Now don’t get me wrong, I am a social worker. I can appreciate a good clinic, workshop or conference when I see one. On another note, I am a car guy, we also like to learn new skills. So, when my wife informed me we were having a “bodywork” seminar, I was all over it. Saturday morning rolls around and they are setting up chairs in the arena, while an odd place to work on a car, at least there is a lot of space, and we are not doing paint, so I guess the dust wont bother us. But there is not a car, a welder, a sanding block or most of all ANY bondo anywhere in sight. When I mentioned this, I only got a quizzical look from the clinician, as they brought in a horse to look at.
This was not my first serious misunderstanding with these clinics. And I am not even talking about the individuals with accents that give some of these clinics. We have to bring them from other countries? What, the horses don’t speak English? No, I am talking about seemingly straightforward things, like massage; I am all in for that, they weren’t impressed when I took my clothes off and laid on a cot in the arena. How about gates, that cant be anything else; no one even showed up in the fields, once again they just rode horses around in the arena at seemingly random speeds.
So I have decided that if they want to have a truly useful clinic, and they insist on having horses involved, that I need to put it on. Let’s do the “teach the horse to stand to one side of the stall while I clean it” clinic. Or how about the “We are not going to chew on the door” clinic. Or, best of all, the “it is Sunday morning and I am going to let the people sleep in instead of kicking the side of my stall until they feed me” clinic. I am sure there is a professional out there somewhere who can help me with these, please?
This was not my first serious misunderstanding with these clinics. And I am not even talking about the individuals with accents that give some of these clinics. We have to bring them from other countries? What, the horses don’t speak English? No, I am talking about seemingly straightforward things, like massage; I am all in for that, they weren’t impressed when I took my clothes off and laid on a cot in the arena. How about gates, that cant be anything else; no one even showed up in the fields, once again they just rode horses around in the arena at seemingly random speeds.
So I have decided that if they want to have a truly useful clinic, and they insist on having horses involved, that I need to put it on. Let’s do the “teach the horse to stand to one side of the stall while I clean it” clinic. Or how about the “We are not going to chew on the door” clinic. Or, best of all, the “it is Sunday morning and I am going to let the people sleep in instead of kicking the side of my stall until they feed me” clinic. I am sure there is a professional out there somewhere who can help me with these, please?