Why won’t my horse slow down?

Many horses are categorized as hot, forward, overly sensitive, “dramatic,” whatever you want to call it- it’s quite often a misinterpretation of what impulsion and forward energy actually is.

Impulsion is DIRECTIBLE energy. It isn’t ahead of you, scattered and frantic. Many horses who are too fast will often slow way down when brought into balance.

So what makes a horse too fast?

1- the obvious: pain, illness, poor tack fit etc

2- temperamental response to beingg out of balance. Some horses will slow way down and not go when out of balance, others will run off. Sometimes they will alternate between the two. Different temperaments manage being out of balance differently.

3- rider imbalance scares the horse : a horse gets quick, the rider grabs or slams their seat behind the motion, the horses back drops more, the rider speeds up their seat to catch up, the horse runs faster. A rider who can’t go WITH the motion and educate the horse to be with them later will be chasing and grabbing the too fast horse, causing them to run faster.

4- too much feed, not enough motion or structure to motion- a lot of times horses are fed like athletes and ridden like weekend warriors. You have a mismatch in energy between an amateur who just wants to chug along and a racehorse type animal who was born to move. This lack of direction of their energy makes the horse half crazy. You wouldn’t have a malinois in an apartment - a lot of times we have the wrong horse for our riding ability and lifestyle. I love cutting bred Quarter horses but i don’t own one because i dont have the type of life for that kind of horse to really thrive

5- just needs more education To being “with” the aids. Some horses are just spicy and need help learning with care ands respect to their nature how to balance between the aids. Creative and correct use of figures, some flexibility, and a good seat pay dividends here.

Rarely is the answer just letting them fly around, or hauling on them either. Whenever we have too much of something we need to look to the root of why - and as always, we can’t avoid learning to ride WELL. No horse likes a poor seat, but some simply can’t survive it.