Clinics

This question was posted on a horse forum. After talking to a couple of trainers, horsemen and women and riders like myself about different clinicians, it got me thinking, who is your favorite professional horse clinician? What do you like about the way they work with horses, their teaching style, etc? And, what is the most important thing you've ever learned from them?

It made me remember the 3 clinics I have ridden in - one each the last 3 years. Here was my response.

I think right now my favorite clinician to ride with is Julie Goodnight. I have ridden with her twice now. She makes everything so easy to understand and my horse and I have become so better since riding with her. She does English or Western and believes in having a firm foundation of ground work. Here are the main things I have learned/remember from her

1. Look where you want to go - so simple, but how many of us do this EVERY second of our ride? It keeps you and your horse focused.

2. YOU chose the speed, direction and intensity of your gait at all times. No letting your horse wander or choose which way to turn. Now, I thought I had this down - nope, I let my mare chose our speed and direction more than I would have thought. Working on this put the two of us on the same page - my mare doesn't have to worry that she is left in charge anymore.

3. Ride with your seat and legs. I learned the beginnings of bridle less with this - amazing to work on the subtle shifts with your horse.

4. Groundwork, groundwork, groundwork. Julie stresses this and again, I thought Vashti and I were pros at groundwork. The number of holes we had in our groundwork were outstanding. I was floored and more than a little discouraged that first clinic in 2010. Now, we start our ride from the moment I bring her in from the field and her responsiveness is amazing. In fact, I can always tell when I haven't been paying attention (read letting her make decisions/walk over me - Mom, Grass!) during grooming/tacking the second I step into the saddle - we have a worse ride and it takes us that much longer to get on the same page and work together.

My other favorite clinician is Mark Rashid. I own every one of his books and had the opportunity to ride with him in 2009 for three days. He focuses on softness. I attribute my ability to ride my mare to him. We were a wreck waiting to happen and in just a few minutes, Mark was able to soften my horse and then teach me that I was the problem (of course). My mare feeds off my energy and Mark was able to show me how to remain soft and in balance. Whenever I get nervous, I rewind my brain to that clinic. He is an amazing horseman and teacher.

So who has inspired you?