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