Review by Chris Dalton

Article from Chris Dalton regarding the March 24-25 2007 clinic I think the official figure was twenty two horses and riders at the latest Youth Clinic but I was far too busy to count. It was held at David Deptford's new facility over the weekend of 24th - 25th March and we were the first to use the indoor arena with its brand new surface. The weekend started on Friday with a five hour trip down to Cambridgeshire from my home in Northumberland. We had my new Quarter Horse (Coal) on board with my Appaloosa (Ratchett) for company. I was keen to see how my new horse would perform having not had him out since his arrival from Texas at the beginning of March. We arrived at David's, bedded down the horses for the night and then disaster struck! Dad had forgotten to pack the coffee. Once Mum had calmed down we got an early night ready for a busy weekend. Saturday saw a packed day with the horses. I'm new to AQHA-UK but it was great to meet up with some familiar faces from the January clinic and last year's WES shows. Christy Leach was her usual efficient self getting us sorted into two groups, handing out name tags and generally doing a lot of shuffling of paperwork. My group spent the morning getting to grips with Pleasure with David Deptford instructing and proving very helpful. I would like to say we almost forgot about the cold - but it was very, very cold! In the afternoon Tanya Rowe took us for Showmanship whilst the other group concentrated on Pleasure. This has never been a very strong event for me but I feel I benefited a lot from the session. After a long day it was early to bed again ready for a nine o'clock start - especially necessary as the clocks went forward that night. Luckily Christy had been efficient again and gone around the parents reminding them. Hunt Seat Equitation was the first discipline on Sunday. Despite having ridden since I was three and only starting Western riding last season, it was  strange to sit in an English saddle again - not to mention wearing breeches and boots! Tanya gave some great instruction in what was a new event for me. After a session of trail and a short lunch it was back in the arena for team selection. Selection was taking place for the team to attend Canada in 2008 but also with a view to sending a team to Denmark for the Euro Cup this summer. David had us all swop horses to check our ability to ride different mounts. I was given a reining horse which was a change from Coal who is more Pleasure orientated. After that it was plenty of riding as our instructors were joined by Andrew Fox and Lauren Jolly to make the assessments. We were all finished by four o'clock when it was time to make our long journey home. Coal had behaved impeccably and I'm really looking forward to competing him at AQHA shows this season. All that remains is to thank David, Tanya and Christy, as well as all the other helpers and parents, for making it a great weekend. I'm sure that the other twenty one would echo that.

 

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