Trail Obstacle Training Clinic
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Clinicians
Jeff Duren Jeff is the Trainer for the Hendersonville Police Mounted Patrol Unit. Jeff was born into a ranching family in Texas and was already sitting in the saddle before he could even walk! His formative years were spent doing ranch work where he learned from some of the best cowboys in Texas how to work hard and get the most from his equine partner. During college Jeff had a ‘side hustle’ starting colts to earn extra income. By his own admission, he actually enjoyed this experience and felt the education from on the job training was as valuable as his academic work in the classroom. His expertise in training Quarter Horses for ranch work led him eventually to the race track where he was able to train racing Thoroughbreds with his uncle. Jeff believes that one of life’s greatest blessings occurred when he was able to merge his 15 year career in law enforcement with his equestrian affinity in 2011. Jeff is a certified instructor by National Mounted Police Training and loves training service horses and officers for police work. Jeff has amassed countless hours of ongoing education thru local, regional and national clinics with instructors from some of the world’s finest mounted units. He continues to be fascinated by what he has learned from some outstanding horses during the past ten years. Jeff strongly believes that when a horse trusts his rider, the horse will do anything the rider asks. While he has hours of credentialing in the service horse world, Jeff still feels he learns the most from the horse , especially when he takes the time to listen. Ron Chlasta 
Ron has 14 years of experience riding and training his horses to work as service horses. He was introduced to the service horse world by fellow clinician Jeff Duren and the two have been riding and training together for over a decade. He is a certified trainer thru the County Mounty agency, an organization who oversees the training of horses for civic duty and search and rescue efforts. Ron rides as an auxiliary volunteer with the Hendersonville Mounted Police and his facility at R&M Stables is also a training venue for several different police departments throughout Middle Tennessee. In 2021 Ron and Jeff competed in the dual tandem obstacle challenge at the annual Mounted Police Colloquium held at the KHP in Lexington. They placed 7th in the nation in this division. Individually Ron took top honors in equitation, placed second in individual obstacle challenge, and 2nd overall rider combining equitation and obstacle scores. In addition, Ron and Sargent Kevin Hooper of Metro Nashville Parks department placed first in the unit division where they combine the top two individual obstacle scores from each unit to determine the national champion. A firm believer in making a connection with the horse through the use of obstacles, Ron introduced the concept of an open trail challenge by hosting the State Line Trail Obstacle Challenge in Westmoreland, TN and then partnering with Jeff Duren to provide the Mid-Tenn trail obstacle competition through ETS held as a fundraiser for Hendersonville’s mounted unit at the Hendersonville Mounted Police training facility
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