who has gone to one and what did you think? i just went to one.

I'm curious too. I've been thinking about attending one.

I went recently as a spectator and really found it interesting. I saw great improvements in the riders and in the snappiness of the turns. I have since incorporated his ideas into my horses, but haven’t gotten to make a run yet. 

I have to say i was pretty disappointed in the clinic especially for $500 and really went in to it positive and wanted it to be Great! I did learn some good things from him and he is a really good guy. What i found was he only did one drill all day, so you got about 20 minutes with him in the morning and 20 minutes in the afternoon. The rest of the time you just sit on your horse watching him work with everyone else. i was on my horse from 8-6 except lunch and only rode about 40 minutes total. He doesn't go over any horseman ship, bits, tack, drills other than the one etc. I did like the time i spent one on one and like what he was teaching but i just felt like for $500 i would have gotten more and wouldn't be sitting around all day in the corner of the arena. i thinks he should just set a time slot for each person and they can come then and watch others if the want to. To me, way over priced. The only thing you get is a hat in a bag too. No sponsor samplet etc. 

I had a COMPLETELY 180* different experience than you did. So much so that I've gone to 2 of his clinics and loved both. Every person got however much time was needed. A girl I hauled with needed even more time so he asked her to stay and worked with her again after eveyone else had their 2nd go. I think maybe you went into it just kind of expecting something different than what it is he's trying to teach. We actually specifically asked about drills and he answered with what I expected to hear. That basic horsemanship drills off the pattern were going to be more beneficial than drills on the barrels. I actually switched bits for the 2nd half and he talked me through how the leverage was different and reitterated to me how to ride my horse in that specific bit as well. 

I will however say that his verbiage and what he's trying to teach was MUCH easier to grasp for the girls who had either ridden with a cowhorse trainer, or had ridden cowhorses in the past. The girls who had only ever run barrels seemed to have a harder time understanding what he was trying to coach them through, I think just because the way he words things was just super foreign. 

To each their own. Obviously everyone has a different style and what works for one person won't work for another. But if he came through even remotely close to my area again, I would 100% re-attend. 

I chose to do a private lesson with him and not a clinic so I really can't say how his clinics are. I will tell you riding with him was one of the BEST things I've ever done and I've ridden since I was two years old (34 now). It was worth every penny I spent. I would do it over again a thousand times. I have been struggling since I broke my arm on my mare for over two years. He helped me get my confidence back and for me gave me a practical plan that I could use every run, every arena and that helped me a ton. I personally like that he didn't want to change all my tack, bit, suggest I needed this person to work on my horse, etc. For me it wasn't about selling me anything, if was about me riding my mare right, getting my position right, and number one making it fun for me and my mare again which helped in me making nice clean runs. He is super nice, his wife is amazing too, and I totally disagree with the above, not being worth the money, although again I did a private lesson I had as much time as I needed. The website suggested a 90 minute session and I stayed almost 3 hours and he would've worked with me longer if I weren't satisified with my progress. I will go and do another lesson again now that I've made a few runs and have my confidence back, I want to tweak a few things and improve even more. 

I'm doing one in July, looking forward to it. He comes highly recommended in my area. Yeah it's a little pricey, especially for one day. I usually do a different clinic every other year and he's coming 20 miles from me, so I figured why not. I think even during the parts whre he's not working with you, you're still watching and learning just spectating. Other people there might be having different issues and by watching them and what he tells them, you're still gaining that knowledge for any future cases where you might be in the same predicament. And even specating someone else's drills you should still be able to ask questions about why he's having them do that, etc. A lot of people at clinics sit and only pay half attention to other people's time with the person. The people who get the most out of it stay involved even when it isn't their turn. And having the ability to freely video it is a huge bonus, I haven't been to one yet that would let me do that 

I audited one and well............I'm sure he is awesome but it was not a good clinic..........

Granted, he only has one “drill”. But if you break it down, that drill can fix the majority of the problems you’re going to have in the pattern on any horse. That drill accomplishes many things at once . 

One of the biggest values in clinics is getting to watch other participants work out their problems. The problems you see other people working on are problems you’ve probably had or that you’ll eventually have. Observing others solve problems giv s you plenty to put in your problem solving tool box.

ETA:

i haven’t seen the diagram before (posted above) but if you implement the nuggets of information it has you’ll get major improvements. Starting the turn too early is the cause of a large part of pattern problems, it affects the backside of the turn, causes horses to wad up and slow down  , causes rollbacks and hit barrels etc.

the pattern he teaches (pictured)  indirectly teaches shoulder control and proper positioning into and in the turns. It’s a Very uncomplicated,it’s a very efficient plan that works. 

That poster is a clinic in itself! 

Nellie Williams-Miller just shared that she had recently ridden with Ron, not sure if it was at a clinic or a private lesson but knowing Nellie I wouldn't be surprised that it was at a clinic. She gave him a lot of props for helping her figure out a few things here lately.