Julie Winkel Clinic 2020

A week after the Bernie Traurig clinic, I was lucky enough to attend the Julie Winkel Clinic within the Northwest Equestrian Expo hosted by Burkwood Farm. The Northwest Equestrian Expo was inaugurated this year at the Lynden Fairgrounds and hosted dressage, hunter/jumper, and western clinicians. Throughout the weekend, it was very fascinating to watch other clinics focusing on topics such as colt breaking, saddle fitting, dressage, and more as well as ride in the Julie Winkel Clinic. This expo was made possible by the ever hardworking crew of Burkwood Farm and their head trainer, Paige Wagter.

Wesley and I participated in the 3’6” section of this clinic, which was mainly focused on jumper style riding. I had never ridden with Julie before, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. The first day we focused on primarily flatwork with an emphasis on longitudinal exercises such as collecting and extending. These exercises really engaged our horses and set them up to jump well. Wesley felt great at the end when we ended by cantering up the center line and jumping a series of jumps that were set on an angle up the center of the arena. I really enjoyed how Julie taught us, the information she gave was simple and effective with an emphasis on thinking like the horse.

Day two was focused more on course work with some flatwork at the beginning consisting of side passes and shoulders in and haunches in. This led to work over fences on changing our track to either take the early track and save room on either side of the fence or take the later track to create more room before and after the fence. We incorporated these exercises in our course work as we jumped a jumper style course and had a mini competition based on time and touches of the fences, rather than rails. Wesley jumped great throughout the weekend and I am very lucky to learn with him as a partner.

Overall, I really enjoyed Julie’s teaching style and how she made things simple but effective. Additionally, I enjoyed watching her teach the green horse group and how she broke things down for the horses and progressively make everything fit together in a way that makes sense to the horse. I hope I can ride with Julie again in the future and I look forward to incorporating what I’ve learned from her in my every day riding. Once again, huge thank you to Burkwood Farm for hosting the Northwest Equestrian Expo this weekend. I look forward to attending this event again in the future. I’d also like to thank KC Cordell for making this weekend possible!

Bernie Traurig Clinic 2020

After attending the Bernie Traurig clinic in November at Farpoint Farm, I was eager to sign up for another session with Bernie in February. Once again hosted by Farpoint Farm, Wesley and I attended the three-day clinic in the 1.15+ jumpers section. Although I compete in the equitation, I have aspirations of competing in the bigger jumpers and more education on any aspect of my riding improves how I ride and how I think while on course.

Additionally to riding with Bernie, he was kind enough to agree to meet with me on Friday during the lunch break to discuss some questions I have about pursuing my professional career. I may as well take advantage of the knowledge of someone who has been in the industry for his whole lifetime. He was very insightful when it came to answering my questions about how to manage the financial side of becoming professional as well as what the best educational path would be to become the most well-rounded professional I can be.

As for the riding part of the clinic, Wesley was fantastic and jumped better and better throughout the weekend. I particularly enjoyed how Bernie had us play mock horse show on Sunday and let us think for ourselves in the warming up process of schooling jumps before the course. Furthermore, Bernie let me walk the course with him and walked me through step by step how he walks courses and how his method is simple and timely in the event of having a quick course walk. Historically, I’ve been confused while walking the course even in the equitation and his method really made sense to me and I’m excited to use it this season.

Once again, on Saturday night there was a Q&A hosted by Denise Youll. We discussed many topics including my question about how to manage finances as a professional. Many people had input on this topic and it eventually led to discussions on how the sport has gotten more financially difficult for the typical equestrian as well as discussions on the Thoroughbred horse and how we can make the sport more financially doable.

Overall, I’d like to thank Denise Youll once again for hosting Bernie Traurig as well as her assistant Sophie Geantz for making this weekend possible. As well as thank you to Bernie Traurig for coming out to rainy Washingon this weekend and for being kind enough to lend me his time and meeting with me on Friday. I’m looking forward to Bernie coming to Thumbs Up Farm December 4-6 and being in his clinic once again!!