Clinic Report

We had a clinic this past weekend at the barn.  It was with a semi local upper level rider, and this year there are four horses that he started and sold at various points entered in Rolex.  I rode with him last August and really enjoyed it.  Unfortunately, the stars did not align so I wasn't able to ride this time around.

No media from the clinic since I wasn't riding.

I am not going to lie, watching the clinic made me really sad I wasn't riding.  One he really pushes you (without over facing you), two he really pushes the basics, and three it is super reasonably priced (love bang for your buck).  Pongo pulled a shoe in my lesson last Thursday and our farrier was out of town and we couldn't get the shoe put back on in time, plus the younger rider had dibs on him anyway.  I could have ridden Stinker, but I wasn't sure how well we would do with this particular rider.  So, I decided to pass.  In hindsight we would have been fine, but I don't feel confident in knowing if I am going to get the horse that is going to pitch a fit or not when I brush him with my leg.  Plus I feel like I have a really good system going with S and D so why rock the boat.

Gotta love the evening rides as the sun sets.

For stadium he set up a grid that looked really fun.  Everyone (S included) trotted into the grid then it was a short four (you really had to hold) to a long one.  The point of it was in order for the horses to hit every thing correctly they really had to stay on their toes and get rounder over the jumps.  This helped to teach everyone how to add strides without just pulling back and slow down.  It was all about building the jump and power in the canter.

For cross country it was a lot more of the same.  Everything was about finding the right canter where you can add strides without pulling and get the horses deep to the jump.  Most of the girls are on ponies (we have some kick ass ponies around the barn), so he was really pushing the basics so the girls will be able to maximize their ponies jumping abilities.

Overall it was a fun and exhausting weekend.  And enjoy Stinker and I doing our version of cross country.  He is a total XC machine.  ;)