Western dressage anyone? :)

Does anyone know this guy: Cowboy Dressage at Wolf Creek Ranch ?

He's giving a clinic in area and the cost is $500. IMHO (AND I may be wrong) lots of money as I do remember some clinics with the known dressage trainers and jumping trainers and those clinics were cheaper.

Since I can't judge (because of the lack of knowledge) I'm wondering is he indeed as good as the ad/website sounds?

P.S. They have (much much cheaper :) ) spots for auditors there...

I personally would not pay that for this person. Not even sure who he is. I skimmed the site and did not see a name. Might have missed it. I can go to a clinic with one of the top reining trainers in the world for less then that.

That's exactly my point. I went to 2 great clinics this year and they were like what? 2-3 times cheaper. That's why I'm so curious - YOU GOTTA BE SOMETHING to be that expensive, but I've never heard about him before. But again I don't know every great trainer/rider in US.

BTW, from email I got his name is Eitan Beth-Halachmy and he's "worlds premier horseman and internationally acclaimed" (heck knows what that mean).

Never heard of him. If he was that acclaimed his name would be at the very least familiar. As just about any horse person and I bet they have at the very least heard of Stacy Westfall and many others.

Now if that was a 3 day clinic with your horse and included stall and such that might not be too bad for for one day. Way too much.

From the video the horse/rider is not doing acceptable dressage or reining. It looks to be a mongralization of both disciplines and failing short in both.

Yes it LOOKS impressive but when you look closely there are multiple mistakes.

If anything it looks to be closer to what the bullfighters on horseback do, but again not nearly as sophisticated.

It doesn't look very impressive to me and I don't even know anything about dressage. But then again, I think probably a big part of it for me is that I just don't like the look of the vaquero headset. I really prefer a horse that is long and low, flat along the topline. Plus, that guy is way too in that horse's mouth for the spade bit he is likely riding in. Yuck.

I've heard of him before but I wouldn't pay that much to go to one of his clinics. He has a great handle on the horse but that doesn't impress me that much. He has found a niche that will attract the wanna be cowboys and the wanna be dressage riders. He very wisely chose a horse that was super flashy and fancy looking. He uses cool music and exciting movements to give the crowd a good show. I would go AUDIT the clinic because I'm a horse dork and I like to be around other horse dorks (hence my frequent posts here).

This made me giggle. Now I am picturing you and your horse in horn rim glasses with white tape and a pocket protector. LOL.

He must not be that good if we haven't heard of him. Like nrhareiner said, if you wanted a cheaper clinic with top reining trainers you could get one without breaking out of the budget.

Don't laugh you're one too!