Just wanted to share with everyone the great experience we had at a Bob Jefferys clinic a couple of weeks ago in South Salem, NY.

Bob is a certified John Lyon's trainer (one of the few in the East) and a real horse lover. Many times during the clinic he walked over and kissed different horses. Any man who will kiss a horse is OK by me! He is one of those people who's love for animals can be felt a mile away by both horses and humans. Our horses liked him so much they tried to follow him every where he went - even when he was riding another horse!

My boyfriend Steve and I brought our two horses Andi and Vikingur. These horses are almost complete opposites of one another. Andi is 20 and has seen everything. He is dead safe for any beginner, but he does not have a lot of go, can be a little strong headed, dull to the riders aids, tend to lean on the bit and generally be a little stiff. Vikingur is 10. He was a competition horse in Iceland. He's sensitive, very willing (to the point of knowing fast rather than slow), obedient, very athletic, and a little timid about new people. I was having problems stopping and slowing him down. We had the only Icelandics there among six other quarter horses and arabs.

The meat of the clinic was working with your horse on giving to the bit. Teaching the horse to be light in the bridle. Vikingur was always light, but after just a half hour it was amazing - he was even lighter! Andi didn't take to it right away. Steve took the slack out of the rein and Andi was more than happy to lean on that nice bit in his mouth ;) But, Bob showed Steve that with a horse like Andi you need a little more motion (walking forward, etc.) to get him involved. We were in the saddle for at least six hours on Saturday just working on the different give points. The horses responded very well and became very attentive to us - so much for Icelandics being bored with ring work! At the end of the first day Bob said in front of everyone, "These are the second and third Icelandics I've ever worked with. I don't know if they are just incredibly smart, have done this stuff many times before, or Steve and Andrea are great trainers but these horses have caught on extremely fast and are doing very, very well." Needless to say Steve and I beamed with pride.

On Sunday we began with clockwork. We learned how to control one of the horses front feet by using only the opposite rein (I hope this makes sense). For instance if you were to move his left front foot towards nine o'clock you would be doing a sidepass - towards six o'clock you would be backing up all using the right rein. Vikingur caught on really fast - he loves to go sideways. So much so that I was having problems going straight! He just kept offering more sideways! It was so neat to see the observers pointing to my horse and praising his beautiful movements. After a while Bob even got on Vikingur to demonstrate to everyone the all the different movements. Andi also became much lighter and the lateral work eased his stiffness.

Then we went on to speed control, stopping each side of the horse with a single rein, emergency stops, and finally riding with two reins. Steve learned that if he just let Andi know that he wanted to stop, all he had to do was pick-up the reins and Andi would stop. No more tug of war. By the end I could ride Vikingur at a fast tolt and stop him easily with one rein. It was like getting a new horse - and Vikingur was so happy because I was finally happy riding him.

In the middle of the clinic Bob's two apprentices (two adult women) rode everyone's horses to see where they were at. One of the women came up to me and asked if she could ride my "pony" - I said sure, but that he was not a pony - she just smiled. Well as soon as she asked for a trot I saw her turn white. Vikingur has a huge and speedy trot. Although she was OK, the woman was clearly caught off guard. When she gave him back to me she said, "Wow - you were right. That's no pony." Ha! Later the other woman got on to ride him in a canter - she was so nervous she wouldn't even let him canter! And all he was doing was medium tolt! Bob got her off and got on himself.

At the very end Bob worked on flying lead changes. Vikingur and I were too wiped out, but Steve and Andi gave it a go. At the age of 20 Andi learned to do a flying lead change. Although it needs refinement it was so neat!

What really impressed me was that Bob took time with each and every rider to make sure that their problems or concerns were addressed. Although not every problem was solved (although I have to say most were), he at the very least gave the person a sampling to tools to use at home. He was very open to questions at any time - even saying that if a trainer does not have an answer to why he or she does a certain thing something is wrong. He certainly did not put down any other training method and was even open to learning more.

If you are interested in attending a fun and informative clinic I would definitely recommend Bob Jefferys. Steve and I will definitely be back for more. If anyone would like more information about him please let me know.

Andrea