He’s coming to the barn in early January and I’m thinking of doing a session. Any reviews, words of advice on what to expect?
He is very very good. Thorough, thoughtful, and articulate. I would not hesitate to get as much time as you can from Tim. He is more about perfection and getting it right than he is about flashy big jumps and over challenging.
I take private lessons from him at his farm with different horses. He is very good at fixing me and then showing me how this affects the horse. He is also very sympathetic toward the horse although he can get tough when tough is needed.
He has a terrific philosophy about developing young horses and moving them up the levels only as their maturity dictates. He does not believe in pushing young horses up the levels for a quick sale. A 6 year old is NOT running prelim in his barn.
Tim is a protege of Jim Wofford and still trains with him and with Sharon White. His style is different from Jim’s, although the messages are probably similar. He is not into preaching to an audience, but rather on focusing on the communication between he, the student, and the horse. He is very honest and tends to be tougher on you than on the horse.
My trainer has ridden my horse with him several times at clinics he does in our area (which are always full). He is one of my favorite clinicians. He manages to challenge horses and riders to stretch beyond their comfort zone (not by over facing, but by showing you your strengths and perfecting them), yet he is a master at instilling confidence at the same time. He explains things thoroughly and develops a thinking rider.
Go. You won’t be disappointed.
Excellent! Thank you! I have a young, athletic, talented and opinionated OTTB, with whom we are taking things slow. He has the ability to charge up the levels, but not the concentration and focus. I’m looking forward to it. My only regret is that I will have to charge out for a baby shower (for my nephew’s girlfriend, so a must-attend) and I won’t be able to watch the rest of the day.
I’ve never ridden with him, but I will say that he went out of his way to say something kind to me after I had a humiliating disaster at an event. Had never seen him before in my life. Class act.
Tim is an excellent clinician. This time of year expect gymnastics which will be great for your young, athletic, enthusiastic OTTB.
The next great event rider in this generation - an outstanding horseman!
I met Tim at Sharon’s–I expected to like him due to Sharon’s high praise of him and I did. He is very sympathetic but effective with horses and I would expect him to be the same with people. I would sure go to a clinic with him.
Tim is fabulous. I’ve ridden with him at Sharon’s and he was excellent!
Update: It was terrific and all that others stated. I was in the first session of the day (BN), with another green horse and a schoolmaster with a green rider.
He had our barn set up a course that was brilliant in its simplicity:
-a 4-element gymnastic set on 9’, which took up one half of a long side
-an oxer set on a bending line from the gymnastic that rode in a fairly direct three strides
-a 72’ line (vertical to oxer)
-a 22’ in and out (vertical to oxer) on the short diagonal. You could go to the rail from the in and out, or go to the oxer that part of the 72’ line in either a VERY direct 3 or a bending 4
-a skinny vertical set on the short side after the aforementioned oxer.
He had us warm up on our own, then had us walk through the gymnastic in each direction, which at this point was just poles on the ground, then trot both ways (which my horse really wanted to canter, as he was a ball of nerves–the day before the clinic, the husband of our BM had been building jumps just outside the indoor at what was already the “spooky corner” of the ring, and the circular saw had kicked on right behind him. Woohoo!)
After we walked and trotted both ways, he put up the second element to a vertical and had us trot in and canter out in both directions, then put up the middle two elements, then eventually the first and last, until we were cantering through both ways. He had me pat my horse immediately after coming through each other exercise, which I later figured out was more of a device to get me to drop the reins and let go of the mouth and allow pony to relax, instead of expecting him to scoot off and build in pace, which of course he was doing in response to my holding his mouth. Duh.
After that, we moved onto course work: the outside line in an option of 6 or 7, the oxer on the short diagonal, circle at the end, then the in and out. He stressed to not force the 6 in the first line unless it was there already, because the gymnastic had likely shortened the stride, we were in an indoor where the corners would come up quickly, there were two green horses in the mix.
The other green horse had trouble with the out of the in and out, and Tim broke it down for the rider, talking about the difference between a true stop and a run out, and had them reapproach at a trot. He was very patient with them, and they ultimately worked everything out. The fringe benefit for me was that my horse got to chill on a loose rein for several minutes and had relaxed considerably when it was our turn to go. We chose to trot some of the elements and take extra circles, which got us praise for “thinking riding.” It also earned us a bump up in order to go first in the next course: this time canter the gymnastic, the three to the oxer, roll back to the in and out, canter all the way around and do the line in 6. My pony rocked it, although (ahem) I saw the open distance to the vertical into the line and, as we went down it at a nice, measured pace, I realized that I had forgotten to count, but I was pretty sure we were getting the 5. Once Tim asked, “So, how many strides did you do there?” I knew that, yep, I’d done the 5, so he had me do it again in 6.
All in all, it was a great experience. He was very low-key and patient, although fairly direct in his teaching, and there were plenty of open-ended questions to get us to think. I would definitely ride with him again, and the barn is looking to arrange to have him come regularly, which would be perfect.
Yay! He’s one of those clinicians that it would be hard not to like, no matter who you are. It’s hard to imagine someone coming away from a lesson with him finding it deficient in some way. So glad you enjoyed it.
Very exciting report. He is coming back to our area on Sat., and I believe over to the other side of Maryland on Sunday this weekend. I am hoping to get enough time to ride the one I have signed up…and I do not know when he will be coming back this winter but I hope a couple more times.
