Dear Friends,
Spring is finally upon us here in the mountains of Colorado and we have been enjoying some lovely Colorado Bluebird days (in-between the snow and wind). Another ski season is in the books (and a record breaking one, at that!) and Rich and I have turned our attention to cleaning up the yard, planting more wild-flower seed and getting our horses ready for the summer competition season.
We are blessed to have a barn full of really nice versatility ranch horse performance geldings, a few for sale and a few that we plan to keep for a while. Next weekend Rich and I will be hauling all the geldings to a versatility clinic to have some fun and get some quality instruction on cattle work. Although most of my weekends this time of year are spent teaching clinics, it is fun and stimulating for me to periodically attend clinics myself to continue my own education and inspire my teaching.
My young stud colt, Gunner, is progressing well in his training and is pretty well broke. I don’t have any real big plans for him this summer, he still needs to do a lot of growing up, but even though he is only two, because he is a stud colt, it is important to keep him disciplined and in training so that he doesn’t get too big for his britches.
The horse fair season is winding to a close, and I am now on the road almost every weekend doing a clinic somewhere. Upcoming clinics for May and June include Woodland Hills CA, Easthampton MA, Fort Collins CO, Hartville OH, Attica NY, Oshkosh WI and Limerick ME. Please refer to my website clinic schedule for contact information on these clinics and I hope to see you at a clinic. Whether you ride or participate as a spectator, you are sure to have fun, meet some interesting people and learn lots about yourself and your horse.
The month of July will find me in Hawaii, soaking up some sun, ocean and sand and to do a couple clinics on Kauai and Oahu and to work on my book. Then it’s back home in August to film two more videos and hop back on the clinic train for clinics in Snohomish WA, Harpers Ferry IA, Colorado Springs CO and again in Oshkosh WI.
We’ll be working on my 07 clinic schedule in the next couple months and plan to have it finalized by the end of July. I am looking for some new clinic sites in different parts of the country, so if you are interested in hosting one of my clinics next year, we’d love to discuss the possibilities with you. Best of all, if we choose your location for a clinic, there is no cost to you and you’ll be guaranteed a spot in the clinic. We are looking for places near major metro areas, with facilities that can handle 15 riders and 100 spectators. If you think your place might fit the bill, please call my office for more information on hosting a Goodnight clinic in 07.
Every where I go, I receive lots of positive feedback on my Q&A column in this newsletter. It is great to know how much you all enjoy it and that keeps me motivated to spend the time each month writing answers. Unfortunately, it is not possible for me to answer all the questions that come my way, so I try to pick the most interesting ones and questions that will impact the most number of people. As the popularity of my Q&A column grows, some magazines are starting to run my column, so look for me in your favorite magazine (check out the next issue of Women & Horses for a Q&A on getting prepared for the riding season both mentally and physically).
Summer will be upon us soon and most of us will be spending every available moment out with the horses having fun in the dirt. Make a commitment this summer to use your head and think through every activity and make sure you keep yourself and those around you safe. Almost all horse accidents are preventable if we think ahead and are prepared for the worst case scenario. Once you’ve been around horses long enough, you’ll learn that horses have a huge capacity to make the worst case scenario a reality, so think ahead and be prepared!
Ride hard and ride safely!
Julie Goodnight
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