Masters Clinic — Day 1 “The Basics”

Day 1 of the Masters Clinic here at the Almosta Ranch in Scottsdale Arizona is over and what a great day it was.  We started the day at 6am by having breakfast with Al and Becky Dunning while Al filled us in what the plan for the day was.

After everybody got done with breakfast we all gathered in the arena to start the training (me armed with my camera) for the day.  Today the topic was “The Basics.”  For myself it was great getting to watch all the basic exercises again as we can NEVER have enough “basics.”  The session today was not only held by Al but also by his assistant trainers Jade Keller, who demonstrated “doubling your horse into the fence” and showed us how this drill can benefit you in every aspect of training, and Cody Lamont, who showed us all about the “strong arms” drill.   We all had the great honor of getting to meet and have lunch with the legend John Hoyt.   Not every day do you get to sit down and have lunch with an NRHA Hall of Fame member.  WOW is all I have on that honor.  After lunch everybody gathered in the barn to “play” in Al’s tack room.  (-;  Everybody here for the clinic got to pick a piece of equipment and Al shared the use of each.  To end the day we discussed conformation while looking at various horses in the barn.

Be sure to jump over to my profile on facebook to check out the photos as I will be posting a new album for every day.
Day 1 — “The Basics” (John Hoyt)
Day 2 — “Working Cow Horse” (Jim Paul)
Day 3 — “Reining” (Shadd Parkinson)
Day 4 — “Cutting”
Day 5 — “A little bit of everything”