Clinics are what we call our horse related educational field trips. They are great for the horse project kids but are especially great for the horseless horse kids. Sometimes the kids are able to get some cherished hands-on experience with the horses. I’ve tried to provide some great clinic ideas below!
Click here to visit an Icelandic Horse Farm
A great place to find clinic opportunities is on Facebook. Join local horse groups and watch for barns offering clinics. Many times they will invite the public. Some are free and some will have a small fee if they have to pay the presenter. You can also post an ISO ad stating that you’re looking for local clinics. Lots of people will send you their names or references.
Another great place to look is at your local tack shop. Usually they’ll have some sort of bulletin board where you can find either clinic opportunities that are available in the area or barns you can contact.
Local trainers will often times host clinics. Some were in 4-H when they were kids and have great memories. They will do clinics out of their desire to teach young people and give them the same great kind of memories. Some are just starting out and hosting clinics is a way for them to find new clients. Just be sure that it won’t be a sales pitch only clinic!
Places to Look Into For Some Great Clinic Ideas and Opportunities
We’ve had some exceptionally well planned clinics the last few years. As we do more, I will be posting our experiences and hopefully giving you some fresh clinic ideas!
To get you started, here’s a few places that will usually do clinics:
- Therapy horse facilities
- Tack Stores
- Large Animal Veterinarians
- 4-H project leaders’ special meetings (mock show, hippology)
- Specialty Breed Barns
- Horse Rescue Centers
- Feed Mills
- Local Horse Shows
- Regional Horse Fairs (Midwest Horse Fair, MN Horse Expo, and Road to the Horse)
One of our favorite field trips was to an Icelandic Horse facility. They have a few shows across the country each year and we’re lucky enough to live near one of the hosting sites. It’s a great event and everyone is friendly. People come from all over the world to attend. It’s not a huge event by any means but the participants are all very close.
