From: Barbara
Dear Jessica, I want to say a big "THANK YOU" for this service. I don't know of anyone else in the horse world who is so knowlegeable on so many subjects, and so kind when answering our questions.
My question has to do with clinics and money. I have been trying to organize a series of clinics at my barn. My students and other local riders are very interested in participating, but the clinicians I have contacted are, to say the least, incredibly expensive. I was prepared to pay a total of about $1500 per day for a three-day clinic, because that would make individual lessons expensive but still affordable for the riders (around $125-150 each). But I am dismayed to find that some clinicians are charging $4000 or $5000 for a two-day weekend clinic, plus expenses of course, and that other clinicians charge up to $10,000 AND want me to guarantee to buy another $1000 or $2000 worth of their products.
Whatever happened to the kind of clinics I remember, where a clinician would come in and teach each rider for an hour or so, giving individual attention and focus, giving exercises that the rider could do alone. I'm very frustrated. You and a few other people are still teaching this way, I know, but what is going on with everyone else? And what is this new thing about riders having to ride at least two or three times? I can't ask our local riders to pay $500 for a clinic weekend even if they could ride three times for that money, because they just don't have that much money.
The last dressage clinic I organized was a disaster, the clinician was very nasty to the riders and criticized their horses the whole time, he didn't like English horses, he didn't like Thoroughbreds, he didn't like mares, he didn't like overweight riders or riders who only ride every other day during the week, in fact I don't think he liked anything except one gal who has a ton of money and a big Holsteiner horse. In my personal opinion, this makes no sense because she is scared of the horse and doesn't ride well enough to feel safe on it, so she doesn't ride it, but she takes it to clinics and asks the clinicians to ride it. This man rode it for two days and after he left it was lame, which didn't do anything to help the rider except maybe give her another excuse not to ride her horse. But he didn't do anything to help her lose her fear of the horse, or help her learn to be comfortable on the horse. I just don't get it!
Then I scheduled a "natural horsemanship" kind of clinic to have something completely different, but it wasn't very useful either, because you had to have a round pen and a cowboy rope (I forget the name, but you know the kind of rope I mean, it's kind of stiff) to do the stuff, and it involved a lot more fast work on a small circle than I would be comfortable with. Plus most of the clinic was riders sitting on benches watching the clinician and his horse chase a horse around in the pen. He agreed to wear a microphone but he never said anything helpful, just "You got to keep their feet moving or they can't think." We had a lot of lame horses after that clinic, too. And I lost money on both of them.
Fortunately my husband has a good job and I have some money from when I was working, our kids are self-supporting, and we are able to absorb some of these financial shocks, but it feels terrible to be out that kind of money and still get no real value, nothing that will help the riders or horses. I'm about to give up on clinics, but the whole reason we got this place is so that we could become an education facility, not just for my lessons but to give other local riders a chance to learn from the best. I feel crushed that I went to a lot of trouble and expense to bring in people who were rude and unkind and unhelpful. I guess the only good thing is that at first I was worried because riders were going to pay so much for 45-minute lessons (what happened to one-hour lessons, anyway?) but then I was relieved because the lessons weren't good so shorter was probably better, but still way too expensive. I feel like we may have made a big mistake starting this place. Please can you explain why clinics are getting this way? And would we ever have a chance of getting YOU to give a clinic here?
Barbara
I'm sorry that your experiences have been so bad - believe me, there are good clinicians out there, the old-fashioned type who DO give individual attention to each horse and rider for an hour or more.
You said, "...the whole reason we got this place is so that we could become an education facility, not just for my lessons but to give other local riders a chance to learn from the best."
Hold that thought! You've gone to a lot of trouble to set up a wonderful resource for area riders. Don't give up, just re-focus. Your idea was excellent, you just didn't pay enough attention to your own words. When you said "a chance to learn from the best," you were right - but to do that, you've got to bring in the BEST. Not necessarily the most famous or the most widely-advertised or the most expensive, but the BEST at teaching and helping riders learn to work with their horses, so that they can make progress at the clinic, and long after the clinic.
If I were scheduling a lot of different clinics for a facility such as yours, I'd look for variety and quality. There are instructors of all kinds who can provide what you want: Intensive education in a pleasant and positive environment. If cost isn't an issue, and you want a top-quality dressage clinician, call Jane Savoie - she's one of the most positive, upbeat human beings you will ever meet. If your interest in dressage is more along classical lines, get in touch with Charles de Kunffy. If you're trying to appeal to more general, mixed groups of riders - some interested in dressage, others in hunt-seat or in the various forms of Western riding - I'd suggest that you bring in a generalist, someone who can teach to all levels and disciplines, or someone who teaches something specific that is of use to everybody regardless of level or discipline. I'd certainly want to schedule a good Centered Riding instructor such as Susan Harris or Sue Hughes or Wendy Murdoch. If the local interest warranted, I'd look for a good "natural horsemanship" trainer such as Mark Rashid or Harry Whitney. If I wanted to schedule a reining clinic, I would try to get Les Vogt - a wonderful teacher and performer. If I had complete freedom to schedule anything at all, I'd probably bring in a Polocrosse coach so that all of the area riders would have a chance to try a different and very enjoyable sport!
The key is to go for quality, and make no compromises. You've already discovered that cost and quality aren't the same thing. Don't try to operate based solely on the price of a clinic - more expensive doesn't mean "better", and less expensive doesn't mean "a really good deal." You need to know what you'll be getting for your money. Information, education, new ways of looking at what you're doing, and a positive experience? That's worth a lot. A chance to watch someone else do something with or to your horse, without getting the kind of help that will allow you to understand the process or repeat the results? That's not worth anything at all.
Ascertain what the local riders want or would enjoy, figure out which clinician is most likely to be able to provide that, and THEN start doing your financial planning. A year from now, your riders probably won't remember whether their lesson cost $125 or $150, but they will remember whether they found it useful, enjoyable, informative, and beneficial, and if they really enjoyed it, they'll want to have that clinician back again. And this cuts both ways. Nobody ever came back from a clinic saying "Well, the instructor didn't know anything and we didn't learn anything, and the whole experience was unpleasant, but that's okay, because we didn't pay much."
If you're trying to put on a lot of clinics that will appeal to a lot of riders and cost very little, I suggest that you offer just a very few riding clinics, so that riders have time to recover financially! That doesn't mean that you can't offer a lot of other clinics, though. Why not do some off-the-horse clinics? Bring in someone to teach the local riders other useful skills. Sponsor a group Feldenkreis or Alexander Technique lesson, or a Yoga lesson, or a Tai Chi lesson, or an introduction to one of the Martial Arts. Most riders could benefit immensely from learning how to improve their posture and balance and breathing when they are OFF the horse - and it will have a wonderful effect on their riding. Sponsor a clinic on saddle-fitting - that's information that ALL riders need. Dave Genadek is a saddle-fitter and saddle-maker who gives very good clinics. Bring in an equine dentist to discuss teeth and mouths and bitting... I'm sure you can think of other topics. Expand your definition of what a "clinic" can be - I know that sometimes it must seem as though you have only two choices: (a) horribly expensive private half-hour or forty-five-minute lessons and (b) a demonstration-only, dog-and-pony show, but that's just not the case. A clinic can be whatever you want it to be. Find out what your riders want or need, find out who can offer it, and start planning.
Good luck with your future clinics!
Jessica
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