For two years now 3 time world champion Western pleasure trainer Dave Dellin has come to the UK to give a clinic. Last year when I heard he was coming I made sure I was on every clinic, following him around the country to do so. This year I was without a horse, but I took a youngster for some ground work and spent three days as a spectator. It would be great if every person who has an interest in western riding could have been there. Trainers, competitors and judges could have had the opportunity to see what is required in today?s Western Pleasure arena. Dave is a brilliant horseman in the true sense of the word, who happens to excel and specialize in W Pleasure. He is happy and willing to share his methods for producing a great show horse capable of winning the world, yet will spend equal time and effort, encouraging and coaching a novice rider. We have all seen the ?natural horsemanship/whispering? travelling shows so popular in the last few years. This year, Dave showed us equally impressive ground handling skills which actually had a purpose and obvious part in his training program. As if that weren?t enough he is also a genuinely nice guy. For the second year, there wasn?t a person on the clinic who didn?t come away with an idea of how their horse can feel with the right training and a program of training to take with them. All the riders and horses made obvious and visible improvements.

I have spent over twenty years going to clinics and trying to continually raise the ?bar? with my riding and horses. In my opinion Dave is by far the best clinician I have seen. The fact that he is prepared to come over here is fantastic and an amazing opportunity for all of us who purport to wish to improve our riding skills. The venue for the clinic had great facilities including a very comfortable viewing gallery. All these things being considered it was a real shame that the spectators gallery wasn?t packed and every spectator seat taken. John and Lou of the Mendip Stud put on an extremely well organised yet friendly clinic, which added to the enjoyment. They should really be congratulated for bringing a trainer at the top of his game, to this country. How great to see people prepared to do this and give us the opportunity to raise our game, something which is so desperately needed, given the poor standard of pleasure in our shows. I really can?t believe that every trainer and amateur wasn?t there listening to every word, it could only help their performance and business.

There is a constant stream of complaints and petty bickering across the whole sport of western riding. One of the complaints most often levelled is that there aren?t enough clinics. Could it be that it is easier to gripe than put in the work to improve? There is so much we all need to learn and I for one want to continue to have these amazing opportunities to work with great trainers. So please, seize every opportunity when the major players of our sport come to these shores. If they are not supported they won?t come, and if the organisers of these tours can?t make them pay, then the only way we will be able to get this help is to travel to the States or to Europe. Even then I doubt you could get the access to the likes of Dave that we enjoy. More than that; just think of the enjoyment and sense of achievement that you can enjoy by having the skills to train your horse better.

I am delighted that Dave will be returning next year and I believe his clinics will be over weekends, so I hope many more will take the opportunity to learn from this great trainer.

Gill Parker

I am glad to read that you had such a great time at the Dave Dellin clinics at the Mendip Stud. I went with Carrie last year for 1 day to watch and found him to be very good. As soon as we heard he was coming this year I put Carrie's name down but unfortunately, owing to school work we could not go this year which was such a shame as Carrie really wanted to. I hope that he will be back again next year when hopefully we will be able to attend.

Rosie

David Dellin was just AWESOME !! we went for the second time and did the 2 day clinic. It gives you such a buzz when you stop - I wish I had booked for the whole week.

It is amazing to think that someone at the TOP of Western Pleasure can still help the 'little man' and make improvements for every horse owner. It is ashame that more trainers and western riders didn't come down and see such a wonderful display of horsemanship by such a great person. I have seen him also work with the Mendip Studs beautiful Pleasure stallion and it was just poetry in motion. There were some trainers there and I am sure any of those will only echo our comments on what a great session it was.

Congratulations indeed to John and Lou as they bend over backwards to encourage and improve western riders and their horses with a huge amount of clinics.

I can't wait until their shows this year !!

We also loved the DD clinic - it was quite a revelation for my OH, who finds it difficult to stay motivated through the long, wet winter we're having.

For my part, I has heard that DD is pretty black and white about what the horse should be doing, so I was a bit worried that our mare, who is a bit of a princess (!) would have a tantrum and she and the OH would find it all rather stressful.
Not a bit of it - when she started throwing her teddies out (kicking out, little rears and squealing being all part of the package when hard work is on the agenda!) DD said "Oh good, we're gonna have a rodeo" and immediately set to work helping my OH resolve the problem, offering lavish praise to horse and rider when they got it right.

Group sizes were just right (there were actually two other opinionated mares in OH's group, which made him feel better!) so everyone got individual attention without it being too full on or exhausting.

We both learned so much - me just watching and attempting to take photos/video and OH being persuaded to keep loping long after he would normally have collapsed into a gasping heap!

Huge thanks to John and Lou for organising the clinic and for their hospitality, and to Lisa for looking after us. We'll be back!

It sounds like a great clinic and I am hoping that whe he comes back next year he will do a clinic in the north. I'm new to western and looking forward to learning from people like DD, but with 4 horses, 2 cats a dog and a full time job that reqires me to travel, it's very difficultto get time off (and someone to cover the animals)to travel down south. Especially at this time of year.

No doubt others are in the same position, but I'm hopeful next year that I'll be able to benefit as much as you all seem to have done.