Hey Geoffrey. Nice to hear your horses are jolly! Hope the truck is making them smile even more.. :-)

Hi Geoffrey, I got rid of her this morning.
Good heavens - I didn't even check what she said, but quickly banned her when another member said he had gotten some unwanted attention.

Thanks I love him to death

Hi, Geoff!

Good to hear from you, and thanks so much for the support! The really unfortunate thing is that so often the message, which is just fine, gets lost due to the presentation by the messenger. I have no doubt that lots of what is being done is of value, and I just wish it could be presented in a more palatable and open-minded way.

Yes, let me know when it arrives, I have no idea how long this will take! cheers, Ann. do the costs make more sense to you now after my last e-mail?

Hello Geoffrey,'

I will be mailing out your info package from me today, it includes a DVD of the Stretches, and a case history, and a few brochures. You can use this to show the powers that be, or whoever you think would be interested in a tour etc., of clinics, workshops or a custom made package to suit the participants, cheers, Ann.

I think you just got confused between the daily rate and the per person rate, as it changes depending on what I am doing. Obviously I cannot teach 50 people in a day a riding lesson, so a riding clinic is charged differently to the full day Workshop/lecture series and is divided between how many people come, or you price it at say $100 per person for the day and then make sure you have 15 people signed up to pay the fee. And if more people sign up then they pay less, if you want to do it that way. I calculate how much to charge people by including the airfare, the food and travelling expenses for my trainer, and then I have a minimum number of participants I have to have in order for it to run - would that be easier for you? If you want I can phone you so I can explain it better, cheers, Ann.

HEllo, sorry about that! A clinic is limited to 6 riders, so this is for the riding side of things and is $350 for the weekend, including the 3 hour Friday night lecture, 2 private lessons and auditing. Auditors would pay by the day to watch and attend the lecture, as they are not riding. Usually I charge $20 per person for the lecture, and $20 a day for auditing so the cost for all 3 is $60 for the weekend per person, these are observers and are not there with a horse. Obviously we need 6 people to sign up at $350 per horse/rider combo to run one of these.

Lectures, or we can call them workshops - are not limited to numbers, so for those I charge $1500 a day flat rate, and the organizer decides how many people are to attend and how much to charge them, as we need a classroom setting and a TV/VCR/DVD player available. I give handouts for these, and you can also run a 2 day workshop with lecture on the first day, and a hands on riding lesson, or a body work session the second day, and for that it's $65 for a private lesson, or $100 for a massage session with written chart. Did I clear that up for you now? cheers, Ann.

Just a note, I could start with the Four F's if you want, as I do so many different types of topics, if you look at my website you will see the variety, so I can really custom make something for what you think your riders would be interested in. Also, the riding is a lot more subtle and a lot more detail, so it takes time to explain. I have completely re-written the way that I have ridden for the last 30 years, but I have no regrets, as the results are phenomenal, and it eliminates all the "attitude" problems out of the horses, as it calms them down. The riders really get a lot out of this, anyway, you decide as you know the people and what is going on, so it's really up to you what you think will spark people's interest. I think it will be enough if I just send you a copy of my Stretch DVD, a book and some case histories to show people, cheers, Ann.

Hello there,

Yes the clinics are more as the people get more personal attention. You pay more for the fact that you are getting private lessons, a 3 hour lecture, and the opportunity to watch all the other riders have lessons as well, so it's very concentrated. For the lectures, they run from 9 - 4 pm, with a lunch break, and a coffee break in the morning. I usually show a video of some sort to start out with, and the most popular ones are the Equine First aid ones, and the Intro to Equine Physiology, Anatomy and why incorrect movement destroys the horse's body. This one also has a component about the signs of pain and how injuries happen. I give a pretty large handout for the lectures, and if possible I like to show some horses move, and have peope learn to really look at the way they move to evaluate problems. Sometimes people want to bring a horse to have them evaluated, and I do some body work to show people what I do. When I do clinics a way from home, , I have done 2 day ones where one day is the lecture, and the following day is a riding lesson or a body work session. I charge $65 for a riding lesson and $100 for a bodywork session. Both are an hour long or more sometimes, as I don't really go by time, but by what the horse needs. The bodywork also involves a written evaluatin of what I have found and suggestions for both groundwork and work under saddle to help the horse overcome issues. Most people find this really useful. There again if we do a 2 day clinic in this tour, I can teach 8 people in a day and massage 6 horses, and that's the limit. It might be a good idea to add in a lecture the night before which people can sign up for, as a lead in to what we will be doing, give them a chance to ask questions, and there would be a separate charge for that , say $25 a person. The lecture is 3 hours long, and it will explain the Prinicples of Classical equitation, and the principles of the body work that I do. What do you think? cheers, Ann.

