I think of clinics as riding lessons (usually 8 – 10 per day) over several days.

I like to add to my clinics a session of an hour to an hour and a half to address some theory, and to do hands-on
training and demonstrations.   In a ‘regular’ clinic, so much time is spent explaining principles to each rider in
turn, when it could be done for a whole group much more efficiently – saving time and money for each
participant.   This makes it something like a ‘mini seminar’.

I prefer 4-day clinics, so that there is some time to digest the information, and build on the previous days.   
Sometimes that is not practical.

Seminars

I think of Seminars in several different ways.
  1. Public presentation
  • Riders may be the focus, or the audience may be the focus (and the riders are “demonstrators”).
    There is a slightly different focus depending on how it is set up.
  1. Seminar for the riders
  • This is set up to help the riders, and the auditors are just observers.

In either case, there can be a special theme or subject.   Here are some:
  1. Rider biomechanics – an elusive issue
  2. Horse biomechanics – a more elusive issue
  3. Centaur biomechanics – an even more elusive issue – requires addressing both of the above
  4. Psychology of learning/training; brain function of horse and/or rider – the MOST elusive issue
  5. Ground work
  • For basic handling and safety (shoer, vet, trailer loading, etc.)
  • For pre-breaking
  • For rehab
  • For clearer teaching of special issues (e.g., lateral work)
  1. Longeing
  2. Long reining
  3. Recognition  (how do you know what you are doing, what you are getting, and why - how to recognize it all
    and sort it out
  4. Starting young horses
  5. Rehabilitating problem horses – what’s the problem, how to approach it
  6. Showing horses in hand – for breed shows, keurings, etc.
  7. Strategies for test riding and showing
  • Preparing for test riding
  • Schooling for the test
  • Warm up strategies
  • Fooling the judge

Seminars include lectures, theory, hands-on demonstrations, written handouts, as well as practical work with
horses and riders