Re: RC: Does anyone hold clinics for beginners?

["Truman Prevatt, PhD" <truman.prevatt@netsrq.com>]

In Florida, while we can't count, we are fortunate to have two distance
riding clinics a year. They are tailored to get new people into distance
riding, both CTR and endurance. One is sponsored by the FL Horsemen
Association who runs the FL 3 Day 100 mile CTR (which had it's 50th
running last year!) and several other CTR's during the year. It is in the
fall and is a two day clinic. The first day is "classroom" usually with a
horse evaluation in the afternoon, where the evaluators are "wired" so
all can hear the comments and can ask questions. They will normally have
top people there to speak.

The second day is a "mock ride" which is 10 miles with a check at five
miles and a check at the end.

The second clinic is presented by the SouthEast Distance Riders
Association (SEDRA). SEDRA is a FL based CTR sanctioning organization
which sanctions CTR's in the FL and parts of Georgia. SEDRA should not be
confused with SERA, which is a regional endurance organization which
supports the AERC SE region.

SEDRA has a distance clinic in the spring which is on the same basic
format as the FHA clinic (first day instruction and discussion and second
day a mock ride )  to introduce new riders to the sport. Both of these
clinics are top notch and are well worth going to for new or wantabe
distance riders.

And yes they take people from out of state, but only if your name is not
Chad!

Truman

Amanda Perez wrote:

>   In Dave Nicholsons reply, he said: "First, you should know
> that I have suggested to every ride manager that I can think
> of,  that the LD ride be separated from the longer rides so
> that we don’t have to work them all at the same time.   Many
> times I have offered to come to the rides early to participate
> in a clinic.  If the LD rides are to be a training ride for
> young horses and new riders, we should be spending more time
> with them, not less."
>
>   I would ***LOVE*** t attend an endurance clinic oriented
> towards neophytes, where you learn how to do pulse/respiration,
> interpret gut sounds, etc, how to evaluate your conditioning,
> tips for controlling your horse during the start etc.  It would
> also be great to check out a variety of endurance saddles etc.
> Ideally such a clinic would be coupled with an LD ride, but
> would not have to be.  Being in Virginia, there are not all
> that many rides near here for me to attend.  I plan to
> volunteer at one of the Old Dominion rides this spring, but it
> sure would be nice to have a have a clinicwhere I could ask ALL
> my stupid questions without feeling like I am detracting from
> the 'main event'.
>
>   If anyone thinks this would be a good I dea, I volunteer to
> help coordinate it.
>
> Amanda Perez
>

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