Our First Clinic

The sun shone on Synergy Stables in Junction City last Saturday! Yes, the sun was out, and we had a sunny, good time for our first official clinic with gaited clinician Gina Gardner. I might live through my first winter in the Willamette Valley after all!

Despite a serious hustle of work to get ready for our clinic and a power outage the night before that delayed printing out the liability releases, checking last minute emails, etc., all went smoothly on our clinic day. It was a small clinic, with only four horses/riders, plus an auditor, as we needed to make sure we fit comfortably and safely in our small, indoor arena (because we were sure it was going to rain).

Everyone arrived in good spirits, and all the horses behaved wonderfully. Gina got the group started with analyzing everyone’s horse and riding, and finding out what folks needed and wanted to work on. She changed out a bit for one horse/rider, which seemed to help immensely.

After the lunch break, the weather was still beautiful, so we moved out to our large outdoor arena.

Daughter Jerri jumped into the clinic with her leased Spanish Mustang (the one she is using to practice trotting and posting…argh!), and as the session was wrapping up, I grabbed July, one of my wonderful Paso Finos, to join the last hour of fun riding, trading horses, and chatting.

Jerri and I are excited to get our activities under way at Synergy Stables. We have both organized clinics before, and I have hosted Gina in Alaska three different times, but this was that first wonderful time to host a clinic at our own facility. We hope to promote gaited horses as well as natural horsemanship, with a real focus on education and knowledge to help us with our horses.

Thanks to Gina Gardner for another great clinic. And thanks to Meg, Sarah, Maggie, Julianna, and Harris for their participation. We look forward to seeing you again at Synergy Stables. Thanks also to our great horses at Synergy Stables. Lucero gave Maggie a nice ride and Precious helped Julianna keep learning. Without our horses, where would we be?
More sunshine to come (Did someone whisper spring?) And why are all those frogs singing at night at this time of year?