Schultz Performance Horsemanship

Huge thank you to everyone who joined us for our Equestrian Functional Fitness Workshop yesterday!💪🐴

This event was designed to build stronger, more balanced riders and give our clients helpful exercises and stretches to improve their performance in the saddle. 🏇

Big thanks to Wilcox Fitness for hosting and leading an incredible session, and to our amazing Schultz Performance Horsemanship clients for showing up ready to work! 👏

𝐀𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐲 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐝, 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬...😬
While they are intelligent and have excellent retention, horses do not have the same problem solving/analytical/imaginative capabilities that some other animals do.

Here are some examples of what I am referring to:

𝐄𝐱𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝟏: 𝐇𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐃𝐮𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐅𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐎𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐀𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲
A common behavior that some horses do is dumping over their feeder or grain bucket, only to then nibble their grain straight out of the dirt or mud as a result. That horse will go ITS WHOLE LIFE doing this and never once will it dawn on him that if he left his bucket upright, he would get to eat ALL of his grain, and not ingest a bunch of dirt at the same time. 🤷🏽‍♀️

𝐄𝐱𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝟐: 𝐇𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐇𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐇𝐢𝐬 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐫 𝐀𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲
Imagine you are loading your horse in the trailer. As you are doing this, a tractor drives by, and startles him. Without thinking he quickly raises his head, hitting it on the roof of the trailer. This in turn, scares him further, causing him to scramble out of the trailer.
Here's the funny part: he will not associate the whole incident with the tractor that startled him initially - or the fact that he raised his head. Instead, he will actually associate the negative incident with the TRAILER and think that it caused him harm. 🤦🏽‍♀️ He can't analyze the sequence
of events and realize it had nothing to do with the trailer itself!

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠.
Breaking down complex maneuvers into bite-size concepts and teaching them in a connect-the-dots, step-by-step format avoids confusion, fear, and frustration.

Even though their reasoning (or lack of 😳) might seem “stupid" to us, we need to remember that they are not trying to be that way on purpose - it is just how they are made! 😆
As the party with the higher intellect, it is our responsibility to educate ourselves in their psychology so we can help them learn. 💥

Knowledge, skill, and experience are what turn uncertainty into confidence.
Growth often shows up in the small, incremental wins—they build belief in yourself and create real evidence to lean on as you push beyond your comfort zone. 🙌🏼

Building confidence is a process, not an event - keep going!
Happy Monday! 🏇🏇🏇

𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐓𝐢𝐩: 𝐀𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐄𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐈𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 🔍

As a prey animal, it is normal for a horse to be suspicious and fearful of just about everything in their world - that is how they have survived for thousands of years. In their eyes, everything is "out to get them" - everything is perceived as a threat until it is proven safe. What a way to live, huh? 😅

This is why I always try to replace this instinctual fear with curiosity - a horse being investigative and curious about something is the complete opposite of being scared to death of it.

Some horses are naturally curious and bold - basically that primal flight instinct has been somewhat bred and domesticated out of them. But there are many horses that are much closer to the primal flight-or-fight family tree. With these horses you have to actually teach them to investigate and check things out, showing them how to think through the situation - because every instinct they have is telling them to react and G**O. 🤣

When training a reactive horse, remember: investigation leads to curiosity, which then builds confidence, which leads to: A safe, enjoyable horse that isn't terrified of the world and putting your life in danger every 10 seconds. 😉

𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐝𝐨𝐮𝐛𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐞.

𝐅𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧’𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞?
That trainer has been there.

𝐃𝐞𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐲 𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐛𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞’𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐬?
That trainer has been there - MANY times.

𝐓𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐣𝐮𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐥𝐞𝐠 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫?
That trainer has probably been there too.

𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐢𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐲—𝐨𝐫 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜.

𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐭 𝐚 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡 𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐥𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬. Hundreds of horses. Hundreds of people. Hundreds of hours and scenarios. It takes countless mistakes, incorrect judgements, and confused horses (that we wish we could have another crack at now that we know where we went wrong 🤣) to build that experience.

Professionals aren’t immune to the struggle. They’ve just been struggling longer than you and have learned from it. That understanding is what allows a trainer to meet you where you are and help you move forward. ✨🏇