Length of clinic sessions?

[Cragrat]

There is a 2 day clinic being advertised currently, and the sessions are 1 x 2 hour session each day, in groups of up to 5. SJ the first day, XC the 2nd day.

To me, that seems too long in one go- my brain can't take in/assimilate 2 hours of information in one go, let alone asking my horse to concentrate for that long. Or am I just being feeble?

 

[TheMule]

There is a 2 day clinic being advertised currently, and the sessions are 1 x 2 hour session each day, in groups of up to 5. SJ the first day, XC the 2nd day.

To me, that seems too long in one go- my brain can't take in/assimilate 2 hours of information in one go, let alone asking my horse to concentrate for that long. Or am I just being feeble?

It can be appropriate for Xc as often takes that long to get around a course, especially with 5. Too long for SJ though, would be better in a 3 for an hour

 

[Tiddlypom]

Longer sessions can IME work well for jumping clinics as you are not on the go for the whole two hours. There’s a lot of standing around watching other combinations do their thing.

I used to regularly travel to a three hour gymnastic jumping clinic with 8 riders, and that worked fine. I found that my horses soon learned to switch off when it wasn’t their turn and that was a valuable lesson in itself.

Horses (and riders) both need to be fit, though.

 

[millitiger]

I'd prefer shorter sessions with less people personally, as I switch off, let alone the horse.

I'd rather put my horse away and then stay and watch the next one, rather than sit on my horse while watching.

 

[ihatework]

Xc id probably just about accept it, but it would be too many people and too long for sj imo.

 

[SEL]

I found it worked for xc because the clinician took us to different areas of the course & worked through different combinations - we had 5 in the group. The second time I went there motorway problems meant only 2 of us turned up and we were done well within the 2 hour slot.

 

[Cragrat]

It can be appropriate for Xc as often takes that long to get around a course, especially with 5. Too long for SJ though, would be better in a 3 for an hour

It's not a full XC course though - it's in a good but quite compact schooling field.

I'm going to give it a miss.