Inside Track Training, LLC

06/12/2025

Yep!!!

New blog post:

Opinion: The vast majority of riders do not need a Grand Prix bred horse!

The pressure on breeders to always be producing Grand Prix potential young stock has become silly in my opinion. Not only is it resulting in a pool of horses that the majority of riders can't ride, but it is leading to a huge nosedive in diversity in the equine gene pool as the few top competing stallions get used over and over again.

The majority of people who jump horses will rarely jump over 3ft. Your adult amateur doesn't need an olympic bred horse so she can show in the .75 jumpers. Neither does your teenager, actually. Same goes for dressage. How many people show above third level? So no, the AA who has decided that she would like to dabble in dressage, and maybe work towards her bronze medal doesn't need a Glamourdale clone.

Yet, that is where the market is heading. There are a couple of reasons for this and the first is the accessibility. Now that we all breed via AI and can ship semen all over the world, breeders can access the top competing sires in a way that was not possible even 10 years ago. Twenty years ago, breeders were much more limited and mostly only used stallions that were local to them.

The second, is money. And, I get it. When you can breed to Kannan or Chacco-Blue, why would you breed to Billy the stud down the lane? If you can produce a foal by Cornet Obolensky and sell it for more than you can if you use good old anyone-can-ride Billy then why wouldn't you? After all, breeding is expensive and risky regardless of the sire you choose. The big-name sires will get you more chance of a nice price on your weanling.

Here are some reasons:

1. The world needs more ridable horses, not more top-level competition horses. The dam line matters far more than anybody appreciates so breeding your didn't-really-do-so-well-at-jumping-herself-so-lets-breed-her-instead mare to some hot-sh*t jumper stallion is probably going to neither result in a top level competition horse nor a lower-level AA-friendly horse.

How many AAs do you know that bought a horse that it turns out only their trainer could ride? How many AAs do you know looking for something that can jump them around the .75 safely and are willing to pay a huge amount of money for a horse that will do that for them? I know a few. I also know a few who have been looking for that horse for a long time. There IS a market for lower-level happy safe horses, and we need more of them!

2. Diversity of bloodlines means healthier horses in the future. You just need to look at what happened to the thoroughbred to see why that is important.

3. Performance + Performance doesn't usually equal a sane and ridable horse!

By that I mean if you take a top level mare and put her to a top level stallion, you run the risk of creating something very athletic but also very hot! Typically for horses to do well in the upper levels they are going to have a bit of something about them. They are going to have a quirk or two.

You can still create a very talented sport horse by breeding that upper level mare to a sire that is going to turn her down a notch. Breed that 1.45 mare to a sire that has a nice enough pop over .95 but is sound minded enough for a ammy to ride. Those are the combos that are going to have a shot at producing an ammy-friendly upper level horse as opposed to the quirky nutjob with a jump that only 2% of pros can sit.

The accessibility and sheer choice that AI provides us is a wonderful thing. But we cannot allow that to cause us to use the valuable lower-level producers and the tone-her-down-a-notch stallions.

https://irishdraughtbreeder.com/2025/06/11/opinion-the-vast-majority-of-riders-do-not-need-a-grand-prix-bred-horse/

06/04/2025

This goes right along with my teaching of being “horseless” (my students will all know what I mean by this) and moving your body down the line of travel!

06/02/2025

05/31/2025

“Off the bit”

There’s endless energy expended in trying to make sure that horses are “on the bit.” So often, though, in those attempts, there’s a lot of pulling, a lot of heaviness, a lot of just about anything BUT lightness and self carriage, And sometimes the use of stronger bits.

Perhaps something I saw in a long ago clinic might shed some light on the topic, maybe not---

Anyway, the clinician said that she felt that while on the long road to true engagement, where the horse brings its hocks and stifles into play to lift as well as to push, with the bit being a sort of means of containment toward which to drive energy, that a good test is to have moments OFF the bit, to see if the horse continues to move in balance at least for a few strides or either gets stronger-faster, or plunges onto its forehand.

Her thought being that since a horse can trot and canter in balance WITHOUT a rider, the process of getting the horse to be able to do the same thing WITH a rider should not involve as much use of hands as so often becomes part of the training process.

I also remember another of her quotes, that the rider FILTERS energy out through the bit, rather than TRAPS the energy---

05/30/2025

05/27/2025

Hello equine community!

Boy, do we have a "bone"🦴 to pick with everyone! Just kidding!

Humans and horses have very similar skeletons! In fact, an adult human skeleton has 206 bones while adult horses have 205!

This handy, dandy comparison chart shows you just how similar we are to our equine friends!!

05/27/2025

“This makes me feel like I don’t know how to ride!”

I hear that all the time when I’m teaching and I always have to chuckle. There is nothing I can relate to more deeply!

There is a huge difference between mashing a horse’s body around, and actually riding them.

When my teachers taught me to truly ride generating energy from behind and steering the shoulders, not the mouth, it became very apparent I was relying entirely on the head for control. It was extremely humbling, and very frustrating. I had many lessons that felt like purgatory - not advancing until I could learn to direct with my seat onto a track of travel, learning not to let my Tourette’s hands get involved and to actually funnel the energy through.

I went from overactive, micromanaging riding to being floppy and ineffective, afraid to be at the helm. I’ve been at this a while, and I always remind my students of this : I did not pop out of the womb understanding this- and if you are naturally gifted at it, I’m happy for you - but don’t be alarmed if it is hard.

If it were easy, everyone would be doing it!

If you’re feeling frustrated, inept, stuck in purgatory, and so on, try to remember this is not easy. It’s very simple - but it is the most difficult task you could undertake: mastering your body and mind to ride in a harmonious way with a horse. There are no shortcuts, no easy get out of jail free cards for learning how to direct fluidly without interference. Buddhist monks study a lifetime at a monestary to get control of their minds - so you have to direct that kind of energy and dedication into it, within the walls of your own arena.

It’s hard, and you will struggle and make mistakes, but you will be just fine, and so will your horse. It will come together in glimmers, in tastes- you’ll get motivated by a little feeling here and there, and you can remember that feeling to get you through the next plunge back into purgatory.

05/24/2025

"Animals innately know how to complete the stress cycle in their bodies

They shake it off, make noises and create movements to move it through their bodies

Those primal instincts are full of wisdom.

Connecting back to that preverbal wisdom allows us to mobilize stress in the body."

~ Amy Pagett

Image by Nadege Burness, via Pixabay.