I've just completed the 4-day Extended Foundation Clinic, and I would like to thank both Bob and Suzanne for giving me a much better understanding of how horses learn and what they respond to. Horses are amazingly willing animals if you can just take the time to learn how to get your messsage across. Bob proved this in the round pen demonstration, and time and time again with the different horses that attended the clinic. He surely knows what he is doing because he gets results! And the best part is that he does it with clear directions, patience, consistency, and encouragement, and it doesn't take a lot of time. I especially liked when he told the horse "thank you" and "good for you"!

Suzanne helped to show me that I'm sending cues to my horse all the time with my body movements, position, and even my state of mind. We may be sitting on their backs, but they know if we are tense or distracted, and they respond to things as subtle as which direction we're looking in. Although it looks easy, it takes a lot of practice to be aware of both your body movements and those of your horse!

It became clear to me that training the rider really has to come first, since most of the "problems" we experience are really our fault. Fortunately, Bob and Suzanne also know that we humans have different learning styles and require lots of patience, repetition and encouragement. We also need to see, hear and do things in order to retain them. I've come away from the clinic with a lot to work on, but it is comforting to know that we have such great resources in these two very fine clinicians. Bob and Suzanne, thanks also for maintaining your enthusiasm and keeping our spirits up in spite of 4 days of pretty nasty weather...I never dreamed April would get that cold and windy since March was so nice! It made it hard to focus on the lesson, especially on Monday, but I think everyone persevered really well. Just glad there wasn't a snowstorm too!

Thanks for being so easy to talk to.

Diane Shovlin
Parksville, New York

Bob, I love how well you have broken down the training of the horse into small enough pieces that really helped me understand. My communication with Blue has increased tremendously and this weekend after your clinic I was having much more success with sidepassing, turning on the forehand and haunches as well as backing up. Suzanne, you have wonderful observation skills and helped me adjust what I was doing to make it work better. I got a lot from your visualization exercises and the 4 sets of eyes has really improved my turns. You also helped a lot with getting Blue to gait. Thank ya'll again and I hope our paths cross again. Debbie and Blue.

Debbie Williams
Richmond, Virginia

Were you ever motivated by watching someone else's horses perform? From what I have seen how other horses react and/or perform, I became determined to have a horse that is calm, intelligent, and well behaved. Now lets not kid ourselves, no one is perfect. Not us or our horses. Time is the battle for all working moms, and there is no substitute for consistency. But if you wish for a training program that educates the rider and the horse, go for this. Having back yard horses that have had the safety and quiet of only knowing their barn buddies, riding ring, and very limited trail riding, this was a wonderful, controlled program, that works with the horse at the level both the horse and rider are at teaching how to get control over the parts of the horse. On the last day Knight outdid himself, and left calm, attentive, and secure. We would like to thank Bob Jeffreys and Suzanne Sheppard with their patience and program outline.

Carol J. Fitzpatrick
Accord, New York

Happy to report that horse trailers are apparently not equipped with memory erasers (as I had feared) and Boomer is being absolutely fab at home, everyone is very impressed with him (not to mention me). I seem to have gained a new respect overnight (or over week). We were out in the rain over the weekend and Boomer hardly gave any water crossing a second thought. I felt more confident with him on the trails and we really got to relax and enjoy ourselves.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! There are not enough thanks in the world to express the gratitude I have for you guys and all the help you have given us. We look forward to working with you some more.

Jennifer Nunno
Buchanan, New York

Bob is one of those people who really gets horses, and who has a gift for communicating with the horse, and with the person...his partner, Suzanne Sheppard was my first riding instructor when I got back into horses as an adult and she's fantastic...her Centered Riding training combined with her Tai Chi black belt, and her previous life as an elementary school teacher all contribute to giving her a marvelous patience and positive attitude that are contagious.

When I went to adopt my TWH, Major, three years ago...the very first thing I did was to make sure I could board him at Bob's, cause if I couldn't board him there, I wouldn't have gotten him...I knew that they'd provide the kind of support I needed.

After about 9 months working with him under Bob's watchful eye, doing a couple of clinics with Bob, some lessons with Suz, their support, help and guidance, a lot of hard work on my part putting into practice the things I learned at the clinic (a little over two years ago now), Bob looked at me and said, "He's not too much horse for you anymore, is he?"...It was a really great compliment from someone I greatly respect.

While I've worked very hard to learn as much as possible and I'm proud of what I've accomplished, if it hadn't been for the great positive foundation that I built by learning from Bob and Suzanne, I'd never be where I am today. They got me off on the right foot with the right attitude (when there's a problem, the first question I ask isn't "What's wrong with this horse?" but rather, "What did I do to cause that and how can I fix it for the horse?")...It's served me well over these years, and it's the attitude that I learned from watching, working with, and taking clinics from Bob and Suzanne.

I couldn't recommend them more highly...

Stan Dovskin
New Windsor, New York

Just wanted you two to know that I had a wonderful experience and major breakthrough from the information gleaned from your clinic taught at Hunter's Run Stables in Richmond, VA a couple of weeks ago. My lesson last week was very positive and I felt good about my newfound horse lingo and myself! I can tell that I have made a major breakthrough and am improving as time goes on. I enjoyed your delivery, (plainspoken and in layman's terms), your content (broad, yet minute enough to get all of the details) and your friendly natures. It 's obvious you both LOVE HORSES!

I look forward to seeing you both again in the fall - until then, Happy Trails!!!!!

Lestra Waldrop
Richmond, Virginia

I had a great time at the clinic and everyone was so helpful to me. I hope to do a foundation clinic this year. Kathy is feeling more confident with her own horse and mine too, she told me that she liked Bob and Suzanne's way of teaching, she had a good time, and learned a lot. I have also learned a lot appreciate the one-on-one format of the clinic.

Naomi DeWitt
Olivebridge, New York