Whenever I post a notice about upcoming clinics I inevitably get a few enquiries asking if I teach clinics in location A or asking if I would travel to venue B. Sometimes the request is to hold a clinic in another country and sometimes it is somewhere closer to home.
I find this very flattering and appreciate people’s interest. I mean, who doesn’t want to be wanted and have their work in demand and appreciated? It’s only human.
I take my work very seriously despite the joking around I do at clinics. I especially take seriously my desire to help as many horses and people as possible. That’s why I travel so much and write so much. So when somebody asks me to come to their area I take it as a good sign that I am doing something right.
I am very open to travelling to teach in new places. I like the idea of presenting my way of horsemanship to people who want to know more. But for me to come to your location the number one thing that has to happen is that somebody or some group of people has to invite me.
I just don’t book a venue in a town and hope somebody turns up with a horse. Somebody with enthusiasm, organization skills and the ability to drum up interest among the locals has to invite me.
How it works is that somebody first has the idea that they’d like to attend one of my clinics. Usually, it is to ride or watch as a first step. I’ve had people travel 1000+kms and 2 or 3 days' drive to check me out. It always blows my mind when somebody travels so far and puts out such a huge effort to come to a clinic.
If they like what they see, they might approach me about the prospect of a clinic closer to them.
Sometimes people outside of Australia like the articles and videos they see and then write to me about the idea of a clinic in their country or state or town.
But the bottom line is that it always begins with somebody having the idea to invite me to teach a clinic. Then they contact me about what that entails and details like clinic format, costs, insurance, facility requirements, etc.
Laura Dickerson in Colfax, California really gets me, "Master of the Universe: a.k.a. Ross Jacobs"
If the person agrees they would like to try to host a clinic, we make interim dates and they set upon the task of promoting the event and gathering participants.
They organize a venue, calculate costs and charges. They obtain deposits, answer emails and phone calls, panic when there are last-minute cancellations (there are always last-minute cancellations), worry about the weather or if I am a vegetarian or have a deathly allergy to their barn cat. They call on friends and family to help out. They deal with daily emergencies. But they also rejoice at the great people and new friends who come along and who go out of their way to help and enjoy the clinic.
At the end of the clinic, time and again people express their appreciation of the hosts hard work and their enjoyment of the clinic and the learning that took place. The overriding question people ask is can they book in for the next clinic?
Hosting clinics is hard work and has its stressful moments. But either I know a lot of masochists or the rewards outweigh the costs because most of my clinics have been repeating business for several years.
I am more than willing to expand into new places and if you’d like me to do more travelling and you do less travelling, all it takes is an email to ask for information.