As a competitor, my confidence comes from knowing that I have my horse prepared. When I know that my horse is where it needs to be, I know that I have put myself in a position to use my horse’s strengths to make my job easier. On this episode, I'm sharing a few tips that will help you recognize ways to optimize your horse's performance for new set ups and continually reinforce a confidence-based training approach.

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. In this episode, I'm covering a few drills that can help you prepare your horse to handle a speed increase smoothly by maintaining a "thinking" state of mind.