#HORSE TRAINING
Thoroughbred Logic: Aboard a Dragon? Ride Into the Bend
Presented by Kentucky Performance Products. (more…)
The Lasting Influence of a Skilled Trainer
“Selecting the appropriate trainer is not a matter of choosing the most prominent name or the highest price point… You are not just paying for a set number of training rides. You are investing in your horse’s cognitive and emotional framework.”
Thoroughbred Logic, Presented by Kentucky Performance Products: When The Goal Is The Problem
This week’s Thoroughbred Logic explores why rigid goals can backfire in horse training — and how embracing flexibility often leads to happier horses, better partnerships, and a more fulfilling ride.
Thoroughbred Logic, Presented by Kentucky Performance Products: The “Survive-a-Ride”
“There’s no amount of reasoning with what is under you, because you can’t reason pain and fear and the eventual lack of self-perseveration that comes with it. But often, you can hunt down the cause, treat it and try again, this time with more data.”
Thoroughbred Logic, Presented by Kentucky Performance Products: Spooky Season Tricks
“I … have a couple of electric goobers who love the excuse of the crisp fall days and the start of the north wind to light up and let out. And as such, here are some basic tips to both manage the spooks and bucks and bolts.” (more…)
Breaking vs. Gentling: Spirit Lost vs. Spirit Shared
“A gentled horse isn’t afraid of making mistakes, because mistakes simply are part of the learning process. They’re not punished into silence, they’re guided into confidence.”
Teaching Emotional Control: Horses and Kids Aren’t That Different
Teaching emotional control — whether in horses or children — isn’t about avoiding stress altogether, but about helping them recover from it with confidence, calm, and trust. (more…)
Wild Rides: Bringing Along a Young, Incredibly Athletic Horse (and Why You Should Probably Stretch First)
Because bringing along a young, athletic horse isn’t just training — it’s an extreme sport disguised as character building. (more…)
Thoroughbred Logic, Presented by Kentucky Performance Products: Three Types of OTTBs You’ll Find at the Makeover
There are three types of OTTBs you’ll see a the Retired Racehorse Project’s Thoroughbred Makeover, and this year Aubrey brought one of each. (more…)
Thoroughbred Logic, Presented by Kentucky Performance Products: Track Tight
From tight muscles to swinging trots, this week’s article explores what it means when a horse comes off the track ‘track tight’—and how time, turnout, and care transform them into sport horses.
Triple Trouble: Routines With Horses
“As riders, trainers, and caretakers, our job isn’t to enforce our preferred style of management…We’re taught certain methods or we form habits that work well for one horse, and then we assume that same approach will work for every horse that comes into our barn. But horses will prove you wrong quickly.”
So You Think You’re a Colt Starter
Colt starting isn’t for the faint of heart — do you think you have what it takes? Before you go to start your young horse, see if you meet these five crucial qualifications. (more…)
Thoroughbred Logic, Presented by Kentucky Performance Products: Smart, Not Bombproof
“‘Bombproof’ is one of my least favorite terms to describe horses. I mean, when a bomb goes off, I’m going to either freeze or jump. I expect my horse to do the same. I do not want them to stand there and not realize or care that the world around them is changing rapidly.” (more…)
Thoroughbred Logic, Presented by Kentucky Performance Products: The Critical Art of Hoof Angles
“Instead of beginning one’s search for pain under where a horse palpates sore (their back or SI, for instance), I’d recommend first taking a good long look in the other direction — their feet.” (more…)
Improving Your Riding: Trusting Your Partner
“When trust is broken or never fully built, it becomes a barrier to progress. No matter how experienced you are, your cues won’t communicate to your horse the way you expect. You’ll start to overcompensate, using more leg, stronger bits, harsher training aids, and more assertive body language, but force can’t substitute for foundation.”
Thoroughbred Logic, Presented by Kentucky Performance Products: Accommodations
“A softer, more (literally) accommodating ride crafts openings for them to figure out the best placement for their hooves, best way of moving energy over their back. Such a ride channels flexibility to help build the strength and the confidence …” (more…)
Thoroughbred Logic, Presented by Kentucky Performance Products: Five Things To Bring From the Backside to the Barn
“Just a heads up, this isn’t a boarding barn.”
Thoroughbred Logic, Presented by Kentucky Performance Products: PPEs and PTSD
“…while these exams are often described in terms of ‘passing’ or ‘failing,’ there really is no such thing. It is all a subjective view of the particular vet of the particular horse on one particular day in time in relation to the needs and desires of the particular buyer.” (more…)
Thoroughbred Logic, Presented by Kentucky Performance Products: Suspended Disbelief
“It might take three steps or three laps around the ring, but there is a feeling that comes with it — a suspension of disbelief. You know they’ll get there (to whatever it is you’re asking), but it will take a moment for them to understand and try in the right direction.” (more…)
Thoroughbred Logic, Presented by Kentucky Performance Products: Three Ground Work Essentials
Today’s Thoroughbred Logic addresses three key ground work exercises: working on a loose lead, giving, and moving over. (more…)
Improving Your Riding: To Feel, You Need Body Awareness
If you don’t feel yourself, you surely won’t feel your horse. Skilled riders aren’t perfect. They’re present. They feel every shift in themselves first, which allows them to feel and respond to shifts in the horse.
Thoroughbred Logic, Presented by Kentucky Performance Products: You Know You Have an Eventer When…
“… it feels like trust — like if I give you a solid foundation and eventually point you at that big solid fence, are you going to try to get both of us safely to the other side?” (more…)
Improving Your Riding: Confusion May Come Out as Resistance
When confusion replaces clarity, the result looks like disobedience. However, a confused horse isn’t a bad horse, it’s a worried one.
