Race Brain Training; It's Not Just For Racing!

I initially posted this to the RideCamp endurance riding list in 1999 or 2000, and rewrote it in May 2005 because three friends with fiery, spirited Arabs want to try it next time we ride together. Thanks to the many wonderful RideCamp folks who participated in the lively & interactive conversation that generated this essay!!

Disclaimer: Anything I write is subject to change if I get good feedback!! If you have problems or questions, please tell me. When I'm trying to paint pictures with words, I sometimes spatter paint all over!! You folks are my editors... errr - art critics!! ;^o

Lynette said it best...

Learn to ride with your horse, not against him.

My background is trail, a little western, dressage, and natural horsemanship (mainly Parelli). The first "horse show" I ever attended was the greatest horse show on earth - I saw The Spanish Riding School perform in Washington, DC in the early '60s. My aunt was a director with the Dept. of Agriculture who had worked to bring these magnificent performers to the US. We had special front row seats, right on the 50 yard line...

My response to all of those powerful, dancing, shimmering stallions? "Wow! "I want to ride like THAT!!!"

I still work towards riding effortlessly, for the pleasure of doing it. The effort happens - but it happens during strategic training sessions, and if it's done right, it can be enjoyed for years afterwards.

I didn't develop the following training strategy for preparing horses for competitive trail riding pressures... I'm simply trying to describe them. I learned these methods from several Natural Horsemanship trainers. If these exercises seem frustrating, I suggest working with a professional trainer who can help you with them... it's difficult to learn riding techniques from a written document!

How Much Hassle Is Training? TOP

Some people fight the same old battle for control ride after ride, year in and year out. My strategy is to pick the time and place for the battle, fight it once, win, and enjoy the fruits of the battle. In my mind, it isn't really a battle, but I watch people struggle with their horses every time they ride, every mile they ride... THAT is a battle! These same people often tell me that they are too lazy to take lessons. Or that their horse can't be trained... it's usually the rider who doesn't want to be trained.

The preparation required to get into the Race Brain Training phase may sound like work, but if you focus, you can get through it in a few hours. I learned most of this from a Parelli instructor, so, again, if you have trouble, lessons with a qualified Natural Horsemanship trainer will be helpful.

Whatever you do, please have fun with this! These exercises *will* make your riding safer and a lot more fun.

Who Can Benefit? TOP

Race Brain Training is good trail or group ride preparation for any hot or nervous horse, or for a horse unaccustomed to riding in a pack of competitive horses.

Environment TOP

The pre-work should be done in an arena or enclosure. The Race Brain Training needs to be done on trails during training rides with friends to simulate race situations.

With these very strategic and realistic training sessions, we recreate a race environment to trigger identical adrenaline releases and mental pressure in a controllable situation so that horses and riders learn how to cope with the chemicals and the pressure associated with competitive riding.

Preparation

Mental Preparation TOP

Horses are adrenaline addicts! They love to bicker and fight, love a good long dispute over how and when things happen. If you pick a fight with a horse, you're probably going to lose. As a matter of fact, if you pick a fight with a horse , you have lost. You lost control.

Horse play involves fighting, fleeing and bickering; if you fight with them, it becomes a challenge, a contest they are driven to engage in. If a fight escalates far enough, they become scared and try to flee, sabotage you by balking, spooking, poking, bolting or shutting down. If they aren't cooperating enthusiastically, we lose the fight.

So how do you train stubborn, hot, anxious or resistant horses effectively? By holding out the ultimate carrot - an adrenaline rush, by giving immediate - emphatic - releases to pressure when they give you a correct response, and by boring them into trying to do what you want so that they can move on to doing something they would rather be doing.

Tease them into playing wholeheartedly, and bore them when they misbehave.

Equipment TOP

I ride in a rope halter tied up in a rope hackamore, but this work can be done in a snaffle. I've been told that shanked bits can't be used for this lateral work, but if that's all you have, try it!

Reining Introduction

Bending Cue TOP

Bending-to-yeild is the foundation for this exercise. You can transition from a wild-horse gallop to a whoa and backup with a light rein aid once you can use a bending cue to stop or slow a horse.

A refined bending cue is called a half-halt in dressage because it asks the horse to pause and wait for direction. In Dressage, a half-halt often precedes a cue to continue on with more impulsion, control or extension, but it can also precede a change of lead or gait. It should be very subtle.

With a horse that understands the bending-to-yeild work, advanced speed work and chasing turn into an exhilarating way to play on horseback safely.

Sitting still, start by your asking your horse to relax its jaw and give to the bit, side pull or bosal as you ask softly and politely. To do this, take a feel on the rein with a very slight pressure, and as soon as the horse relaxes its jaw, release the rein completely to teach that you will release when the horse releases.

Until you get that release, quietly hold the rein and offer resistance without increasing or decreasing pressure. If your horse backs up, use light leg pressure to indicate that isn't what you want. Breathe! Smile... When the horse gives the release (it may be an accident), pat his neck, give verbal encouragement and let him have a second to think about it... he may smack his lips and sigh heavily. Don't rush through this! Wait!

When the horse has had a second, take up the rein and ask for another release with the same rein, repeating the process. I ask 3 times on each side, then repeat the same process on the other side.

