Reconciliation Horsemanship

Just a heads up, the bulk of this post will be about Colton Woods and my perspective of his clinic at this event!

            Props to the marketing team for this event, I saw it advertised on Facebook and immediately started scrolling through the list of clinicians and seminars! The list of vendors looked pretty appealing too. Go check out their page on Facebook for next year’s event!

            For quite some time Colton Woods has been on my radar as a trainer who I might want to connect with and learn from for my own horses and horsemanship education. I’m always on the lookout for solid trainers to refer people to, to educate themselves with, learn from myself, and expand my knowledge. No I’m not a trainer groupie, singing the praises of every social media famous horse trainer. Isn’t the horse world cutthroat enough? I’m all about locking arms and supporting each other, “If I can’t I know someone who can” mentality, so we can all best work within our niches. So, how do I make the final call to see whether a trainer is worth my time and attention versus all the others? GO. SEE. THEM. IN. PERSON. You may be surprised.

Why? Story time! I learned this valuable lesson by going to a very well-known clinician’s clinic a few years ago in Shelbyville Ky. (note- this was not Colton Woods, this was a different, well known, and long-established horse trainer). I assumed I didn’t need to go for the purpose of checking him out in person, I’d spoken to many people over the years who learned from him or attended a clinic and spoke to his amazing abilities. I assumed he was just like I thought him to be from his books, social media posts, and decorated quotes. Someone may seem (or truly be) a good and wise horseman over certain platforms, but if they cannot teach or treat clinic attendees with grace and tact, I have no interest in learning from them, much less recommending their content to others. I was shocked to hear for myself how this clinician, who’s books I’ve read, been inspired by, and recommended, spoke in person to his attendees, treated the horses, and spoke about the horses. Everyone has their “off days”, and to each his own in the horse world, but as for me and my horses, in this place of my journey, I will be selective. I left that clinic awestruck. That day, I vowed to make it a point to go and SEE any horseman I came across and found to “seemingly” align with my training goals. Seems a bit common sense, but the amount of people who will go off word of mouth and a short video these days rather than seeing for themselves is overwhelming.

Now, back to Indiana and Colton Woods!

While I missed my opportunities to see Mr. Woods while he had a facility here in Kentucky, I jumped at the chance to see him in neighboring Indiana at the Indiana Equine Roundup! Its not often a clinician comes within a reasonable-to-me driving distance of 3.5 hours, so you bet I was going. Also, how can you not check out a horse event that has a massive western store attached to the arena??

The event in and of itself reminded me of a smaller version of the Midwest Horse Expo held in Madison WI. Tack and clothing vendors were present and spaced out, though a little sparce, with 2 indoor arenas to watch the equine events happening. Seating was openly available, and parking was straightforward once you knew where you were. The event staff were super friendly, and the local officer guiding traffic was very courteous.

I won’t post all the notes I took during Colton’s seminar, but he recently just posted on his YouTube Channel the video(s) from the seminar, so you can be the judge for yourself and your own training needs and goals. Check it out below!

https://youtu.be/RQaIJzpUzs8?si=Xc3CF_bTyruh8lWo

But hey let’s get to the point, would I recommend Colton Woods to fellow horsemen, or continue to keep an eye on his content? Was he worth the drive to go see? Yes and yes. Here’s why:

He was tactful, gracious with the event’s ground crew, those around him, and the young lady who’s horse he was helping. He spoke with authority without arrogance. His first concern was safety and the future of the horse, as shown by how he ensured the horse was prepared for what he was about to ask of her next. He explained why he did what he did, pointed out little things in the horse, to both his clinic student and auditors. He not only worked with the horse through her owner, but also worked with the horse himself, there wasn’t an imbalance, and you could tell he wanted to equip the owner just as much as educate the horse. He walked auditors through his processes as he worked, giving the short term ‘why’ and the long term ‘why’ of what he did.

The biggest thing I personally walked away with was an eye-opening way to use a very old fashioned ‘tactic’ I’d been taught years ago, but swore id never use again- until I saw him use it in a much better fashion. The horses will tell you how the trainer is doing, and the little mare he was working with had a lot to say! He didn’t degrade the mare he was working with, she wasn’t easy by any means, and none-to-thrilled to have someone other than her little human who had been training her now asking her to do things. But he did address and acknowledge some of her “personality traits” lol. There were some moments where I had questions, like what would have happened if things were done a bit differently in specific moments, but that’s on me for not staying after to ask him when he opened the floor to questions! I thought heavily about making the 3.5 hour drive back up the next day to see what he’d do for the first ride, but feeling exhausted, hungry, and tired won out as another long work week loomed ahead.

Final fun fact, this got respect points in my book (or blog rather! Lol). He doesn’t work with seminar/clinic horses behind the scenes, in advance, or between clinics. What you see is what he sees and is working with, raw and in the moment. This aspect especially makes him relatable to both everyday horsemen and professional trainers. If you don’t see the real, nitty gritty, in the moment responses from a horse and what’s done to address them, you’re going to see something different on your own soil and will have wasted your time at a clinic to learn, auditing or participating. Go forth and make your own conclusions for what you and your horse(s) need, in my experience, it was worth the drive!