SERVICES: THT Thoroughbred Race Horse Management

Developing the Equine Athlete; 1 horse at a time...

Individual Strategies based on the Individual Profile, that's the THT Thoroughbred Race Horse Management's number one priority. THT race horse consultation embraces all of the services available at THT focused on the individual horse; from selecting your race horse, to investigating the best training protocols for the athlete our team works to maximize the full potential in your equine investment. At THT, we format the physical to fit the psychology of the individual athlete, developing physical fitness as well as mental fitness. "...you don't need 20 high-end, expensive pedigrees my friends; you need a properly developed athlete..."

What We Do
THT Thoroughbred Race Horse Management is our consulting team working with your team in the development and management of your equine athlete. From individual training protocols to training facility recommendations; individual profiling helps you realize the potential in your equine athlete. Because not every horse personality is the same, not every horse's path to success will be the same; we work with you to cut the path ahead.

The vision of THT embraces specialized training from high-elevation training, cross country courses & full Mental Stimulus Interval Training with Physical Interval Training. At THT we adopt what we refer to as the 10/90 rule. Only about 10% of your thoroughbreds' interval training should be on an actual race track, with about 90% removed from it. Building a strong mental and physical foundation in a healthy, harmonic way, is your best chance at both horse & career success. Why chase your tail running in circles in one direction?

Focused Athlete Development
Emotional Conformation Profiling focused service options include but are not limited to: Horse Selections/Sales, Interval Training Program Development Recommendations (mental & physical training consultation) - Racing Plans & Strategies and Breeding for Behavior Recommendations. To see a list of our individual services and to find out more about how we can help your athlete, please contact our office. Ask for a copy of our Mental Stimulus Obstacle Course outline, THT Theory of Relative Motion and related articles about Emotional Conformation Profiling.

Outline For Success

Never mistake performance for true ability...

Emotional Conformation Profiling is your first step for it will target your horses' naturally occurring focus ability; what is your horse's ideal target distance or rather, what is the time-in-motion ability inherent within each horse. This mental aptitude translates into distance aptitude, which is manifested in the horse in two ways- physical distance measured in feet and emotional fitness ability which measures distance in the time of actual motion, the ability to maintain pace over distance. The two halves must work synergistically together, with an understanding that pace takes over more and more control the longer a horse is in actual motion. Therefore, both physical fitness and mental fitness must be conditioned together.

Efficiency of motion is your best asset; this allows the athlete to get the most that can be got safely from their actual physical ability. Yet efficient motion, smooth transitions from stimulus to stimulus, are centered squarely within the mental proficiency of the horse. These are in essence, Herd Dynamics in motion and are why we must nurture the horse as we develop the athlete. Training forward means reaching beyond the actual goal, interval training both mentally and physically based upon the physical and emotional conformation of the athlete, is the platform for success.

At THT we grade horses on a scale indicator called the P-Type System, or Personality Propensity Typing. This allows us to bring the individual's Emotional Conformation into clearer focus so we can target achievable goals for your athlete. (Ask for your copy of the P-Type Mating Guide which outlines the different P-Type Grades). This is who your horse is, so our job is to work toward making the horse the best who they are, that they can become. The space between performance and actual ability is defined within the Emotional Conformation of the horse. You have to teach the horse they can achieve a goal, long before you ask them to do it.

The secret to success is knowing how to hold a horse at a certain workout level until the horse tells you he/she is ready to go faster, or faster/further. Emotional Conformation profiling helps provide this information.

Recommendations & Tools For Developing The Successful Athlete

• Example: Horses that are P-Typed for Distance Aptitude should be first worked at gallops and trots of 3 to 4 miles with balanced seat riders sitting down on their backs.
• At the first sign of soreness they should be turned out, not injected with drugs or subjected to less than useful leg care.
• Once they start speed and pace work their long works should be cut back to 1.5 or 2 miles max. You must train way over your distance goals and based upon the Emotional Conformation profile of the horse, work inward, shrinking the distance and advancing the speed as well as the horses' mental conditioning to make smooth transitions at an escalated Time-In-Motion. (Multi-Directional Training here is key)
• Interval training protocols that safely simulate race demands both physically and mentally- formatted to fit both the Physical and Emotional Conformation of the athlete.
• The right free walkers.
• A treadmill with attached high altitude simulator, (or access to high-elevation training locations) heart rate meters, access to swimming pool.
• Access to a 1 Mile dirt track, 7 Furlong artificial surface track and a .5 Mile sand track for bad weather with figure 8 crossovers to teach lead changes.
• A black-top road for jogging, uphill gallops with sand and grass surfaces.
• Sand rolls, sun pens partially covered, turn out paddocks.
• Dressage or Eventing riders to balance the horses before they start to train as well as exercise riders schooled in balanced seat riding.
• The developing of the correct training program used correctly, to fit the physical and mental growth of the individual athlete.
• THT specializes in developing programs around individual horses. Horses that have seemingly hit a plateau and don't appear mentally willing to advance themselves require a fair opportunity to continue to succeed. We provide an Emotional Conformation Profile first, to see if we should accept the horse into program development or if in fact the horse is honestly not going to develop further. Performance profiling is the first step to true development. At THT we do not put the horse into a program, but rather we build a program around the horse.

The preceding is only a basic outline of recommendations. Contact us to schedule your profile appointment & let us work to add value & longevity to your equine investment.

Follow this link for more information about Kerry's latest paper, Training Efficiency of Motion, Building a Better Racehorse