Clinic Rider Participation Guidelines

There are many factors that go into having a successful clinic experience.  One of the keys to having a successful clinic experience is to make sure that riders are grouped appropriately with respect to skill & ability.


The Parelli program has made things somewhat easier by having Level certification, and a Level 3 Graduate is for sure ready for a Dressage Naturally Introductory clinic.  Since the change of the Parelli Level 2 assessment criteria, it has made it more difficult for me to assess the riding preparedness of a Level 2 Graduate  for my clinics.  Also, there are very capable riders out there who have not assessed in the Parelli system, but are none-the-less very prepared to ride with me.  

In general, my clinics fall into 2 categories: 
*Those geared towards the intermediate or advanced student of any form of Natural Horsemanship.  The language and exercises I use are based on a pre-existing knowledge of the concepts taught in the Parelli system.   If you learned from other than Parelli, you are for sure welcome too! Parelli is just the reference that I am using.

*Those geared towards confident  students of dressage with no previous Natural Horsemanship experience.  

These are separate clinics with different focuses. I do my best not to mix these two groups of students in the Introductory D,N clinics.

The above are the groups of students that can best benefit from riding in a Dressage,Naturally clinic.  ANY skill level is welcome and encouraged to audit!  My goal is that it is a positive experience for all participants, and that all riders will be safe doing the exercises.  I appreciate the time, logistical and financial commitment it takes to participate in a multi-day clinic and it is important to me that the investment the student is making is the best one for them.  To do this I will do my best to list some prerequisites for participating....These are here to help you self-assess and determine if this is the best clinic for you at this time, or perhaps if it would be a better to audit, or invest some more into your foundational skills. 


To get anywhere you need to know three things:
Where you want to go
How to get there, and most importantly...
Where are you NOW?  

Please be honest with yourself in your evaluation of where you are now...it is the best gift you can give to yourself!  If you are not sure how to honestly self-assess, when you sign up for the clinic and give your deposit to the host, you can submit a video for me to review.  If I feel your time and investment would be better spent building a more solid foundation this time around, your clinic deposit will be refunded to you. 

As many of you are progressing with me, I am working on a guideline for more advanced prerequisites for continuing D, N courses.

Bare Minimum Clinic Prerequisites for every participant:

**Confident and safe riding independently in a group
**Impulsiveness/emotional issues resolved or can be confidently and independently handled without becoming unsafe.  (If your horse has issues with bolting, running, extreme balking/kicking out, bucking fits, etc that you don't know how to deal with, or will cause an unsafe situation for others in the group)
**Independent seat. Confident to ride without reins at walk, trot & canter.  Much of what I teach is based on this ability.  That doesn't mean you need to be able to ride bridle-less in all situations (although that would be great!) It means that if you are afraid to let go of the reins, there is a foundational issue for you/your horse that you would be best served to resolve first.

These are the absolute minimum requirements, meaning if even one of the above is weak, you would be best served to invest your efforts in a more foundational clinic.  You of course would be encouraged  and welcome to come and audit!

In addition to the above:

For clinics for Parelli (or other natural horsemanship) students:
*Level 3 graduate (or equivalent) is best.  If you haven't officially completed it, then make sure the Freestyle and Online is strong. I want to see an excellent knowledge of sensitization/desensitization, use of phases, freestyle and dynamics of prey/predator relationship.  It is OK, if your Finesse is a little weak, as this is what we will be addressing in the clinic!

For clinics for Dressage students with no NH experience:
*An open mind! You are here to get a fresh perspective, and many concepts and techniques may seem counter-intuitive at first.  As the techniques are not always techniques of control, sometimes in the beginning it takes a little longer to get what appears to be a small result, but it can be a profound result ultimately. 
*Experience and ability in at least First Level Dressage.  You have the ability to ride and follow your horse's movement and are ready to/beginning to develop movements such as leg yields, lengthenings.

Who is least suited for a clinic with me?
Riders who have no experience in Natural Horsemanship concepts/exercises AND no experience with dressage concepts/exercises. If you are just learning to ride, or your horse is just learning to be ridden, a D,N clinic will not be the best forum for you or your horse.  In training horses or humans, getting a good, solid confident, happy foundation is absolutely the key.   If you skip steps here, it makes everything harder later...and if you prepare well, the 'hard' stuff gets easier....