Tim Pearson Clinic: are you well prepared for the show?

On Sunday 26th July 2009, ICAMH offered a clinic with one of AMHA's leading World Grand Champion Professional Trainers, Mr. Tim Pearson from the USA.

This clinic was held at the TF American Miniature Horse Farm in Heide-Venray, the Netherlands.

The TF American Miniature Horse Farm had made not only her accommodation, but also 4 horses available to participants who didn't bring their own horse, yet would like to learn from showing a well trained horse.

Below, you can read a report on the clinic by one of the participants, Bianca de Warle.

Report

When I read the announcement for this clinic, I hesitated about going. For me, it's a good 3 hour drive to Tina Fisseler, but on the other hand I would like to learn more about training and showing. The clinic with Wayne Hipsley, earlier this year, was mainly about how to get the best out of your horse in the showring. And this clinic would be more about training, feeding and preparation. So, a great addition.

At the start of the clinic, everybody was asked to read the rules on the amateur classes. We talked about the importance of these classes and the youth classes. But also about the problem that there are a number of people in Europe who are amateur, but have much more experience in showing than others. The American system does not work in Europe, because we do not have many people here who train and show for a living.

After that, we talked about feeding and training. The amount and the sort of feed was covered extensively. Furthermore, we got many tips on training. This made clear that training a horse for a show well, takes great amounts of time, and that the training of more than two horses is hardly possible for somebody who has a fulltime job.

Then, we talked about the necessary and handy stuff to use for the daily care and at the shows. The horses' beautycase is larger than that of most females!

After a great lunch, the programme continued with a discussion on horses' show photos, and we viewed and discussed the champion of champions class of last year's world show.

Grooming and clipping came to the table extensively and it was already around 4 o'clock when we got to practising with the horses. Tina's wonderfully trained horses were super to practise with. If the handler did okay, the horses performed well. But also practising with the two year old colt that Dennis and Patricia had brought was a learnful experience for me, because he totally confronted you with your own mistakes.

It was a long but very educational day, the explanation was very clear and Tim offered a lot of opportunities to ask questions.
I would like to thank Tina for her hospitality and making her beautiful horses available to us, and of course everybody else who made this clinic possible. It has certainly been worth the long drive from Friesland to Venray. Should there ever be held a follow-up on this clinic, I will attend for sure.

Bianca de Warle