[MHM]

Is anyone planning to attend?

I'm tempted to run down to watch for a day. It's not exactly close to me, but it's much closer than the rest of his clinics!

I emailed the organizer last week. She said it was $25 a day to audit, and that it would go from about 9:00-4:00 or so. And she said to bring a chair.

http://www.ldhorses.com/Clinics.html

[SMF11]

It *is* tempting to go! I just checked and it is almost 3 hours from me . . . six hours of driving in one day, plus getting coverage for farm and kids . . . . probably totally worth it! If there were a COTH carpool I'd definitely be in!

[myalter1]

My friend has gone to clinics there (she's a dressage rider) and swears by them. I am not sure if she is going to the Buck Brannaman clinic though. I wanted to take my OTTB down there but haven't had the extra funds..boo hoo

[Isabeau Z Solace]

I'll be there along with my farm owner and likely some boarders will come along on Saturday. Can't wait to see if a 'big' crowd actually shows up!

[JanWeber]

New horse owner husband Bob and I will be there on Saturday. Happily, it is about 20 minutes from home for us!

[MHM]

Is the weather supposed to be good on Saturday?

I had some thought of going tomorrow, but the forecast does not sound ideal.

SMF, unfortunately I would be coming from a different direction, so we would only be able to carpool the last 15 minutes of the trip.

[buck22]

I'll be there, tomorrow and Sunday. If any CoTHers show up, I'll be wearing a jeff cap, hard to miss

[Drive NJ]

7 Springs is a really nice place. They do all sorts of clinics up to and including bring your horse and try some cattle work.

Went to watch one of those with friends riding Pasos and another on a huge hunter. The folks running the clinic were great and geared toward what the riders/horses were up for and everyone learned something and advanced.

So good facility with nice indoor + good clinician = worth the trip.

[Isabeau Z Solace]

I have extensive notes from today's clinic which I will try to pass along later.

For anyone planning on attending, it was packed. I would advise showing up by 8:30am if you want a seat in the bleachers. Otherwise, it is standing room only. Even if you bring a chair, you will probably have to stand to see what is going on. I'm going to go ahead and guess there were 250-300 auditors there today by my rough count.

The facility is lovely. The morning group had about 25 participants, and about 15 in the afternoon.

[DLee]

I have extensive notes from today's clinic which I will try to pass along later.

For anyone planning on attending, it was packed. I would advise showing up by 8:30am if you want a seat in the bleachers. Otherwise, it is standing room only. Even if you bring a chair, you will probably have to stand to see what is going on. I'm going to go ahead and guess there were 250-300 auditors there today by my rough count.

The facility is lovely. The morning group had about 25 participants, and about 15 in the afternoon.

Wow. I would love to read any notes you have. I am riding in the clinic in a few weeks.

[buck22]

What a fantastic place and great clinic! I've always wanted to see Buck in person, I've always admired him as a person, and I wasn't disappointed. He's obviously a wonderful hand with horses, but he's got a great sense of humor, tireless and seems impossible to frustrate.

Went up and spoke to him afterwards and he was a very sweet man. I asked him about carriage driving and he told me about him breaking his own 6up hitch of Perchs to work his farm at home and how much fun they are to drive. He even said he's had some driving horses in his clinics in the past. If he ever comes through again I might consider it

I took some pictures. The facility is amazing. There were a LOT more english riders than I ever thought would be there. Do get there early, the rain and traffic turned it into a 3.5 hour drive for me and I got there just at 9am. I had to stand down on the ends and it was a bit hard to hear (why do people go to clinics just to stand around and chatter or talk on the phone?? I was surrounded by people who didn't seem to care about being there at all).

For the lunchtime break I was able to get a better place to stand to watch the advanced class in the afternoon.

I brought a bag chair but never used it as the wall is rather high and would be hard to see over.

Wear comfortable shoes you can stand in for hours on concrete, my dogs are barking today.

My friends are slowly backing out one by one so looks like I won't be returning Sunday, but sure am glad I went yesterday.

DLee, you would be really well served if you were familiar with Buck's methods going into it. Then you could refine instead of learn cold. Are you doing the beginner or advanced? I have Buck's DVDs, I'd be happy to lend you them for a short spell if you're interested.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c5...3/a4b7f9c3.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c5...3/0b8dcd19.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c5...3/16d5c60a.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c5...3/050b7a5c.jpg

[MHM]

I brought a bag chair but never used it as the wall is rather high and would be hard to see over.

