| Training thoroughbreds for the racetrack comes with | | | | and natural horsemanship methods to get their |
| very specific challenges - it's different from training | | | | youngsters ready for the track as quickly as possible. |
| regular riding horses, and to many people outside of | | | | The leadership training the horses get in the round pen |
| the industry it appears to be an assembly line | | | | is valuable when they need to follow a handler into the |
| producing a lot of wild and uncontrollable animals. In | | | | starting stalls, or if they have to adapt to new |
| reality, thoroughbreds are trained carefully - but quickly | | | | surroundings frequently. For many trainers, natural |
| - to do a specific job, and most of them do that job | | | | horsemanship training is the method of choice for |
| pretty well, whether or not they are fast. | | | | breaking their horses. |
| Remember that racing stables and studs have a lot of | | | | If you've just adopted a retired racehorse, think about |
| young horses to break in a very short time. And these | | | | natural horsemanship for re-training your horse. Much |
| horses don't have to know much - they need to | | | | of the groundwork has been done for you - your |
| accept a rider, go fast, and stop. Later, they'll need to | | | | horse will accept a saddle and bridle and a rider, and |
| know how to enter starting stalls, and respond in | | | | will be conditioned to move forward. Really, all you |
| different ways to a jockeys commands, but for most | | | | need to do now is add consistency, and control. |
| youngsters, they need to be broken just enough to | | | | For this, remember that the language a racehorse |
| start training. | | | | uses, and that it expects from you, is very similar to |
| Many training stables use natural horsemanship | | | | what you use in natural horsemanship. After all, racing |
| techniques to get these thoroughbreds trained. Natural | | | | is a natural instinct for horses - most are very happy |
| horsemanship works very well for thoroughbred | | | | to run, and to run fast - and jockeys use a lot of |
| training; it teaches horses to move forward - which is | | | | hidden and surprisingly natural methods to control their |
| pretty essential for a racehorse - and to accept a | | | | horses because they simply can't force them to do |
| saddle, bridle, and a rider very quickly. | | | | anything in the heat of a race. |
| More and more training stables are using round pens | | | | |