DefinitelyDressage.com

I’m excited- Buck will be doing colt starting and horsemanship 101 clinics concurrently at the end of June. I was going to be stuck here in town because I was being called as an expert witness for a hearing, but the hearing was just postponed indefinitely yesterday, so I booked a hotel, and plan to audit the whole thing (4 days). If I get bored there is always wine tasting nearby.

Just wondering if anyone here has audited, or participated in one of his clinics?

No, but I have done a wine tasting and highly recommend it.

This requires one of my favorite memes. /totallynotmeIswear

Back to the original question! I saw him once - it was great. I learned to pay more attention to the horse and its body, among other things. Actually, I think that seeing a different way of related to a horse was the most important thing, because instead of learning a method, I learned to be flexible according to the situation, and to try to understand what the horse is trying to tell me.

Enjoy the clinic! You can always drink at home!

I haven't done one of his clinics, but Maia was started by a woman who trains with Buck regularly. Before I brough Maia home, I spent nearly a month in Memphis doing daily lessons with Robyn and Maia, and came away with a ton of Buck's techniques. She gives me refresher clinics every time I'm in the area -- my mom trains with her -- just hands me a horse and puts me to work

I've been using the same methods with my older mare, Anzia, to great results. I wish I'd had some of Buck's in-hand techniques, particularly the drifting, in my toolbox when I was starting Anzia. Long-term, I ended up doing pretty much that under saddle, but we'd have had better results immediately if I'd taught her in hand too.

The clinic was great! Several people had driven hours to be there as auditors, so I didn't feel weird. I actually think I got more out of auditing than if I'd been a clinic participant. Buck was great about answering audience questions. He is really funny and insightful, and doesn't pull any punches (actually, he says he heavily edits what he's thinking before it comes out of his mouth).

There was one English rider there - a jumper with a mare that was almost Tesla's spitting image, including the impatience and pawing habit.

Unlike the standard dressage clinic, he does demos on his own horses, and gives everyone as a group exercises to do, then steps in as people need help. It was amazing how much he caught between the 20 or so in the colt clinic, and 30 or so in the horsemanship clinic. Very sharp eye.

However, if I'd had Tesla there, I would have crapped myself, I think. After the colts were saddled in the morning, they wore their saddles over lunch, and then were all turned loose together in the arena and herded around. There was some kicking, and one horse fell right in front of me, but none got hurt. Then they'd bring 6-8 at a time in the arena to back in rope halters. Nothing like sitting on a colt for the first time while another one loses it and starts to run. Only one person fell off. He had his apprentices step in and ride colts the owners weren't ready to get on.

He heavily emphasized continually going back to ground work, and working with little problems to nip them in the bud. For instance, he was using his own 3 year old to demo, and it rushed a little walking through the roundpen gate. He spent probably 10 minutes taking it back and forth through the gate until he was satisfied that the horse was walking through 100% calmly.

So I'm really glad I went, and it helped me connect the dots and fill in a couple blank areas with the way I've started colts in the past (lunge them, tack them, get on and hope).

Thank you for sharing Straightforward. Buck will be in my area (well, 8 hours away) next fall. I am hoping to audit.