Help! My OTTB doesn't have brakes!

Do you have an OTTB that doesn't respond to subtle cues to slow down or halt from your seat?

Are you using way more bit pressure than you would like for downward transitions?

Does your horse bolt with you and tune out all attempts to slow down?

These are challenging and often scary feelings to experience when riding a horse that doesn't slow down.

Unfortunately, this can be common with thoroughbreds coming off the track.

Why doesn't my OTTB have brakes?

Let's start with understanding the use of brakes at the track. Very rarely after a race do you see a thoroughbred pulled up to a halt after the finish line. Instead, they go around the track at a gallop for a bit longer until they finally downshift to a trot, then walk, and a stable hand grabs the horse for the jockey to dismount.

During training, the bit holds the horse in a frame and controls the direction at the various gaits, but the exercise riders are rarely performing transitions and practicing soft "halts." The horse is usually mounted with a handler holding them and dismounted with a handler holding them. Halts and transitions in self-carriage simply are not a track skill (most of the time!).

This doesn't mean that the horse does not have brakes, but the brakes are trained a bit differently at the track than for our second career goals.

[This track information was collected through interviews with track trainers, exercise riders, grooms, track security personnel, OTTB liaisons, and many more!

If you want to learn more about a thoroughbred's experiences and handling at the track, check out the "Bringing Home OTTB" masterclass.]

Why does my horse resist braking?

We have to look at what the mind and the body are doing when we ask our horses to slow down/halt. If they are in an elevated nervous system state (tense, excited, anxious, etc.), they will be using brace muscle groups in their body. This means that they will not be open to "receiving" halt cues from the rider; instead, they will be bracing against them.

This brace muscle group is connected to the fight/flight response and, let's be honest, our OTTBs have well-trained flight responses. Of course, they're not going to be open to slowing down when they are in a flight response. This is one of the reasons why a jockey doesn't pull a racehorse up immediately at the end of a race.

NOTE: A flight response does not mean our horses are in an all-out bolt; there is a spectrum to the nervous system, just like our human nervous system.

This can look like running through the contact like a giraffe, locked through the neck, and stiff and dropped through the ribcage. When our horse is in this posture (based on their nervous system state), it is very difficult to gain any sort of communication or control through bending and bit manipulation.

How do we Teach Brakes?

In order for our horses to learn to receive cues for brakes, they must be in a learning mental and physical state, not a survival state. This means that our horses must feel relaxed and safe enough with us on them to find brakes a connective activity.

Some horses are too tense under saddle and need to be taught brakes first from the ground. This can be a verbal cue, clicker trained, long reining, in-hand work, etc. There are lots of ways to teach horses to brake/halt. While I could talk extensively about halt training techniques, they will be useless if you don't have the following:

To train slow-down cues, the horse's nervous system cannot be elevated.

How do I de-activate my horse's nervous system?

To start, you need to find out what triggers your horse's nervous system in the first place. What are the first signs that they are starting to get tense?

Is it when you approach with the bridle? When you mount? As soon as they leave the stall? After you ask for the canter?

In order for you to work on brakes and halts, you have to create a space where your horse feels safe and connected. Then the training of the cues will be more receptive.

To know when your horse is starting to regulate, look for relaxation signs and your horse's patterns of agitation or tension decreasing in frequency.

There are a lot of scientific resources out there to help you better understand your horse's nervous system. If you want further guidance and techniques, the Restart Program teaches a very simple and effective way of helping your OTTB regulate; this is the cornerstone of the program and transformations achieved.

Once you know your horse is in a mental and physical state to learn, here are a few of the ways that I teach horses halt cues.

My Go-To's for teaching halt to OTTBs

Some horses I might use 1 of these tools and others I might stack all of them. It depends on the individual horse's needs and nervous system triggers:

1. Voice cue. I love having a voice cue to teach halting and slowing down for two reasons:

   1. If your horse has a bad relationship with the bit and contact they are already tense and you cannot use it as your main form of communication. (More on bit/contact issues in this article).

   2. You can use voice cues when leading, circling, riding, in-hand etc. They are universal and do not have any situational requirements.

2. Neck rope. I've had a number of OTTBs with bit/contact tension, and I needed a workaround for communication that wouldn't trigger the nervous system. For these horses, I taught them to halt on the neck rope since it doesn't have any negative connotations for them. It was always a safe "backup" when the horse got uncertain in their learning process.

3. In-hand. In-hand work works well once your horse is ready to start learning halting with the bit/contact. You can use the neck rope or a halter underneath the bridle to reinforce the cue if the horse blows through the bit. It's also a safer situation than being on the horse.

4. Circling. Personally, I use circling as a hybrid of lunging and leading, where I can connect and converse with my horse through my energy and intention without sending pressure and halt pressure. This method translates nicely under-saddle as the horse can rely on my energy and intention for slow down/halt information, and I don't need to trigger old patterns of brace and tension through the bit.

The Big Picture

We have to let go of our expectation that our OTTBs know how to halt and slow down like well-trained sport horses. They are highly sensitive horses with a riding manual that we have metaphorically thrown away; they are learning a lot of new skills as they start a second career with us.

We do our OTTBs a big favor when we pump the brakes (pun intended) on riding expectations and create a safe learning environment for bite-sized chunks of information.

They WANT to find safety in training. They WANT to feel successful and connected. It is up to us to remove the tension from previous training experiences and create a space and a method that they feel safe to explore in.

I encourage you to choose curiosity and listen to what your OTTB specifically needs to feel safe and create a restart plan that best suits your horse's individual needs and challenges. Your partnership will blossom for it.

Stay curious and Happy Partnerships!

If you want a roadmap to restarting your OTTB and removing the guesswork and frustration associated with brake issues, the Restart Program offers a holistic and transformative approach that you can access anywhere, anytime.