Developing a Training Plan for your Performance Horse - PART 1
Planning your performance horse's training is an essential part of developing a balanced, coordinated, confident, and willing equine athlete.
A successful training program should not simply focus on teaching individual manoeuvres or preparing for competition. It should develop the horse's mental and physical abilities progressively, allowing each stage of education to contribute to the next.
One of the biggest mistakes in performance training is concentrating too much on the manoeuvre we want the horse to perform without first considering the physical and mental preparation required to accomplish it.
Before asking a horse to perform a balanced sliding stop, lead change, side pass, or collected movement, we must develop the flexibility, coordination, forward motion, concentration, and understanding that allow the horse to perform these movements appropriately.
In this episode, I share how I approach planning a performance horse's weekly training, why completing each level of Foundation education is important, and how organizing exercises throughout the week can contribute to the horse's development.
20 Benefits of Having a Structured Training Plan
1. Establishes Clear Training Goals
A training plan helps the horseman identify what they want to accomplish and establish a clear direction for the horse's education. Every exercise should have a purpose.
2. Develops a Progressive Learning Process
Each new skill should build upon previously established abilities. Completing the different levels of the Foundation Program helps establish the understanding necessary before advancing into more complicated performance exercises.
3. Develops Muscle Memory
Consistent exercises, appropriate repetitions, and proper timing help the horse become familiar with specific movements and responses. The objective is to develop a reliable understanding of the exercise rather than simply repeating movements mechanically.
4. Improves Physical Flexibility
A structured plan creates opportunities to progressively develop flexibility through the horse's neck, shoulders, rib cage, and hindquarters. These areas contribute to the horse's ability to coordinate its body during athletic movements.
5. Develops Balance and Coordination
Different exercises help the horse learn to coordinate its body and distribute its weight more effectively. This is particularly important when developing lope work, transitions, collection, and performance manoeuvres.
6. Improves Forward Motion
Consistent forward motion is an important part of developing an athletic horse. Training exercises should help the horse understand how to maintain forward movement with confidence, concentration, and consistency.
7. Develops Collection
Collection should be developed progressively through the horse's understanding, flexibility, balance, and coordination. It cannot simply be created by asking the horse to assume a particular body position.
8. Improves Responsiveness to Communication
A planned program allows the horseman to develop clearer communication through the hands, reins, legs, seat, body position, and energy.
9. Develops Mental Concentration
The horse learns to maintain attention and recognize the communication being presented. Mental concentration is just as important as physical preparation.
10. Builds Confidence
Introducing exercises progressively allows the horse to become familiar with new movements and expectations. Confidence develops when the horse has an opportunity to understand what is being asked.
11. Develops Relaxation
Relaxation must be an important part of every training session. Giving the horse opportunities to relax and process what it has learned is essential to a thoughtful educational process.
12. Prevents Training Gaps
Following a structured plan helps identify missing foundation skills before advancing into more complicated exercises. It is important to complete each stage of education rather than skipping steps.
13. Improves Consistency
A repeatable approach to daily exercises allows the horseman to recognize progress, identify difficulties, and determine what requires further development.
14. Develops Athletic Ability
The horse's mental and physical abilities must be prepared for the demands of its chosen performance discipline. Flexibility, forward motion, balance, and coordination all contribute to athletic development.
15. Reduces Unnecessary Repetition
Every exercise should have an educational objective. Repeating movements without understanding what we are trying to accomplish can result in unnecessary work without meaningful progress.
16. Identifies Weaknesses Early
A structured program helps the horseman recognize stiffness, imbalance, coordination difficulties, and misunderstandings before advancing to more demanding exercises.
17. Improves Recovery and Rest
Planning makes it easier to incorporate appropriate rest periods and adjust workloads according to the horse's physical and mental condition.
18. Develops the Horseman's Skills
Training is also an educational process for the horseman. We must improve our timing, recognize body language, understand the horse's responses, and learn when an exercise needs to be repeated or changed.
19. Creates Measurable Progress
A training plan makes it easier to evaluate what the horse has learned, what needs improvement, and when it is appropriate to introduce the next stage.
20. Prepares the Horse for Competition
A well-developed foundation prepares the horse to perform individual manoeuvres with greater balance, coordination, confidence, and consistency.
