Amelia Newcomb Clinic

On Sunday, Amelia Newcomb is coming to the ranch for a one-day clinic. I am hosting on behalf of my California Dressage Society chapter, the Tehachapi Mountain Chapter of which I am the vice chairperson. Our CDS chapter is based in Tehachapi, a small mountain community to the east, but it also serves the entire county, including Bakersfield.

Her gelding, Harvey, with whom she just competed at the USEF Festival of Champions in Chicago

You might know Amelia through her YouTube channel which is the first place I look when I want to see how something should be ridden. One of my favorite videos of hers is How to Ride Third Level Test 3. Her YouTube channel is packed full of videos ranging from how to keep your stirrup in the canter to rider work out videos.

With COVID-19 still running amok here in the Golden State, we have found that trainers who are usually busy showing and training are suddenly more available than usual. Imagine my surprise when I reached out to Amelia just a few weeks ago and found out that she was available for a one-day clinic! During a normal season, she no doubt would have had her schedule jam packed for months. It also helps that she's less than two hours away which means she can drive here and head back home on the same day without needing to overnight in someone's home (mine) or a hotel. 

The ranch owner and I recently dismantled the dressage court and dragged it smooth, so neither of us wants to do it again before Sunday. Dragging is easy since Reggie does it, but rebuilding the court is rather tedious, and neither of us really has time to do it in the next two days. Even though I replaced the labels on my dressage letters over the summer, they were looking pretty sad this week, so that was the one job I made time for.

Ranch owner printed them for me on her super printer, and I trimmed them down to size.

The hardest part of redoing the letters is buying 12 bottles of water. It doesn't help when you can't count. Last week I paid for twelve bottles, but when I unloaded them into the garage, I realized that I had only bought ten. It was my mistake completely; I told the cashier I had twelve on the cart, but I obviously can only count to ten. I didn't care about the lost $1.50; I was more annoyed at myself for miscounting. Over the weekend, I had to go back to the store and buy two more.

The smaller bottles are for the clinic.

With packing tape in hand, I covered a few bottles at a time in between teaching, cooking dinner, and walking the dogs. By yesterday afternoon, all twelve bottles were ready to be loaded up and hauled out to the ranch on Saturday. I may not get the arena dragged, but I will straighten my rails/poles and replace all of the old letters.

If you're local and want to watch Amelia teach, reach out to me for directions. I'm the first rider to go at 8:15. Amelia will be teaching through the early afternoon, and auditors are free. Come join us!