At. Me. It’s the death of horsemanship.

Wow, you’re a truly unnecessarily cruel person.

[equinelibrium]

I didn’t see if anyone has specifically mentioned this yet, but you only need to go to one regional training session to qualify for nationals. I’m not sure about the other qualification requirements as they’ve changed quite a bit since I did EAP in 2012 which feels like forever ago!

Like other posters have said, your experience really depends on who the clinician is. I had the privilege of riding with Kip Rosenthal, who sadly passed away recently, for my regional training session. She was absolutely fabulous. I learned so much and never felt belittled or ignored. That being said, I did notice they grouped the riders by skill level and I was in the highest skilled group, so other people may have had different experiences. That was the first thing that bothered me about the program. They started with one set of groups the first day, then changed them up the second day. They claimed it wasn’t by skill level but it was pretty obvious that it was. Everyone knew it, why not just be honest about it?

I can remember one instance of someone being called out in front of the group. She didn’t have her long hair up and one of the organizers (not the stable manager or clinician) told her off for how dangerous it was. I can see where she was coming from, as it can be a safety concern. And we can all learn from each other’s mistakes. But there’s a way to bring attention to it without shaming someone. It definitely left a bad taste in my mouth, but I can tell you I haven’t been around horses without putting my hair up since that incident!

Our stable manager was fine for the regional session. He didn’t teach us anything groundbreaking, but lots of good basics. A not insignificant number of other participants didn’t know how to do basic things like tie haynets or properly deep clean a stall, so it made sense for him to focus on the basics. My horse was kind enough to provide another on-hands learning experience for everyone when he tripped on the first day and needed stitches in his knee. So we got to see up close and personal how to use a spider bandage. Luckily I didn’t have to use one overnight since I don’t think I could pull one off! But I did have to do lots of extra wrapping over the weekend. (My horse was cleared by the vet to continue for the weekend. Looking back, I probably would have called it a day and scratched, but he didn’t suffer any long term issues from it so I don’t regret my decision. I’m just a lot more paranoid now.)

Maybe all the extra wrapping helped me, but I got selected for the national training session. I seriously wasn’t expecting that! My horse wasn’t an easy ride and I’m certainly no eq rider, but I must have done something right.

The national training session was pretty cool too. I got to ride an amazing, albeit difficult, horse, and learned so much in the stable management. To be honest, I didn’t get a lot out of the riding portion because I had trouble with my horse on the flat. It was hard to do some of the exercises since I wasn’t able to get him to do basic things like extend/collect and bend properly, etc. Looking back, It was probably partially my fault, but he was definitely a jumper and didn’t have the finessed flat work I did with my personal horse. People that drew more eq type horses had a better go of it. I felt like Peter Wylde definitely focused more on the people that didn’t have as much trouble as I did, though he did get on my horse and work through some things. It wasn’t a negative experience, but I definitely learned way more from Kip. I wish I had the chance to ride with her again. She was such a good teacher. Positive but didn’t sugar coat things. Even though I only rode with her over that one weekend I miss her.

It was an interesting experience for sure. I’m glad I did it. I learned a lot, mostly from Karen Golding in the stable. We learned strapping, how to make our own poultice out of bowie clay, how to properly bank the walls in a stall, and lots of other little tricks (try cleaning the outside of hard shell Eskadron boots with rubbing alcohol - it’s like magic!). We also had a great talk from one of the physiotherapists of the Olympic team about equine anatomy.

@Rel6 as someone who suffers from migraines as well I’m impressed you were even able to ride through your migraine! That takes some serious gumption. I’m sorry you had to go through that. As far as giving the clinician a heads up about your migraine, I feel like it’s kind of a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation. Your very valid health problem could have been seen as an excuse for your “poor performance” and you could have been belittled even more

Overall, OP, I would say give it a try! It was a great learning experience, and not just about horses or riding. I learned a lot about the type of person I wanted to be (and what I didn’t want to be). If you do well, it could potentially open a lot of doors for you in the industry, if that’s your thing. It’s a great way to make connections with some of the bigger names in the sport for someone who wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity.

[MsJump21]

Thank you for sharing your experience! I also occasionally get migraines and can’t do more than eat and sleep, let alone ride so props to you. Although I’m not surprised the clinician called you out, it’s unfortunate that you weren’t given another chance to try the exercise.