2008 Woodie Awards
Students rope in new horse skills
Nikki Hynek
Issue date: 4/26/07 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
The Iowa Equestrian Center and Kirkwood Community College's Horse Science Technology students recently welcomed one of the nation's leading horse trainers, Jeff Griffith, to host an intensive five day colt breaking, cow working and horsemanship clinic.
Griffith is an accomplished horseman, touting that he's trained some of the top ranked horses in the country, in all genres of the horse profession. Traveling from his hometown of Gallatin Gateway, Mont., he rolled in last Thursday with a herd of horses, used as demonstration for the clinic, a few ranch hands and most of all his lifetime of horse experience.
"I grew up with horses; my dad had a ranch in Montana, La Cense Ranch, which I still teach at today," shared Griffith on how he got started as a trainer 25 years ago. According to Griffith he does about 200-250 horse clinics a year, traveling throughout the U.S. teaching everyday horse lovers how to build a strong partnership with their young colts. Griffith explained that no matter what horse he's training, from thoroughbreds headed to the race track to the NYPD Remount Officer's horses, his most important lesson is building a solid base in all horses first.
Forty-one Kirkwood students and their horses participated in Griffith's clinic. Erin Dolan and her 2 year old quarter horse mare Vaquera attended Griffith's clinic in February and said, "My favorite thing about this clinic was that Jeff made a point to help each student individually, and he made sure that every student understood the training method before moving on to the next."
The clinic was "very beneficial" to her especially since training a colt is part of Dolan's final project for her major. Dolan said she has no immediate plans after she graduates but knows she definitely wants to do something with horses, possibly as an instructor.
Griffith is an accomplished horseman, touting that he's trained some of the top ranked horses in the country, in all genres of the horse profession. Traveling from his hometown of Gallatin Gateway, Mont., he rolled in last Thursday with a herd of horses, used as demonstration for the clinic, a few ranch hands and most of all his lifetime of horse experience.
"I grew up with horses; my dad had a ranch in Montana, La Cense Ranch, which I still teach at today," shared Griffith on how he got started as a trainer 25 years ago. According to Griffith he does about 200-250 horse clinics a year, traveling throughout the U.S. teaching everyday horse lovers how to build a strong partnership with their young colts. Griffith explained that no matter what horse he's training, from thoroughbreds headed to the race track to the NYPD Remount Officer's horses, his most important lesson is building a solid base in all horses first.
Forty-one Kirkwood students and their horses participated in Griffith's clinic. Erin Dolan and her 2 year old quarter horse mare Vaquera attended Griffith's clinic in February and said, "My favorite thing about this clinic was that Jeff made a point to help each student individually, and he made sure that every student understood the training method before moving on to the next."
The clinic was "very beneficial" to her especially since training a colt is part of Dolan's final project for her major. Dolan said she has no immediate plans after she graduates but knows she definitely wants to do something with horses, possibly as an instructor.
Be the first to comment on this story