Cavvietta Quarter Horse & Cattle Company has some fantastic clinics always lined up, and when I heard that they were hosting a 4-day clinic with Jeff Sanders, I had to sign up. This clinic had two full days of horsemanship work, a day of garrocha work, and a day of cattle work on day four, where we got to put all the pieces together.

This clinic was also back in August of 2025. I know, I’m a little slow to the draw on this one. Enjoy while I reminisce and convince you why you need to, at the very least, audit one of Jeff’s clinics one day, and find a clinic at Cavvietta to participate in.

The Clinic

This particular clinic was several days of intense learning, intense exercise, and creating new biomechanical connections with each horse. I feel like I didn’t have enough room in my brain by the fourth day to even put together a full sentence, but the coolest part was that Jeff focused a lot on how our bodies as riders influence the horse’s body and its ability to perform maneuvers.

As an occupational therapist who does fascial release and mobility work on humans, I had so many “aha” moments I filed away in my mind. I was also excited to learn that this isn’t a new concept – old Vaqueros from generations back, all the way backto the war horse days, knew about these principles and how they create longevity, suppleness, and strength in the horse over time.

Who’s Jeff Sanders?

Jeff Sanders is a main character in his own right, and I didn’t know what to expect when this clinic started. From what I’ve gathered through candid conversation, Jeff has an almost military directness when he delivers his information. As a person, he has the most insane hobbies, including Jiu-Jitsu and war-horse reenactments. But strangely enough, it all ties in together with classical riding principles and practical Vaquero horsemanship.

Clinic Adventures

Something I loved about this clinic is that each day built on the previous day’s skills. These days blurred together a combination of truly classical vaquero horsemanship principles, lots of philosophical discussions at lunch, and learning the “why’s” behind everything we did, and practical application of those skills at the very end.

Day One

The first day on horseback was like opening the floodgates. We were taught specific maneuvers that focused on moving different parts of the horse, with an understanding of how the horse actually moves that way biomechanically. We worked on shoulders-in, haunches-in, setting up for a half pass, and finding the feel of those movements so that we could get out of the horse’s way.

Today’s lunch discussion was particularly interesting. We talked about how tack fits, how bridle bits and hackamores, and even teeth, impact how our horse moves, operates, and how brace shows up in the horse’s body. This discussion really spanned over days one and two, but we could have talked for weeks on the matter and still only scratched the surface.

Day Two

Day two was advancing our maneuvers from day one, either in tempo or refinement. We added haunches-out and shoulder-out, and honestly, I still need to look at a cheat sheet to get those straight.

A major point to make here is that, with these maneuvers, there was a lot of emphasis on how hard the core, back, and hind-end muscles are working to properly engage. The focus wasn’t on collection, because hardly any of these horses were conditioned for true collection with these maneuvers. Jeff made it clear that he isn’t expecting any of these horses to frame up completely and that it takes months, if not years, to properly condition these muscle groups.

Day Three

Day three was garrocha work. Safety and history briefs were first, and then we used those same maneuvers to “pole dance” for the morning. It started to connect the dots on why we were working on those shoulder and haunch maneuvers from days one and two.

This was probably Cam’s favorite day because it included the principles of jousting. We practiced aiming at a target with our garrocha poles at various gaits and worked on moving our horse around the pole during turns for efficient, biomechanically correct work.

Day Four

Day four was cattle work. We played cat-and-mouse, discussed working in the herd, and used different parts of our horses to maneuver the cattle. It helped me be much more active and intentional in setting up different shots and in realizing how to help the horse, too. Sometimes horses get too antsy going forward into a herd. Jeff showed me how to get the same thing done by backing into the herd while keeping things quiet all around. Stockmanship was at its peak this day for everyone, I think.

Big Takeaways

There were too many takeaways to count for this clinic. After discussing with Cam, we narrowed down the list to these:

1. Balance is key. If you are out of balance, your horse can’t perform any maneuver correctly and in a way that prevents injury or breakdown. We want to preserve the horses’ bodies and minds and are focused on purposeful longevity. There’s also a balance between getting a job done and making sure your horse is sound and able to keep working in its twenties that I think a lot of us tend to forget at times.
2. Stop schooling your horse into the ground. 15 minutes of working on a shoulders-in exercise is exhausting for a young horse or a horse that has never done that before. New muscles are engaging and will get tired quickly. Work on these things a little bit each time you ride, and go do something else. If your horse isn’t able to physically do something, schooling it for hours isn’t going to make it better.
3. Know the why, especially from a biomechanical standpoint. The why behind everything you do with your horse. Why are you asking for the haunches, the shoulders, the front feet, the back feet? Understand the why and how it applies to real-world scenarios and how you and your horse move together.
4. Be kind to your horse. This is a concept that goes much deeper than giving pets and cookies. Be kind and intentional with how your equipment fits, be kind and courteous when putting your bit in their mouth, so that you don’t hit their teeth. Invest in their dental health so they are more comfortable working and packing you and their equipment. You don’t like wearing a shirt two sizes too small and a hat that’s too big; take the time to consider your horse’s conformation and comfort preferences when you can, within reason.
5. It takes the time it takes. So much of the equine industry is built on time tables, and futurities-that’s how professionals can stay afloat in the show pen. When returning to the roots of classical vaquero horsemanship, there’s an appreciation for time and an understanding that you can only rush it so much. Each horse is an individual, and one might master a certain maneuver in a week, while another might take a year to be able to half pass at a trot, and there’s no shame or failure in that.

More Adventures Await

2026 is brimming with clinics, riding goals, and roping competitions. I’m looking forward to pursuing at least a fraction of them, and posting my takeaways here for everyone.

Until next time.