Judging and Seminars
Where It's All About The Horse!
Sandy Croote, Esperance, NY is currently carded judge in AMHR, ASPC/Modern, APSC/Classic, AMHA, WCMHR and POAC. She has had the honor to work with John & Josh Lyons and Tommie Turvey–top trainers in the industry.  Breaking, training and showing her own horses for over 20 years she has numerous World, National, Horse of the Year, Hall of Fame, and Futurity Champion titles.
Clinic/Seminar Schedule:

Driving clinic series:
$55/session with a horse or $200/all four sessions. Auditors welcome for $25/session.

Each session will be 2 hour long followed by an hour to work your horses in a supervised setting to gain pointers applicable to your horse. Each session will build on the previous one, but it is not necessary to come to all sessions to gain knowledge about driving. I found that trying to cover all the information in one day was overwhelming and am hoping that by breaking it down we will be able to cover the material in more depth and by the end of the month you will feel confident in working with and starting your horse. Also, by spreading it out over the month you will be able to take home what was learned in the session and apply it and bring back questions to the next session. Each participant will be given a homework/worksheet to help you stay organized and teach your horse each step.
Driving Clinic part 1       
Topics covered -Is my horse ready for harness? Steps to improve or get your horse ready. Ground work, lunging, and hands on fitting a horse to harness. Necessary equipment needed.  Britching, bits, back pads, strings and loops.  Types of driving styles will be shown, pleasure vs. country pleasure vs. western country pleasure demonstrations.  Broke driving horses will be available so each person learning to drive can learn what a finished horse feels like and can be evaluated on their style.  I find it’s hard to teach a finished product if you don’t know what the goal is. Harness fitting. Worksheet for home work provided at the end of each session.
Driving Clinic part 2     
We will be checking harness fit to horses that wasn’t ready or didn’t have harness’ the first week. Topics covered – Lunging with harness, Working with lines & ground driving. Best methods for starting a horse or pony, simple steering, stopping, beginning trot work (if/when ready).  Comfort level for the horse and how to troubleshoot it.  Worksheet for home work provided at the end of each session.
Driving Clinic part 3     
Hooking to cart & driving. Restrictions of the shafts, checking cart fit.  Ground driving with a cart, noise and sound orientation, getting in that first time. Stops, turns, walks, and first trot (when ready). Standing in a line-up. Worksheet for home work provided at the end of each session.
Driving Clinic part 4      
Teaching the more advanced work, fan turns and pivots, obstacles, backing, racing and fun games to be played, beginner horses may walk the courses as an orientation.
Conformation and Understanding Horse Sense – Discussion only - 2 hour class. Relaxed setting we will cover important information about conformation, how it works and what the judge is looking for when judging halter and performance classes. Have you ever had one judge pin you first, and the second judge pin you last – and wonder why?? Learn how to evaluate horses for the area you are interested in pursuing, i.e. halter and/or performance (what makes a good hunter, jumper, trail, driving horse).  Stressing on the positive, all are welcome to bring a photo of your horse to share with learning about conformation evaluation, also bring along performance photos for evaluation.   $15/adult, $8/youth 8-18, Free youth 7 & under.
Basic Handling Skills for Showing in Halter and Showmanship – 2 hour class.. Discussion and prop horses – no need to bring yours.  Spend the afternoon and start working on the basic skills needed for setting a horse up in halter classes and learning how to teach the horse the skills they will need for showing in halter. Understand the components of showing in halter and how to best present the horse. We will discuss and look at posing and conformation to give your horse the best look.  Stressing on the positive, all are welcome to bring a photo of your horse to share with learning about setting up your horses to their best ability. We’ll talk about stretching versus standing square, types of halters.  Time permitting we will begin discussion on fitting and conditioning, clipping and grooming, what it takes and how to best get it started and accomplished so you’ll be ready for next years show season show.   $15/adult, $8/youth 8-18, Free youth 7 & under.
All clinics may be subject to a late fee of $10/person if registration not received by appropriate date. For your convenience payment can be Paypal to dps@myexcel.com, personal checks and of course cash! The goal is to be informative and available. Please call if you have any questions, comments or concerns. Let me know if there is a topic that you are interested in but not seeing listed. We can either try to work it in one of the clinics if appropriate or design a clinic all unto itself if necessary. Arrangements may be made for one-on-one time throughout the week for clinic participants and their horses if training issues arise – call for pricing.   For more information please contact at dps@myexcel.com 518-875-6244