AQHA L1 Championship WEST Blog: Behind the Scenes at Ride the Pattern Clinics with Ericka Schaefer
Trail Clinic
EC Blog
By: Ericka Schaefer
Saturday-
One of the many benefits of the AQHA Level 1 Championships are the daily Ride the Pattern clinics provided by AQHA Professional Horsemen. These informational sessions give competitors an opportunity to see the pattern ridden, break down every phase step by step, and have their questions answered.
On Friday evening, I attended the Ride the Pattern Trail clinic with Kellie Hinely, who was graciously assisted by Mike Weaver as demo rider. Since Trail is one of my favorite classes, I was incredibly excited to take in everything I could out of the session. One reason I love this event is because it allows riders a bit of creativity and the possibility of increasing their level of difficulty depending on their execution of each obstacle. Kellie emphasized this point to the crowd as she and Mike worked to show the different ways exhibitors could guide their horses through the pattern. While Trail does lend some creative license to the competitor, course designers may also set stride rules that test the horse and rider’s technique and precision. Kellie made sure to spend time reviewing these tricky spots as well.
Horsemanship Clinic
The Horsemanship Ride the Pattern clinic was held Saturday with Kelly McDowall, assisted by CJ Fisher. Kelly began his presentation by stressing an important rule to all in attendance – horse showing should be fun. For some riders, this is the most prestigious horse show of the year, and Horsemanship can be an especially intimidating class due to the perfection and finesse necessary to perform well. Kelly reminded the crowd to not “overcook” themselves when preparing for this event. I know that I’ve been guilty of frying myself mentally on a few occasions, so this was a great reminder. As with Kellie’s clinic, Kelly made sure to address the finer points of the pattern as well as the few areas that riders could make critical choices when showing their horses. Overall, the message over both nights was very similar – show off your team’s strengths and work to keep your weaknesses as clean as possible.
I personally want to thank Kellie Hinely, Mike Weaver, Kelly McDowall, CJ Fisher for their willingness to share this knowledge and expertise as well as Patti Carter and AQHA for hosting these amazing learning opportunities.
Sunday-
Hello human, are you here for feed me?
Overall, I’m incredibly pleased with each and every ride my mare gave me this week. Cookie and I have only been together since September, and the Championships mark our fourth show as a team. While we didn’t make the finals in our classes, due to “newbie pilot errors,” we did walk away achieving 16th place out of 31 in the L1 Amateur Trail and a pleasant score in the L1 Amateur Horsemanship. I also felt that we had our personal best ride in the L1 Amateur Western Pleasure, with a small stumble costing us a chance at the finals. Each of these classes gave us another opportunity to fine tune our skills in preparation for the next show.
