Thomas Herding Technique
January 20th 2012 04:25
Horse racing is a sport with a long history. It is steeped in many traditions, ranging from the proud history of the classic races, through to the training methods used to prepare a horse for the rigours of racing.
However, innovation in racing is not totally unknown, with examples being the introduction of the barrier stalls to replace the starting strand barrier, and the change of riding style for jockeys from the ‘straight-back’ gentleman rider seat to the ‘monkey on a stick’ crouch - the latter made famous by Todd Sloan in 1897. Both of these (very different) changes revolutionised the sport of racing. Tod Sloan was initially ridiculed when he began riding with a very short stirrup and short rein, crouching over the neck of his mount, but his resulting success ensured that soon jockeys everywhere would copy his style.
For some time now I have been interested in the research undertaken by Kerry M Thomas as he transposed his study of the horse in the wild into practical applications for the thoroughbred in the modern racing environment. An article about one facet of Kerry’s research can be viewed on Thoroughbreds Worldwide. Today I would like to introduce a new concept for racehorse training, as devised by Kerry.
Rather than dissect the major points (that particularly interest me) I have decided to publish his latest article in its entirety. - editor.
“Being an Innovator means you lead with your imagination, introduce new concepts and learn through experimentation... Pioneering innovative concepts for today, tomorrow and beyond..., that’s THT.”
Kerry M Thomas, Founder
THT Misfit Racing Management Program Introduction: Projected for 2012 and beyond, our goal is to become the worlds most advanced and innovative racing program development service providing investment management opportunities for the individual owner or multi-person partner-ownership. Our effort shall be to set a new industry standard of development in both breeding and training. We are a service provider for hire, we do not offer investment shares, however our General Management services are not just management, we will be intimately involved in every stage of the athlete’s development using our research and unique innovation, Emotional Conformation Profiling, that allow us to design and develop for the individual athlete based upon their unique and specific needs. We will not place a horse in a program, but rather we shall design a program and team around the horse.
We envision our race management programs being the most affective when starting from the bottom up with the development of athletes. (I came up with the name Misfit Racing to honorably represent under-privileged children around the world. I have long felt that it could help raise awareness for humanitarian efforts by racing for children from time to time by aligning a race meet or two a year in cohesion with some special needs charity for children.)
A student of the natural horse, I learned from the study of wild horses and their natural environments; gaining insights and understanding of things I never knew existed until exposing myself to them. I realized early that in order to fully understand the intricacies of a species, one must as well research and understand the natural environment nature has intended that species to live in. Embracing this ever ongoing education I began to work toward integrating the Natural Herd Dynamics into our artificial human environments. The rhythm of life, the patterns of the herd dynamics, the flow of motion and how horses communicate, the esoteric power of that window into the invisible; Emotional Conformation and Behavioral Genetics.
Now with this learned knowledge, I am thrilled at the TEAM atmosphere we have in place and will nurture at THT. A cohesive team concept is often lacking in racing, things are spread too far out, there are too many corporate disconnects and too large of operations to be otherwise. The key to success, the core of rewriting history, is to create and establish the team concept, and seamless continuity for the horses.
The herd dynamics and family structure for the horses MUST be adhered too, must be allowed for and we must rethink what we think we know and apply more in as many ways as possible, the natural herd dynamics. THT’s innovative AirWorks System© was developed for this need.
Ideally this would embrace two THT Training Centers; one in the USA and one in another part of the world strategically located. Among our goals will be to independently obtain or lease property or properties around the world to develop all-inclusive programs for race horses where we can also breed and cross train athletes for future careers as equine ambassadors of the sport in becoming therapy horses. Such a location(s) will afford us the opportunity to continue our innovative herd development while ensuring our program designs are followed properly and can be strategically placed for racing from the farm when possible. We have at this time selected one primary location near Lexington Kentucky where many of our program requirements can be met and are delighted to introduce December Farm as a THT base. We have chosen this location after a careful selection and interview process and December Farm offers an immediate location to house THT Managed horses when and if necessary where we have access to several hundred acres to develop a mental stimulus cross training course. If our clients have their own facilities, we of course do our best to blend our program designs to fit the location.
In order to achieve new standards of success we must blend natural environments with specifically designed "artificial human environments" that will properly amalgamate the herd/the individual athletes/and the human world they will treat with and communicate with. This means a dedicated team, balanced riders and cohesive, well communicating human structure. This also means not depending on what others do or have done, but building something new from the ground floor with new vision, new concepts, developed while blended with Natural Herd Dynamics.
It makes little difference how large or small either an individual or group investment is, our management style is one in the same as is our entire team’s dedication. We are not working to be good; we are striving to be the best. It matters not if you have one horse managed by THT or 50, we do not accept average for excellence and each horse is profiled and managed per their specific needs and abilities. It’s also based in reality; we cannot promise to make your athletes into what they are not, but we can find innovative ways to allow them the best opportunity to be highly competitive wherever they perform.
