Ep 70: Preparing Your Horse for More Speed
Training is not about controlling a horse’s physical movement. It is all about developing the brain that controls these body movements.
Why? Because a horse’s body movement is a reflection of where their mind is at.
Horses are wired with a “flight” instinct, which causes them to react in high-pressure situations. In the performance horse industry, we put our horses in high-pressure situations every time we ask them for more speed.
A horse’s speed is its defense mechanism. Speed is what helps that animal escape from danger. When we ask for speed, we are asking that horse to trigger its “flight” instinct inside the brain. Essentially, we are asking it to be reactive.
This is where the horse’s foundation becomes increasingly important. A horse’s body movements naturally become more reactive as their speed increases. For this reason, we need to build a strong enough foundation so that the “thinking” side of the horse’s mind overtakes their reactive instincts when speed is added to the equation.
So, how do we help our horses stay in the “thinking” state of mind when we add speed? First, we start with our own mindset.
Oftentimes, we build up “going faster” as this big event in our minds… We do things at a walk and a trot, then, bam! We decide it’s time to go faster and just see what happens.
All this does is create an insecure, reactive animal. Instead, we have to prepare our horses to be ready for that speed increase.
At my training facility, we use the same fundamental exercises with every horse. However, the application of these fundamentals is different with almost every horse. This is where horsemanship comes in. We have to be well-versed enough to be able to recognize what that particular animal needs from us, and adjust our program accordingly.
Some horses take the speed increase in stride. Others, however, become more reactive. For those horses, subtle changes of leg and body pressure while loping a circle can help them recognize our feel and timing. Once they are comfortable with our feel and timing, they will be more confident in recognizing our cues to change speed or direction.
At the end of the day, the responsibility to develop a horse’s potential is up to us. During every ride, ask yourself:
“Am I putting this horse in the best position to be able to confidently take that next step?”
This episode was inspired by questions from our students in the Foundation to Finish and Foundation & Fundamentals online training programs.
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