EHOA Clinic Report- not what I was expecting! Advice/comments/anything please!

I'm so sorry you had a bad time, i think i would word a polite email to the organiser as others have mentioned.

I am wary of lessons with big names and pros having had a horrible experience with one who set me back a long way and completely shattered my confidence in myself and my horse. I now only go to people i know or who come highly recommend from people who know me and/or i trust.

However, i have also had regular, fantastic clinics with the SJ trainer you had for this clinic. I have always found him helpful, sympathetic and welcoming even when i took B as a 5YO who had done nothing and was only jumping about 2'3 - and jumping it pretty badly at that!!! It's horses for courses though and not everyone and every horse will always mix with every trainer.

I hope you get your confidence back with you riding asap - believe me we have all been there!!!
 
Oh dear, sorry to hear you had a bad lesson.

I once took Catembi for a one-off lesson. He was v strong jumping, & like your lesson, we did the same jumps over...and over...and over... He was getting stronger & stronger & faster & faster, & when he was really boiling over, I gave up & got off.

It took 2 or 3 lessons with my usual trainer to de-stress him & undo the damage, so I'm now v cautious who I go to.

I've cried in lessons before too!
 
thank you everyone, kind words much appreciated :)

i am feeling much better now after going xc on Millie this afternoon- yes she was strong, but she was GOING, she jumped everything boldly and we both came back grinning :) :) :)
 
Oh dear poor you, how incredibly disappointing.
I am fast coming to the conclusion that clinics are only helpful to certain people. I've been on excellent ones where I felt I learned loads, but unfortunately more often I've been on ones which I thought were almost a waste of my time/money. If they were 30mins down the road and £20 then ok but I've been to a few now where I've found it totally non-productive and quite honestly not worth the time/money effort.

A lot of it is about the grouping and I appreciate that it's simply not always possible to get groups of riders who need exactly the same thing. But recently I seem to have been unlucky with the groups (this works both ways by the way - if you've done several PNs and are stuck doing exercises geared for people who've not yet done an Intro it can be pretty frustrating too) and it's highlighted to me that on balance it's just not worth it.

In a similar vein, I've had lessons with a well-known instructor who lots of people swear by. Well he just doesn't 'get' me and after another cr*p lesson where I almost ended up in tears I decided to knock it on the head. It's terrible how it makes you self-doubt but I have now told myself that it's not me being complete rubbish, it's just a mis-match.

Do what I have done, put it down to experience - if nothing else you have learned what NOT to do - and perhaps, like me, you are better off with individual lessons. it's just finding that elusive wonder-trainer who understands you and your horse and, better still, is interested in what you are doing with your horse and what you are aiming at and, even better still, HELPS you to form your goals based on what you are capable of. If you find him/her, please would you send them my way?? :) :)
 
Definitely give feedback to EHOA! I have been on 2 of their courses this year and found them very enjoyable and was keen to give them positive feedback after so it is just important they get your feedback if it can help someone else.

We will always get instructors we don't click with but it sounds like you got far too uptight when things started going wrong and then it was a downwards spiral. To be honest I know of many instructors (mostly men!) who would not have a clue what to do with a female who was openly crying!! At that point they were probably at a loss with what to do. Some people are able to stick up for themselves and their horse in this kind of situation - I have been shocked by how frank some people can be!! But it sounds like you are more sensitive than most and therefore maybe camp situations would not be good for you and your horse - definitely think you need to build up a relationship with an instructor you really trust rather than the soundbite bits you get on a one off clinic. Camps are also tiring for a young horse. I did a 3 day one recently (not EHOA) and on the 3rd day my horse stopped dead twice SJ totally out of character and I came off in 2 identical slow mo falls:eek: He jumped round after but his confidence did plummet and I felt a bit bad I had not recognised he was mentally drained. I did take him XC in the afternoon though with the plan to just do some small jumps and get his confidence back and it worked perfectly. Maybe it is a pity you did not even try the XC on the last afternoon you could have always have left part way through if it didn't work for your mare.

Just chalk it up to experience (an expensive one I know) and try and find what works for you. Sounds like you built some great confidence today so remember that positive and forget about the clinic
 
We have done 3 CDT training days, two last year and one this year. We found them incredibly helpful and worth the money. We recommended CDT to a number of friends who have now also been to training days and all were full of praise for them.
 
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