A clinic is also an opportunity to learn by watching others ride. Here are a few tips on how to make the most of your next clinic experience.

Finding a Good Fit

If you have not taken lessons from a clinician before, ask your coach if he or she thinks the clinician would be suitable. A confident coach should not feel threatened by the fact that a student would want to take a clinic from someone else from time to time. Keep in mind that trainers vary in their teaching and riding styles, and if a clinician is very different than your regular coach, confusion and problems may result, and the burden will be on your coach to sort out the contradictions. If the clinician you are interested in is giving a clinic in your area, go and watch a few lessons to see if this is a person you would like to ride with.

Consistency between what your coach teaches you and what a clinician would teach is sometimes best achieved if you take clinics from the same person with whom your own coach trains. Ask your coach if you can tag along to a lesson she is taking; you can offer to be useful as a groom or videographer. Watching your coach ride in a lesson will create a “trickle down” effect of learning, even before you take a clinic with that same person.

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