Wear comfortable shoes you can stand in for hours on concrete, my dogs are barking today.

Thanks for the useful information. That will definitely influence my chair and shoe choices!

I'm hoping to go on Sunday. It's enough of a drive for me that I'd rather do it on a day when it's not raining cats and dogs. If possible.

[JanWeber]

We were there today. Just wonderful - it's geared to better communication with your horse - not discipline-specific.

[Isabeau Z Solace]

Yes is was great again today.

The afternoon class did a fun exercise where they gathered in the middle, then pairs took turns being the 'cow' and the 'horse' trying to keep the 'cow' away from the herd in the middle. The spirit of the exercise was to do it cooperatively so the 'horse' horse learns to 'latch onto' the 'cow' and mirror the cow's movements.

Standing on concrete for 7 hours is tiring. Now I remember why college was such a drag . Lots of good info but it is a marathon of remaining still, not getting stiff, paying attention, and taking notes. Still it is fun to be at a horse event with such ardent viewers.

I too noted that certain auditors (from a certain college, particularly) were more interested in surfing their internet capable phones and discussing their personal relationships... OH, to be young again

On the flip side, some auditors today got downright obnoxious harassing clinic participants (those in the ring with horses) to move as they were blocking the auditors view.

PSA for clinic AUDITORS. You AUDIT by not talking, but listening. Harassing clinic participants because they are blocking your view is not acceptable.

I am planning on going back for Sunday and Monday, but still have barn chores at home to do at 5:30 am. So I don't think I can get around to transcribing notes for a few days. But I'll get to it as soon as I can.

[DLee]

buck22, thank you so much, that is really generous. I do have one of his dvd's and am familiar with his work and methods, I've just never seen him give a clinic in person, so I'm interested in what you all have to say.
I'm in H2.

[jumpymeister]

It's fabulous! Last day for me - been here since Friday. Completely worth leaving the house at 4:30 Friday morning. I've learned a ton of great stuff and am all geared up to go home and get my filly going under saddle as nicely as Buck's filly....his morning demo horse only has 20 rides on her and is better trained than anything else here :-)

[jumpymeister]

If you are even remotely close, tomorrow is the last day...absolutely worth going if you can make it!

[MHM]

I just got home from the clinic.

It was really, really interesting. I'm glad I went. I was surprised to see that of the 23-24 horses in the morning session, at least half of them were in English tack. The did lots of exercises to get the horses more soft and responsive. Most of the exercises would come under the classic heading of: Simple but not easy.

The afternoon group had 15 in it, with only one in English tack. They did more advanced work, including some roping and work with cattle, which was pretty entertaining to watch. Let's just say Buck and his horse had ample opportunity to show off their superior skills with the cattle!

It seemed like everybody was having a good time, though. I had never seen Buck in person before today. I thought he did a good job of helping riders with a wide range of abilities, and he had a lot of insights into how the work he did with the horses helped prepare them to do any job better.

I spoke to him very briefly at the end of the day. He was very pleasant and signed my copy of his book for me, which I almost forgot I had with me.

The facility was very, very nice, and they seemed to have the whole set up nicely organized. I was appalled at the number of people who were chatting during the sessions. What is wrong with some people?!?

I didn't expect to know a soul there, but as soon as I walked in, I saw a group of people from my area, and one of them rode in the morning session, so that was fun to watch. I can't go back tomorrow, so I told her I would expect a full report on the last day the next time I see her.

I would certainly recommend the clinic to anybody!

[Isabeau Z Solace]

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...6799d4e&type=1

So I have 4 days worth of notes that I will try to summarize and transcribe when I can. Here are some pics for now. If I were smarter, I would have pulled out my camera sooner. Maybe I could have written less if I had just gotten more pics !

There were some really fun exercises the last two days with riders teaming up. One acts as the 'horse' and the other the 'cow' and you practice the 'cut the cow' maneuvers with each other. BB said you can 'practice the dance' and get the moves good without having to have any cows to practice on.

I took plenty of pics of the draft and pony working as part of a 3 team that had to pull a couple of cows from the herd. The draft was no slouch, and worked up to nipping at the cows toward the end of the last day. The pony was pretty game but barely bigger than some of the cows!

[Bluey]

Looks like you had a great time there.

That fellow has not made it around here, not many have.
Maybe some day he will.