Ep 113: Getting Your Horse Comfortable at Faster Speeds
Each month, we host a Zoom call with the VIP students inside our Foundation to Finish online training program where trainers can share questions, talk about their challenges, and get training advice. In this month’s call, we had a core theme come up that I want to talk about in-depth today: getting your horse comfortable at faster speeds.
I would guess that many of you have had a horse that did everything great at a walk or trot. Then, when you applied more speed, that horse suddenly began to spook or have other reactive responses that weren’t there before.
If this is you, don’t worry. It’s a very common issue.
In situations like this, it is easy to assume that speed creates these reactive tendencies. But in reality, speed does not create these reactive tendencies–it only reveals them.
A horse has two mindsets: thinking and reacting. When a horse engages the ‘thinking’ side of its brain, reactive tendencies tend to diminish because the horse has a specific task to focus on. However, when a horse shifts into a reactive stand of mind, it goes into self-defense mode. The horse becomes hyper-aware of its surroundings, and it engages its natural animal tendencies in survival mode.
When a horse is in survival mode, it is nearly impossible to manipulate that animal physically. However, there are certain situations where reactive tendencies are necessary.
I believe that to get maximum effort out of a horse, we have to be able to channel those reactive tendencies that create speed. In speed events, for example, there will be occasions where you want to channel the horse’s reactive tendencies in order to reach maximum speed. The key to not letting this speed get out of hand is being able to establish a trigger that helps the horse toggle between the ‘thinking’ and ‘reacting’ side of its brain.
“Triggers” are certain occurrences or exercises that dictate which state of mind your horse is in. A trigger does not have to be a dramatic movement. A trigger could be something as subtle as taking a deeper seat in your saddle. Learn more about triggers in Episode 87.
One of my go-to exercises when working to establish a trigger is a One Rein Stop. The One Rein Stop in and of itself is not a trigger. It is an exercise that is used to create a trigger. It establishes the feel needed to help your horse engage the thinking side of its brain. It helps the horse recognize the signal before the signal. Learn more about the One Rein Stop in our Foundation to Finish online training program.
The bottom line is:
If we can learn to develop a horse mentally, we can unlock the maximum physical potential of that animal.
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