Do you feel like you have the versatility and flexibility that you’re looking for with the horse you have now? You can by making a few changes in your training program. At Next Level HorsemanshipTM we build the Foundation, from the Ground Up. It’s important that horses have a strong Foundation in training before being asked to perform beyond their capabilities. Then they will be prepared to succeed in any discipline.
Think of training horses as an inverted pyramid. For a horse to be well trained and versatile the bulk of the area of the pyramid should be filled with solid principles of training based on good horsemanship theory, no matter what discipline you want to pursue.  At the bottom are the basic elements of training that have to be there for any horse understand the Partnership that’s about to unfold with people. As you move up the inverted pyramid it becomes filled with the basic and more intermediate and advanced elements of training that all horses need to Perform in any discipline. Finally, at the very top and widest portion of the inverted pyramid we can fine tune or finesse the maneuvers for specific disciplines. This is where all of the Possibilities unfold!
If you have the pyramid filled in with solid training principles, it’s easy to cross from one side to the other and span many disciplines in between. If not, trying to be versatile is nearly impossible; it’s like asking your horse to swim across a raging river!
If you want a versatile horse, you need to add versatility to your training program from the ground up. Many people refer to this as ‘cross-training’ but at NLHTM versatility is something that we have built into our Program at each level of the pyramid.  We expose our horses to many things early in their training including long lining and harness work, obstacles, trail riding, and even trick training. Teaching your horse something new will help him become better both mentally and physically to excel at maneuvers in general. As they progress in their training, we like to ask them to perform maneuvers in different ways. For example, we may ask our horses to turn in a 360 degree spin and then ask for a turn on the haunches in the classic dressage style. By ‘cross training’ your horse you add to your horse’s overall training and make him better at what you really want to do. And if you teach the various maneuvers correctly, you will enhance their training and not dilute it.
Many people drill their horses on the same thing day in and day out without any variation in the regimen. For sure that will teach your horse how to ride a particular way but it will also lock him in to a particular way of thinking and doing. Horses can excel in multiple disciplines which means they are very capable of learning many things as well as different ways of doing various maneuvers.
So ‘Kick it Up’ with your horse! Â Build the basics of the training pyramid and along the way spice things up with your horse by adding something new to his training routine or a different way of doing the same ‘old’ thing.