From Karen:

I went up to Pomona to Equine Affaire this past Saturday and Sunday. I immersed myself in it and had such a good time! What a deal: only $15 per day and I got to hear many well known professionals and trainers. I just soaked it in. These were first class presentations, and it was so interesting to hear several in the two days, and notice their similarities and differences.

I saw John Lyons for the first time. What a nice guy, and nice to his horses, too. I saw GaWaNi Pony Boy. I got a good introduction to driving from Muffy Seaton. I learned the basics about barrel racing from Marlene McRae. I enjoyed finally seeing some Centered Riding demonstrations (something I'd wanted to do) from Susan Harris. Julie Goodnight gave some great presentations on natural aids. I got up to speed on saddle fitting and various bridles. I saw endless products; everything you can imagine, well presented. Even a type of horse I'd never heard of: the Gypsy Cob. I learned a LOT about jumping from Olympic medal winner Greg Best. Yet another example of round penning from Richard Shrake. And the best demonstration of a cow horse that I have ever seen from Ted Robinson. Very amazing.

This was probably about 20% of what was offered. I had to pick and choose and miss a lot of other things. Equifest really exceeded my expectations. Truly a real bargain.

I came away with a lot of new information that I have already begun to use from all of these fine people.

But I saved my favorite for last: as you know, I have a gaited horse. I was fortunate enough to see three presentations of Elizabeth Graves, who specializes in training all kinds of gaited horses. I was in heaven! First of all, she is VERY kind to horses. Now that I am training my own young Icelandic, when I watch these trainers I notice whether or not I would be willing to have them round pen her! Most of them I felt comfortable with this idea, but Ms. Graves would be my very first choice. I know that my horse would never feel confused, resentful or ridiculed by her. I would trust her!

There's more. She is a really good teacher. She explained some difficult concepts about gaited horses in a very understandable way with lots of examples. The information went in a lot of good directions and I came away with a much better overall picture of how to take good care of my gaited horse as she moves on through the years, so she is likely to be healthy and sound into her 30's.

She took a lot of areas that I was foggy in and made them simple. I am going to get her videos and enjoy those. She not only knows how to help horses gait well, she can get the owners to understand it, too. I am really looking forward to seeing her again, in a clinic or whatever.

Let me know if you have any questions about this year's Equine Affaire. I'm sure I'll go next year. I see it as a way to learn a lot FAST.

Best, Karen

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I had the opportunity to work w/Liz at her booth at EA this past weekend and see all of her clinics and talks. She was tremendously popular! We were swamped for a solid hour or more after each clinic.

Barb

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Dedicated to equine excellence, Liz Graves travels the world educating horses and (more importantly) people on working together peacefully and humanely. Her list of credentials boasts 20 years of experience as a multi-breed judge throughout the U.S. and Canada, certified instructor, life-long competitor, multi-published author and world-renowned clinician. For more details, check out www.LizGraves.com. One quick look and you'll have to book your reservations!

Julia

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I went to the Liz Grave clinic this weekend and it was awesome!! She does smaller clinics around the country at different barns and check out her website lizgraves.com to see if she's coming to a barn near you. I traveled 3 hours to see her and I would double that again because it was so helpful. I have a TWH who is a retired padded show horse. He is a great horse who knows his gaits and is surprisingly sound. Liz helped with conformation and keeping him sound for many years. The clinic was interesting also because there were 10 gaited horse of different conformations, breeds, tempermants, and riders. It was very helpful to go thru each horse and rider and evaluate riding technique, tack, and conformation vs. gaitability(if this is a word) of the horse.

On top of all the info, Liz is a rare, sincere, and compassionate person who will make you want to cry and smile at the same time. Her understanding and love for the horse is incredible. She walks into the arena and every single horse she touches visibly relaxes in that instant. It's really incredible!!

Because of this clinic, I will have a happy, sound horse for 10+ additional years...did I mention he was padded for 12 of his 14 years!?! This was before I bought him of course.