Planning Your Weekly Training
One of the subjects I discuss in this episode is how I divide my training throughout the week.
Rather than concentrating on every area of the horse's physical development during every session, I organize exercises into specific training objectives.
For example:
Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday – Developing Flexibility
The first three days concentrate on developing flexibility through the neck muscles, shoulders, and rib cage.
This includes exercises designed to improve the horse's understanding of communication through the reins, develop appropriate body responses, and progressively increase the horse's flexibility through proper timing and repetition.
As demonstrated in the video, the exercises should be introduced progressively. We must also recognize when the horse needs relaxation rather than continually increasing the demands of the exercise.
Thursday and Friday – Developing Flexibility in the Hindquarters
The next two days introduce different exercises concentrating on the horse's hindquarters.
Developing flexibility and coordination in this area contributes to the horse's ability to organize its body during forward movement, transitions, collection, and performance manoeuvres.
Dividing the week into these two portions gives the horseman a clearer training strategy and provides direction for each session.
The exercises should always be adjusted according to the individual horse's understanding, physical condition, and progress.
The Importance of Completing Each Foundation Level
Before expecting a horse to become a successful performance athlete, we must recognize the importance of completing its Foundation education.
The Foundation Program develops the communication and understanding necessary for more advanced training.
This includes:
Understanding the horse's mental abilities.
Developing communication through body language.
Establishing consistent forward motion.
Developing confidence and concentration.
Introducing bridle communication.
Developing the horse's ability to respond to the horseman's instructions.
These skills become the building blocks for performance training.
Skipping important stages of education can create gaps in the horse's understanding, making more complicated exercises unnecessarily difficult.
Flexibility, Timing, Repetition, and Muscle Memory
Throughout this episode, I demonstrate flexibility exercises involving the horse's neck muscles and explain the importance of proper timing when introducing and developing these movements.
I also discuss the influence of François Baucher on the development of my methodology and how his historical work concerning the horse's flexibility influenced my own studies and approach.
One important subject is whether causing pain can develop muscle memory.
My philosophy is that we must distinguish between teaching a horse to understand an exercise and simply obtaining a physical response. Pain is not a substitute for education. The objective should be to develop the horse's physical abilities while maintaining its confidence and willingness to participate.
The quality of an exercise is not determined by how many times we repeat it, but by how effectively we communicate what we want the horse to understand.
Forward Motion, Balance, and Coordination
Another important part of the training plan is developing consistent forward motion.
In this episode, I demonstrate different forward motion patterns and explain how we can develop the horse's mental ability to maintain consistent movement while incorporating periods of relaxation.
We also look at exercises at the lope, where balance and coordination become increasingly important.
A horse must learn to coordinate its body while maintaining forward movement. These abilities contribute to the development of more advanced performance skills.
Confidence and positive energy are also important considerations. The horseman must understand how their own energy, body position, and communication influence the horse's responses.
The Secret of Training: Relaxation
One of the most important subjects discussed in this episode is relaxation.
We often concentrate so much on the exercises we want to accomplish that we forget to recognize the importance of allowing the horse to relax.
Relaxation gives the horse an opportunity to process the exercise and become comfortable with what it has learned.
I also demonstrate how breathing exercises can help the horseman manage their own energy and communicate more effectively.
Remember, we are not only educating the horse. We are educating ourselves to become better horsemen.
The RK Performance Horsemanship Philosophy
A training plan should be more than a calendar of exercises. It should be an educational process designed around the individual horse.
At RK Performance Horsemanship, we emphasize developing the horse's mental and physical abilities through proper timing, repetition, muscle memory, and relaxation.
A performance horse cannot be expected to execute advanced manoeuvres simply because we introduce them. We must first develop the understanding and physical abilities that allow the horse to perform these movements appropriately.
The horseman's responsibility is to recognize what the horse understands, identify what needs further development, and plan the next stage of education accordingly.
Continue the Conversation
If something you watched or read in True Grit Conversations makes you look at your horse a little differently, then the conversation has already served its purpose.
I invite you to continue learning with us through True Grit Conversations and True Grit Academy.
Keep learning. Keep listening. Keep building the partnership.
Russ Krachun
True Grit Academy
RK Performance Horsemanship
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