Getting some horse sense

Even though Chris Irwin has been coming to the Valley for five years now, the number of people attending his clinics does not appear to dissipate. This year, the Canadian-born horse trainer held another three-day clinic at Blackhall Mountain Ranch, where he was hosted by Jean Burger. While the majority of the attendees were women, a few men are in the audience as well. Some of them have taken the clinic before, but return to learn more from the trainer.

On the morning of Aug. 17, the attendance was in the lower double-digits and included a combination of locals and visitors.

For the first few...