Maggie

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I took my Foxtrotter to a Liz Graves clinic last weekend in Pennsylvania.

OMYGOSH! It was awesome! I knew what a RW was and the dreaded pace; but I didn't really understand the rack and knew even less about the foxtrot. The best thing was that Liz explained them all so clearly.

It was also great how she showed us what to look for in conformation and how that affected the gaits. And she was so focused on each horse, it's specific needs, problems, and strong points.

I learned more in those two days than I have at any other horse clinic, expo, etc. OF course, this was the first time I ever brought a horse to anything like that. But even my husband was impressed. We learned things that will apply to our TWH yearling mare and my Racking Horse.

I was going to try to sell my Foxtrotter if I couldn't get those smooth gaits from him. He's a great horse, but my back can't tolerate jarring motion. Now I know what to do and how to make it most comfortable for him too. It's great! Thanks to Liz and to the lady to put the time and effort into organizing the event.

If you ever get the chance to go to one of her clinics, you should do it.

Marie Snoreck

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The hubby and I just got back from the Liz Graves clinic in Klamath Falls and I must say we sure had a good time. There were Paso Finos, Morgan, Walker, Racking Horse, Icelandic, Foxtrotters and perhaps others I forgot. It was a most enjoyable couple of days with a nice group of mellow people who appeared to be careful & thoughtful horsemen (mostly women actually). This was only the third time the hubby rode his Foxtrotter in public and he was pretty nervous the first day. I'm glad Liz was patient with them. By the way, why don't more people drive their gaited horses?? It's a blast and I saw a lot of potential carriage horses there. I would have loved to hook up that Icelandic! Anyhow, it was a great time and we both learned a lot and met some really nice people.

Gale

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Just have to take the time to rave about the clinics that Liz Graves presented at the Equine Affaire in SoCalif. Her total delight in NOT being in -0 degrees was a humerous start to her lecture. It only got better.

The information was wonderful, her enthusiasm for her subject was easy to read.

Then came the riders in her next 3 clinics...she was gracious, kind and really tuned in to both horses and riders. She seemed to give about 10 compliments to each of her slight criticisms, never making the rider feel bad or self conscious...at least any more so than riding in front of a couple of hundred people would make you...I learned so much, from saddles to saddle fit, from bits and the uses to the use of lavender to calm horse and rider...I now have my very own litle bottle of lavender to carry around with me, my horses love it, bio mechanics for fasinating.

Liz Graves was also kind enough to invite gaited horse owners to meet after the close for the day at the Sheraton hotel right behind the fair grounds. She was just as kind and gracious on a 1 to 1 basis as she was presenting her information.

I own 3 MFT, I also use the Parelli training method, when I mentioned this, Liz told us about a person who rode in one of her clinics with two carrot sticks...so wonderful to find a trainer with such an open mind.

I will be attending her two clinics here in Northern Calif. I'm sorry to have gone on and on, but rest assured I could still add more...Thanks so much for reading this,

Gail F.

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What I like about Liz most of all, is that she is sincere, is very much into education and learning more than she knows today, and truly considers the horse.

A quote: "I may have different advice five years from now as I continue to learn..." ~~Liz Graves

She is selfless in her work for the benefit of the horse.

Judy

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Here are other pages about clinic reports:

[] Liz Clinic 1

[] Liz Clinic 2

[] Liz Clinic Report by Renee

[] Liz Clinic Report by Renee 2

[] Liz Clinic Report by Paul

[] Liz Clinic Report

[] Poem about Liz Graves by Harold Miller

[] Liz Graves Gaited Horse Structure DVD

[] Liz Graves Gathering of Gaits Video

There are more clinic reports on the IceHorses and GaitedHorse email discussion lists:

[] http://groups.yahoo.com/group/icehorses

[] http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gaitedhorse

And Liz's clinic schedule can be seen here: http://lizgraves.com/clinics.html. They fill up fast! If you can't ride, please make time to audit the clinic. To get more out of the clinic situation, you may want to review her videos ahead of time.