How to make the most out of a riding clinic
Birds trilled, and a brisk wind gusted across an unfamiliar arena as I lunged my Quarter Horse mare, Ava, before swinging into the saddle for a clinic with a new-to-me instructor. It was a mid-March morning, and I’d trailered about 40 minutes north from my house to clinic with Stephanie Mosely, who travels across the country teaching riders how to produce enhanced results from their horses with biomechanics.
If you have an interest in horses and haven’t been to a riding clinic, you should know that it can be a really eye-opening experience. A clinic is basically just a session with an instructor (usually a traveling one) who you don’t usually lesson with. You’ll probably end up traveling at least a short distance unless you’re lucky enough to meet with them at the barn where you keep your horse. Clinics are available to riders of nearly all disciplines and levels, so whether you’re thinking of getting into natural horsemanship and just want to watch or you’re a seasoned dressage rider who needs a tuneup on your lateral work, there’s a place for you in most clinic settings. Here, I’ll tell you about my first clinic with Stephanie, and I’ll give you some tips that help me make the most of these experiences.
Since this was the first time I’d ridden with Stephanie, I wanted to make a good impression, so I made sure to have all of my prep work done by the time she was ready to work with me. This meant I arrived about 40 minutes early and tacked and lunged Ava so she’d be used to the facility and ready to work. Then, I hopped on and shucked her forward at the trot and canter for a few minutes. With all of my prep done, I sat and waited for Stephanie to emerge from the barn nearby where she had been giving a lunge lesson. She watched me school Ava for a few minutes and then said, “Alright, I’ve seen what I need to see. Come over here.”
I understood from watching other riders work that she was going to physically rearrange my legs. She gently turned my toes in, pulled my right leg back and folded both my legs into the horse. She explained that I had fallen into a habit of cramming my hips into my lower back and that I needed to sit more on my thighs. By then end of the session, Ava was moving more reliably into my hand and was lifting her back a little. I had the sensation that her body was swinging away freely beneath me, and it felt grand.
One great thing about clinics is that you can often audit other rides, and this option is especially beneficial for beginner horsemen. Sometimes there’s