How to get well know clinician (aka, Denny, Jimmy, Ralph, etc..

[2ndyrgal]

To do a clinic at my farm

[Dreamspark]

Um....call and ask nicely? :D

[2ndyrgal]

for a bit more help than that. As in, am I wasting my time, how far ahead, how much does it cost usually? I want to have an "open barn" get to know us weekend, and I thought having someone that everyone would want to see/ride with, would be a good way to increase attendance. Short of free food and booze.

[bornfreenowexpensive]

To do a clinic at my farm


Jimmy's web site is http://jimwofford.blogspot.com/

Send him an email.


Basically, I've organized several clinics. Most clinicians have a rate (weekend, day etc.). You will need to cover their rate and expenses. You also need to discuss with them the structure of their clinics. How may groups and riders a day...type of format. And you need to find a date that works for your schedule as well as their schedule. Then you need to decide if you think you can fill that clinic and charge enough to cover your costs. Depending on the date you want is how far out you need to get. 3-6 months is typical.

Getting the clinician to come put on the clinic isn't the hard part.....getting enough people to fill it, organizing all the groups, set up, clean up, and getting the weather be nice are much much much harder!

[ss3777]

It is my understanding that Denny does not travel, but he is well worth the travel to his barn ;)

Not sure about the others but if you check out www.erichorgan.com (http://www.erichorgan.com) and click on contact the information for his stateside organizer is all there. If you click on schedule you can see if he has any openings left for the year. He is really exceptional, I save all of my pennies to ride with him and it is always worth it. Straight dressage folks also love him.

Good luck!!!

[LexInVA]

Denny = Fribbles and cable TV.

Jimmy = Fly fishing and beer.

Ralph = God only knows.

Those are the basic requirements.

[yellowbritches]

It is basically as simple as contacting them. I would suggest making sure you have the demand for a clinic like that before starting up the process (not necessarily have people committed, but just make sure there is an interest). That way you can be fairly confident your clinic will fill and you won't have to fork out tons of your own cash to get the clinician in.

Once it is lined up, I highly recommend some type of gathering with the participants and auditors with the clinician so people can chat, ask questions, etc. A little less formal type of environment often loosens people up and gets them asking great questions. We hosted Kim Severson several years ago, and hosted a dinner at a local restaurant the night after the first day of the clinic. I think it was a big hit with everyone who attended, and we actually got Kim to loosen up a bit and chat with everyone!

[Jeannette, formerly ponygyrl]

What bornfree said pretty much - plus repeating what YB said - I would ask around locally a bit, floating names and/or hearing who people would like to ride with. Sometimes a clinician will have come to an area for a while, and enough of the clinic regulars will get to saying, "Oh yeah, I've done that clinic" to make it harder to fill. Or someone locally may have been talking up (or down) a particular clinician.

As a very rough guide, I would guess 1200 or 1000 to 3000 dollars per day would be the rate name event clinicians might charge. QUite a range, but might help you do a little back of the napkin figuring to see what price range might work for you - both to charge and to pay.

I have audited a LOT of clinics, and umm, clinic auditors are a lot rarer than you might hope. I'm not sure I'd try to combine an open house with a clinic - if you do get a lot of people, you have a lot of chatter and coffeehousing, and multiple responsibilities as organizer, and if you don't, you maybe feel like a failure even though you organized a great local event...

Good luck!

[hb]

Years ago I organized clinics for our local CTA. The two most difficult things were coordinating an open date - the popular clinicians are very busy - and the fact that whether the clinic fills or not the clinician's fee and travel expenses had to be paid. Luckily the organization had a big enough education budget that I could book the flights and get reimbursed in advance, and I was always able to fill the clinics, although sometimes at the last minute. I remember thinking it would be stressful to put on a big-name clinic if I had to fund it myself, not knowing until the last minute if I'd break even or be out a few hundred dollars. The fee range listed by Jeanette is in line with what we were paying a few years back.

[LAZ]

Yep--call and ask. I've found April and September clinics fill best here in my area. Look at the rest of the schedule in your area--clinics and shows and try to pick a date that doesn't run up against anything with a big draw. Be prepared to subsidize the clinic yourself the first time--I have found the first clinic doesn't always fill.

[yellowbritches]

Paying attention to the rest of your areas schedule is a big plus. Around here, with the exception of really popular clinicians like Lucinda (her clinics seem to be huge no matter what time of year), I often see the most popular clinics in late winter/early spring (as people gear up for the spring season). I want to say ours was in Jan, but it might have been in late November, too (it was HUGE, that's all I remember). Having access to an indoor is a big, big plus for clinics that time of year. If you have it during the peek competition season, really study the omnibus and other local calendars hard to pick a weekend.

[2ndyrgal]

Have a 72x184 indoor, that you can light up like Walmart. Have stalls, have room to gallop and stuff to jump. I have emailed the aforementioned, except for Ralph, I left a message for Michelle (who if you are reading this call me about the sale horse) who will get it to him. Beer. I can get beer. Whathehell is a "fribble"? Fly fishing, well, we have a pond and do fish feeding, since they are small. If I had access to a stream with fly fishing, I'd not need clients with horses, fish are so much easier. You can't catch and release horses, though I've been tempted. I've also had a few I'd think better with chips, but, well, it's just not done is it? "God only knows." we have plenty of that here too. Just waiting on replies. There are several really good people locally whose clinics are always full, but I really want to make a big deal out of this. Not to mention wanting to ride with any and all of them myself. Organize? Moi? umn, no, I had the IDEA, I'll get someone organized to do all that. I want to ride and smooze.

[DLee]

I would love to ride for Mr. Wofford. :yes: And drink beer and schmooze. That's right up my alley!

[2ndyrgal]

Beer, smoozing, and a clinic. Riding skill depends on the amount of alcohol consumed. Subject matter may not be suitable for all participants. Adult discretion is advised.

[SLR]

I think you also need to get those guys who are popular in the area. Some clinicians do well here others not so much. Having been to clinics that my son rode in with both Ralph(many) and Jim (3). Mr Wofford seems to keep to himself in the off times. He has given a talk on the Friday nite before the clinic ( South Farm) and that's the question time. Ralph usually runs so long into the day that there's not a lot of social time. Maybe for the organizer and a select few. He barely has time to eat. He works REALLY hard at his clinics. Mary Lowry has had Ralph many times at Flying Cross, and Sarah at South Farm has had both. In fact I think Jim is there in a few weeks. Denny comes to Spring Run for Susan Harris but never had the opportunity to meet him. You might want to contact those ladies to see what their experience has been. If you do get one of them, please post info on the Area VIII website.

[maxxtrot]

you can try getting touch with ralph thru andrew and ruthie harbison(she post here under sifi) he is staying with them on their farm. ralph's clinic's are always full and a long waiting list as i have always seen. good luck.