Ep 185: Application is Everything
Coming off of Mother's Day weekend, I wanted to dedicate the first part of this episode to all the moms out there who listen to this podcast. I know we have a lot of moms that listen to this podcast who are trying to do it all – keep a household, raise their kids, pursue a career, and progress their horsemanship. For those of you listening who may be overwhelmed by your challenges in the horse training world, remember that the most important job title you will ever have is “mom.” The lessons you teach and the memories you create will always be your most important contribution.
The moms I have in my life are some of the most incredible and inspirational people I know–my own mother, and my wife, my sisters and my friends who are moms themselves. For those of you who have listened to this podcast for a while, you’ve heard me talk about “separators” in horse training – those factors that take you from one level to the next. To me, moms are the separator. The contributions that they make are second to none, and in my mind, every mom out there deserves a gold buckle. They are the key to helping us apply the systems that are going to propel us toward success.
When it comes to horse training, application is everything. You can have all the knowledge in the world, but if you don’t apply it in the correct way, you will not see the results you are looking for.
A horse training program is a lot like a business franchise. A franchise is simply a proven system for success. Depending on how they are managed, one franchise will thrive and another one will fail due to poor application of the system. The same is true for horse training.
You can be implementing an exercise or asking your horse for a response in one way and the benefits will be tremendous, yet you can ask for that same response in another way, and you will be wasting your time. You have to train your horse like you’d show up to run a business. There needs to be a certain aspect of intentionality and organization behind your actions. You have to be well rounded in your application of these foundational principles.
Speed is one of those areas of application that I think often gets overlooked. You not only have to apply things at slower speeds to build your horse’s confidence, but you also have to challenge them to apply those same fundamentals at faster speeds so that they can develop confidence at that level, too.
You have to ask in a way that signals to the horse, “this is the response I’m asking for.” This is “feel.” If you don’t have that feel established at slower speeds, you’re not going to have it at faster speeds. At slower speeds, you can apply these maneuvers with little to no resistance. At faster speeds, the pace of the application becomes more intense, and it requires a different level of communication between you and your horse. Stopping, turning and changing directions is easy if you have the systems and signals in place to let your horse know that you are getting ready to stop, turn or change directions.
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