Ross Jacobs Clinic

Hello friends,

Ross Jacobs, a talented horseman based out of Australia, is planning a United States trip next summer and I am hoping to have him out to my place in Three Forks, MT to give a 3 day horsemanship clinic. Ross has an extensive background and is a continuing student of Harry Whitney, and has a lot to offer us all. If you have not seen his website, please visit. Ross does a great job of writing articles, stories and an awesome blog, and you could read on his site for days without running out of new and useful information. www.goodhorsemanship.com.au.

That being said, I am putting feelers out with regard to interest in his clinic. I hope to host him in the summer (July, August or September), and will need 8-10 participants per day. Cost will go down for the participant the more enrollment we have.

I will be riding in this clinic and think this is a great opportunity for everyone. Please let me know if you are interested (or MIGHT be interested), and if you have a weekend to work around in that time period. I will be working around the Montana Harry Whitney clinic in August to make sure we can all attend both.

Thanks!
Alex

Apologies from a neglectful Blogger!

Hi Everyone,

It’s been a long time since I’ve updated this blog, and I do apologize. I’ve had some not so subtle hints lately about posting more often. I will make a better effort this winter to post, and please feel free to email me with questions or topics you would like me to write about. To get us started, here’s an update about the last year, and the year to come!

It has been a busy and exciting warmer season, and I’m sad to see the above freezing weather fading away! I’ve had the privilege of working with a lot of horses this year, of all breeds, ages, colors, shapes and sizes! Everything from Paso Finos to Quarter Horses, Foxtrotters to Arabians, Thoroughbreds to Tennessee Walking Horses, Paints, Mustangs, and Warmbloods! And…everything in between! It’s pretty special that Montanans are so varied in their taste in horses; I appreciate never knowing what’s going to step out of the horse trailer when a new horse shows up!

This year was full of new human faces as well, and I had a lot of fun holding clinics out of some new facilities. After a very successful three-day clinic in Ennis at the WC Stables & Arena this spring, I’ve been happy to go back to Ennis every few weeks to teach lessons. I’m so thankful for the support of Bill and Brenda Clark, the owners of the WC Stables, and hope to continue teaching out of their facility through the winter and into the New Year.

This winter I have plans to continue my own education, spending time learning from Harry Whitney, and incredible horseman and clinician. Next week I’m heading to Salome, Arizona with clients and horses and we are participating in a weeklong clinic with Harry. I’m thrilled to be riding a wonderful solid colored Paint horse named HZ, who I have had the privilege of riding all season and am completely enamored with. I will post photos and a recap when we return from our journey! Hopefully the weather will cooperate for our drive from Montana to Arizona, and back!

Then, I will be returning to Salome for the month of March to continue learning from Harry. It is a privilege to spend so much time at his ranch, and I am so looking forward to doing so. I hope to come back to Montana reinvigorated with many new ideas to share! If any of you have the chance to ride with Harry, or even just audit one of his clinics, please do. Horsemen of his caliber are hard to come by and he is a great teacher on top of it, so you really cannot go wrong.

Because of my travels I will not be accepting horses into training for the month of March. I will begin training again the first week of April, though I am fairly full for the month so if you are hoping to get your horse into training in April or May, please let me know as soon as possible. Unfortunately I can only take so many at a time, and try to cap my full time training horse numbers at 6 or 7 so that I have time to teach lessons each day and not feel rushed. You all know I like to talk!

Despite a tough horse economy this year I have been lucky to find success in finding good homes for the various horses I have had for sale. I’m thankful for that, because I absolutely hate selling horses, even for other people! I just worry too much about where they are going, who is going to ride and care for them, and what their lives are going to be like. But, this year I am happy to report that I felt really good about all of the sales I made, and those buyers who have stayed in touch have had nothing but happy, loving things to say about their new partners.

There is one horse that did not sell this year, and that is Easy, the Rocky Mountain Gaited Horse. He is one of the nicer horses I have had for sale in a long time, and I do hope he finds his forever home soon. He needs a somewhat experienced rider, but is not a “scary” horse, he just needs a bit more support to feel confident about life than a novice rider can provide. He gets a little jumpy without that support, but not in a bucking kind of way, just a bit of worry. Otherwise, he’s lovely, with a beautiful gait, charming personality and no real bad habits to speak of. There are photos of him on my Facebook page and I would appreciate it if everyone spread the word for this lovely horse.

Speaking of lovely horses, my little filly, Fia, who was born this April, is now approaching 7 months old! Time flies! She is just about as good as it gets, with an incredible personality, a lot like her wonderful mom, Cassie, my loyal lesson mare. I’m enjoying every second of Miss Fia’s growth, and am so hopeful for her future as my partner.

Again, please send thoughts, questions and ideas for blog posts and I’ll do my best to continue posting some winter reading material for cold days. As always, thank you all for your continued support as you allow me to do what I love to do every single day! I’m so lucky to have such wonderful people to work with, and to learn from horses for a living. I appreciate it every day, and look forward to 2012!

--Alex