Then I add a "push-button" to the bend cue. I repeat the above process with my rein very loose, and intentionally slide my hand slowly down the rein until I have contact, then I offer resistance. The sliding movement is meant to tell the horse that a bend cue is coming, it's like a different type of half-halt. Your horse may eventually yield as soon as he feels your hand move down the rein; in this case, drop the rein and enthusiastically praise him. Repeat 3 times on each side. Sliding your hand down the rein should always precede the bending cue.

The next step is to ask for the release at the walk, and then a trot. All we are asking for is a release, not anything dramatic.

Direct Rein & Bend-To-Slow TOP

The next step is to teach the horse about Perfect Circles. Start out at a walk, and ask the horse to release with a bending cue, then sit up, raise the hand giving the cue up and out to the side, directing the horse to walk in a circle in the direction you are pointing. As you do this, keep the opposite rein loose, and press the apposite leg against the horse, gentling encouraging him to start a circle. Continue circling until you get a good attempt, then drop the bending cue and ride straight as you praise the horse. Repeat this 3 times on each side.

Next step? Trot! If you're having fun, try the canter too, but don't bore your horse or drag this out too much! This is only foundation. Your horse has to slow down to make a nice, and by releasing him enthusiastically when he's made a nice circle, you reward his concentration and let him get back to something that's more fun - moving forward.

To make this fun, try riding at a trot along a rail, and ask the horse for a turn into the rail! As soon as he slows, drop the rain and praise him If you work with this, you'll soon have your horse slowing down if you begin to stroke your rein.

Work at a canter can start by dropping to a trot, then to a whoa. Make it exciting at an advanced level by dropping from a canter to a whoa on a light aid, and for three steps back, and then fly into a hand gallop or canter.

InDirect Rein & Bend-To-Whoa TOP

This is called a Disengaging Rein because it disengages the hindquarters. It's your emergency brakes.

Start out sitting quietly, run your hand down the rein, then ask the horse to bend his neck and face back towards you as if you were offering a carrot by bringing the bottom of your hand "IN" towards your waist. Your off side rein should be loose. If the horse moves his hindquarters, place your off side leg slightly on the horse behind the girth to block movement. You won't block the movement when you try it at a walk or trot. Repeat 3 times in each direction. Try it at a walk, letting the horse step his hindquarters to the side, turning on his forehand.

The Bend-To-Who a is done like the Indirect Rein, except that your hand comes in to "stab" your upper thigh (as if you had a knife), and you sit still until the horse stops moving. Try it sitting still first, then precede to a walk and trot.

Race Brian Training!

Pace TOP

I start "race-brain" training at an easy trot or jog. The process is the same, regardless of pace. Work with someone who wants to train with you and alternate positions. Having a horse move away puts a lot of pressure on many horses, so be careful to not ask for too much at once, but don't let it get boring either.

Get your horses into adrenaline mode, ask them to slow and maintain for a bit, then reward them by letting them catch up. Turn them loose with enthusiasm!

Steps TOP

- request a speed reduction with a bend-to-slow aid
- release the "slow down" aid as soon as the horse complies but ask the horse to maintain the new pace voluntarily while the other horse continues ahead by giving a bend aid each time the horse speeds up
- when you get an obedient response, ask him to catch up at a specific pace
- let the other rider drop back and pause
- increase the pressure by increasing the amount of time you hold back or the speed of the catch-up

As a horse becomes more responsive, I ask for more speed reduction and more distance between them and the departing horse. My goal is to go from a hard gallop to a full halt and stand on a feather-light, loopy rein - NO pulling or holding - while another horse races ahead around a turn. I have an ex-track horse that was so anxiously competitive that she was pulled from the track, and she was able to get good at this.

I condition horses to deal with the emotions and body chemistry they experience on a ride, even though I haven't been able to compete for years. I prepare them so that they don't get anxious and don't panic. It's mental training, mental conditioning. And it's **FUN**!!!

Reward! TOP

If I allow a horse to express a lot of enthusiasm going forward, their responses to my request to slow down and maintain are crisper; it becomes a game they enjoy.

The hardest part, for me, was learning to release them at the target pace and allow them to maintain that speed alone. Restraint begets resistance!!! My horse is my partner; I don't want him to resist me and
I don't want to restrain him. My rein aid is a request only. To get them to maintain the new pace, I anticipate when they will attempt to speed up, and "tap" them *before* they do it. With my horses, squeezing the rein lightly is all they need; it tells them I'm watching.

Anticipating a change in pace is a challenge. My horses check me out with their ears to see if I'm paying attention, then make their move. Doing this under racing conditions (while training) teaches horses to be responsive with adrenaline gushing through their system.

I don't pull on the reins. My job is to ask, their job is to respond voluntarily. There's a difference between "voluntarily" and "happily"!!! Many horses are very unhappy until you release them to race forward. Once they understand the game, the enjoy it too.

Sometimes the I let them catch up gradually, and other times I'll collect them on their haunches and send them into a leaping hand gallop -- Yiiiiihha - Fun!!!! We all love the whoa-to-gallop transition!

Some horses are tough. Some horses will oblige on a light rein in a halter, but aren't really compliant - they're mad!!! I've had 12 year old Gavilan, who I've had since he was a few months old, and I can ride with the lead rein tied up, my hands on his mane or my thighs, as I transition from a very hot, side by side, race gallop to a medium trot pace in two or three smooth strides. If I touch the rein, just lift it slightly, and give a light seat aid, he'll whoa in two more strides. Usually!!! Fresh out on the trail, he won't, but warmed up, he will. It takes practice, but the practice is fun that spices up a boring training ride.

The Science of Circling