RichardWinters(Clinic Notes...videos)

becdubie · RichardWinters(Clinic Notes...videos)

Anybody heard of him?
His web site has a testimonial about him from Pat Parelli,
http://www.wintersranch.com/clinics.html#horsemanship clinic

He's from California.

becdubie

Oh! I see he won RTTH in 2009. If there is another thread with info from you all about him, please just point me there so we don't have another thread with the same info.

kristie

I really like Richard. He also learned from Troy Henry.

I saw him start his colt at RTTH a couple years ago and it was very no nonsense--just for the horse.

becdubie

I was at the vet yesterday and noticed a poster...he is having a clinic near us. The clinics around here are so few and far between, I definatly will audit. Would love to participate, but spent all my $ on hay, oh well if he comes back, maybe next year. I hope they get a good turn out so they can bring him back next year. If I would have known earlier I could have planned and saved to participate.
$400 for two days....that's about average I guess.

retropony

Richard used to ride with us quite often at Pat's ranch in Clements, CA many years ago. He is a great horseman and a very nice humble person. I would definitely audit or ride with him! Last year early in the morning after Brent Graef's Cottonwood clinic, we were packing up to go home and Richard was in the arena all alone riding his horse before his cow working clinic got started. It was a beautiful thing to see. My husband and I just stopped what we were doing and watched him and his horse enjoying their time together.

Patti

cynthia peterson

Patti, welcome! We would love to hear you post more!

Richard used to be on RFDTV. I think they have to fund the show personally, so if he didn't have enough to sell to fund it he had to stop. I loved his show and it is no longer on. You can catch him on Satellite TV on something like the University Channel on the weekends. Richard's daughter used to do things on that RFDTV program and mentioned riding with Parelli. I think she would be around Pat's niece's age and it seemed she was close friends with the Parelli Family.

Anyhow, thanks again for joining us Patti. Richard does indeed seem like a nice guy. And you mentioned Brent Graef, now there is a mighty nice man!

jackspark

I remember watching him on RFD and REALLY enjoyed his soft spoken way. Often wondered what happened to him. I'd go see him in a minute!

kristie

His show airs on some satellite channel for a university. I don't get it anymore, but there's probably information on his website.

I would ride in one of his clinics in a heartbeat!

Here's a cute story he just wrote about

http://blog.lighthandshorsemanship.com/

becdubie

Now, he blew my socks off. What an awesome clinic I had the opportunity to audit this past weekend. The entire time kicking myself for not knowing about it soon enough to save up $ to participate.

I'll write some more later, post pics and and a video of his Hobble training demo, but unfortunately I have to go do the job for a while.

Hey...he had the riders up riding their horses almost the entire two days! Everybody walked, trotted, and loped. He had a variety of riders from very experienced to very novice and they all did great, everybody progressed in their own way.....only 7 participants they all got individaul attention.
I'm definately spending my clinic money to participate in his clinic next summer when he comes back!

becdubie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJQP-VLYFsU
Oh, they posted this on youtube. You'll seem me standing up leaning on the steel beam in the corner w/ brown felt hat and big brown carhart coat.....
The horse he was helping was the horse that belonged to the least experienced gal...her first horse. She had a ton of trouble the first day but by the second day she was doing so much better, and could get her little horse to go wherever she wanted. Even loped! And I found out she only lives about a mile from me!
It was COLD!!!

becdubie

Ok here we go...
Here are a few notes and thoughts from the RW Clinic I audited. This was his Advancing horsemanship course. I would equate this to a L3+ PNH clinic. He has a “horsemanship” clinic that this one builds on, seems to cover L1-2 PNH type stuff.

RW was riding the clinic organizers roping horse, so for me it was great to see him on a horse he did not know and had to teach the horse much of what the participants had to teach, so when he gave a demo, you could see how the horse struggled a bit and how he helped him learn.

There were only 7 participants in class. 5 were very experienced and used their horses for a purpose…3- were ranch managers and 1 is an avid barrel racer and 1 an avid trail rider. Two beginners; 1 had only been in horses 6 months and attending with her first horse, she was quite natural and seemed fairly confident, the other had her little green mare for 2 years but she had not ridden her too much since having couple accidents (found out we are neighbors).

Day one started with a little demo on some basic ground work, circling and HQ disengagement. He helped a couple people who have trouble with their ground work but then everybody else just hopped on and started riding around while he was helping the two who needed it. So about 1.5 hrs in, everybody was up ridding. RW likes them get going at a speed…so he frequently say’s “Go trot somewhere” to get everyone moving. Then after a while he organized them into whatever pattern he is going to have them do.

There was direction and organization to everything he does he made sure that every rider got the opportunity to try the exercise he presented with him helping. He doesn’t let them struggle too long until he steps in to make sure they are helping the horse. I lost track of how many times he would ask, “Do you mind if I give it a try on your horse for you?” He rode everybody’s horse at one point during the 2 days. He was also very encouraging to help them get out of their comfort zones….saying things like…”don’t worry’, “You got it”, “he’s alright”…. Etc… things that would help me had I been a rider…cuz it’s tougher to read your horse from their back, at least for me.

He works on what he calls 4 part harmony…which is basically getting control of all the parts of the horse.
1) Head/neck
2) Shoulders
3) Rib Cage
4) HQ

RW talk about the difference between “horseback riding” and horsemanship, there are lots of Horseback riders but not many are horseman and by taking clinics like this is what will set them apart. I heard a lot of PNH sayings!

About giving your horse a job…something that I’ve wondered about, when I would hear people say to give your horse a job. All I could think of is…Like what? I don’t have any cows to move rope or tie up. I’m not trying to win a competition…that was a little confusing to me. RW considers everything you ask your horse to do a Job…if you want them to go in a circle that is the job, if you want them to trot from one end of the arena (or pasture or whatever), that is the job. But when you get your horse Busy or put him/her on a job, give it a sense of urgency…ask him/her to go with speed and urgency then when you get there, stop straight, relax and just stand there. He kept having them go to a fence post and stop facing the wall every time he would say…”you are training right now, just sit there and let him think”. Don’t let the horse turn around to look at other horses…resting and relief should be with you, and you alone, sit for at least 30 seconds before asking for something else. Maybe I was just being dense before but finally I understand the concept of giving my horse a job.

RW is a big advocate of using spurs, he explained how they should be used, but basically he said that after the first 5 rides on his colts, he introduces spurs and ALWAYS rides with spurs. He is big on getting a good leg yield and feels that using spurs is the best way to teach it. Although there were several in the class who got good leg yields w/out spurs and he complimented that. He was also very careful to say that if you don’t have an independent seat, you better get one first before trying to use spurs or you will be inadvertently poking your horse sending mixed signals.

Here are some videos of the various exercises he had them doing. I’ve put a little explanation of each one in photo bucket.
http://s345.photobucket.com/albums/p367/becdubie/RW/
I videoed the entire hobble training demo, it gives you a good idea of how he teaches. You will want to watch them in sequence 1-6.
HobbleTraining video 4(the meat of the demo) is in utube...it was too big for photobucket.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPrtKH09TN8

Also my previous post contains a video of how he helped the beginner gal with her green horse. She was having a lot of trouble getting the little mare to move. She was really cute…kick, kick, kick…then she would organize her reins look back at the mares rump and spank with her hand…sometimes the mare would move, sometimes not. RW ended up giving her a spanker (horseman’s string) to use. I’m going to lend her my L1 (Linda version) I think it will help her with being safer with her horse.

I can’t wait till next August…….I’ve already stashed $25.00 away toward the clinic.
RW Web site.
http://www.wintersranch.com/clinics.html#horsemanship clinic