Hello Geoffrey,

Sorry - Clarify the International part? Didn't get that! I will get the DVD done asap on the Four f's, and send you a package, the other thing is that which airport would I fly into from here? So usually it is easier if the hosts do the costing as obviously you would have a better idea of that than me. I have no idea what those costs would be in Australia, so maybe we should try to put a tour together based on you organizing it, collecting the money from people, paying me, the expenses etc., When my coach Craig Stevens comes here I get a list of all expenses and then decide how many people it will take at what cost to pay it all, and I give him a cheque, pay the hotel and the food, and he does not have to worry about anything. That makes thing simple for the clinician, as especially with this distance, I would have no idea what to charge to cover the costs. It also depends what kind of clinics you want me to run, riding clinics. training clinics, First aid, or bodywork and the connection to injuries. For the riding ones, I only teach 6 - 8 people a day and their horses, and we can have spectators, who have to pay to watch. Here I charge $350 for the weekend which gives you 2 private lessons, and the Friday evening lecture which is 3 hours long, and auditing is included. However of course they are on my own farm and I have no cost. For the lecture type clinics, there is no limit to numbers, so the price can be less per person, and then I would charge a day rate of $1500, plus expenses - airfare, lodging and food paid. So the organizer would have to do what I do with travelling clinicians, figure out what the cost of their rate, plus airfare, food and other travel would be and then charge people enough to cover it all. I think this is the simplest way to go, as I say, I have no idea how to figure out hotel costs etc., in a country so far from home. Let me know your thoughts on this, cheers, Ann.

HEllo there,

I have been in contact with Angela, awaiting a reply. What I could do is send you a Promo Package with some case histories, a DVD of the interview - the Four F's - and a Stretch DVD, and a copy of my book, and you guys could show it/them at the May conference. Maybe have a video evening with clubs etc., and get the info and my name out there, and then that will build a solid reputation for me coming hopefully in November to so some stuff down there. I would be willing to pay my own airfare as long as somebody was organizing enough business for me to cover costs obviously and make some money! Then maybe I can stay at your place? I guess it depends where I would be teaching, anyway, lots of time for that, thanks for the interest, cheers, Ann.

Hello Geoffrey,

Sounds good to me, not sure how to do a video link but we can discuss that. Do you want me to contact this lady myself, or do you want to contact her and see if she is interested after she sees my website? I could mail you a Stretch DVD of mine so you can show it to people as a way of them getting to see me in person, and get a feel for what I do? Is your mailing address on your website? cheers, Ann. I could get a professional video done of the Four F's and send it to you on a DVD? Let me know what you think.

Hello Geoffrey,

I was looking at your website, looks like you have a great property, and a guest house. What kinds of clinics do you have in mind, and do the sponsors bring in people from all over for this conference in May? We have similar huge equine tradefairs here where they pay for the speakers to come from the sale of booths at the tradefair. What is the set up like there? Usually travelling clinicians like myself get their airfare and accomodations paid and a fee as well, depending on what kind of teaching I am doing, it can be a daily rate if the numbers are small, or an individual rate if the numbers are large. It really depends on what you want done, so let me know your thoughts on this, it will be May before you blink! cheers, Ann.

Hello there,

I would love to do that, maybe you should e-mail me on my private e-mail so we can sort out the details, and chat about what clinics you would like,also I can do a lecture which would involve more people. What is this conference - why don't you send me some info at the e-mail address on my website, and we might even have to phone each other to sort out the details, and give me a feel for what kind of groups and topics I can think about doing down there, cost etc., I am very good at sorting out problem horses, problems under saddle relating to physical issues, and because I teach Classical Equitation, they two are very connected, and I can give you and your studetns a whole new concept of balance, suppleness and relaxation for both the horse andn the rider. This can be used in any discipline, so usable for anybody. Talk to you soon, cheers, Ann.

she can she is the best she is still a little green considering she just turned 6 but she learns fast

Hey Geoffrey,

thanks for your comments, any time you want to organize for us to come to Australia and run clinics, I am up for it! Check out my website at Wit's end.com and we would love to come "down under" and run some of our workshops! Cheers mate, Ann.

hi thanks for that but he is not old he has only just turned 10 nd he cant be ridden at the moment as he can hardly walk so thats why im tryiing to fix it a little so he dosent have pain otherwise we have to put him down.

Thank you Geoff for understanding what I am trying to say about current riding. I really appreciate it.
By the way I am going to try and get M.C. Self's" Horsemastership" this month, since you recommended it in your comment on my blog about books. I decided that I should have read it long ago.