Our unique Emotional Conformation research has shown that patterns of behavior translate to patterns of motion; the horses that are profiled as our top athletes with the highest potential must be nurtured slowly, properly, lest we not get the most from the physical ability. Physical efficiency is governed by mental aptitude and preparedness.
We try whenever possible to race from the farm and thus not allowing your horse(s) to become institutionalized by being behind bars too many weeks in a row. Barns are for people, fields are for horses, and we will get more from them if we carefully create an atmosphere and environment that allows the horse to be the athlete. Creating environments that allow the horse’s to define themselves is a key to unlocking true potential; 90% of the horse's physical and mental cross training preparation should be off the race track and 10% on. Multi surface training, even altitude training and pasturing when possible and hands-off eyes-on approach to allow the herd horses to assist in our athlete's growth and training process. Only other horses can teach a horse how to manage space and communicate with horses properly; as mentioned it is our job to create environments that allow the horses to define themselves. You do not make history, you create it.
Balanced riders are important; for example only riders who are schooled in riding Dressage and Eventing should be allowed to ride our Primary Thoroughbreds and we like to have a finite number of jockey's who ride our horses who know our horses and are brought in to ride the horse they will compete on at the cross country and oval training tracks when possible.
Creating a team atmosphere, close and tightly woven for efficiency, allowing the innovative talents of both man and horse to gel in synchronicity, the application of physical as well as mental coaching and development... this is the key to unlock the yet untapped potential that surrounds us. If you want cookie-cutter bargain management, you have many choices, if you want specialty programs and unique innovation, you have really but one choice; THT.
A breeding program as well as racing program can be housed at the training centers allowing us to breed and create our own from within for the client, carefully selected and strategically developed. A separate subsidiary called THT Behavioral Genetic Breeding Management Program sisters with our racing program or acts as its own entity.
If you’re interested in having THT manage your race horse(s) or are interested in developing a new program or our consulting on your current program, contact us and we will be happy to learn your goals that we can develop a plan of action proposal. *The management program is not limited to only Misfit Racing name, we’re eager to amalgamate with your program or develop one for you; whether you fly your own racing colors or ours, you get the same effort.
Let Me Introduce The THT Herd
The utter importance of qualified human resources cannot be overstated. No THT program could hope for true success without the founder realizing the importance of finding carefully selected high quality skilled people to become a part of our company goals that we set for ourselves and pass along to our clients. The following people are just a few core members all working together to bring forth the very best innovation and concept performance to our clients’ investment goals:
Larry Knepper: Chief Compliance Officer & Race Strategy Advisor. In truth, Larry is very hard to officially label as is the case with all of the core members who consult on various things. Larry’s unique skills at oversight and advisement as well as race planning are goal achievement oriented and he knows how to think forward. Larry is a trusted friend to man and animal as well, and indeed a top advisor. HYPERLINK Really Long Link larry@thomasherdingtechnique. com
Pete Denk: Director of Equine Services. Pete’s skill set and experience inside the racing industry made him a natural herd selection to be a part of the THT Team and certainly that experience with racing and writing allowed for the defining of his position to happen naturally. Pete handles all inquiries professionally; thorough thought and careful planning and his talents opened the door that placed my on-site profiling thoughts into a refined and easy-to-read Emotional Conformation Profile reporting system.
Ovidiu Vajiala: Equine Services European Representative. Extending our professional herd reach into other parts of the world so that our clients would know that no matter where they wanted horses we could have feet, eyes and THT skills on the ground to personally handle their investments. Ovidiu’s base in Romania affords him easy access to much of Europe and the Middle East and he has intimate knowledge of the industry workings of both European and Middle Eastern racing and breeding. Ovidiu also has great experience in race management on his own and is a great asset to THT.
Barb Grosso: Events and Sponsorships. Barb’s skills of meeting the needs of clients are special and she truly is our lead herd mare. Whether putting together the pieces of the puzzle for an event or special request, be it a racing party or something as detailed and large as a special day at the races, private or public, Barb has unparalleled ability. Barb is our team go-to-girl, if you will, and the core team at THT would not be completed without the compliment of her. If you want to host a party, get T-Shirts, have rooms reserved for you and your guests, or need tickets to a special event, Barb can meet your needs.
There are many others who are a part of the THT family, who are working with us because they share the vision, they share the goals. So no matter if you would like to have one horse managed by THT Misfit Racing Management or an entire stable and training center, you know you have sent your horse, your investment, to a team who works more like a coaching staff for individual achievements than they do an assembly line management program.
Sincerely, Kerry M Thomas, Founder
We invite you to learn more about our work and research by visiting our Thomas Herding Technique website where you will find research articles free in the A View From The Hoof section of Giving Back.
Thomas Herding Technique
206 Homeville Road Cochranville, PA 19330
Telephone: 610-593-4889
THOMAS HERDING TECHNIQUE
However, innovation in racing is not totally unknown, with examples being the introduction of the barrier stalls to replace the starting strand barrier, and the change of riding style for jockeys from the ‘straight-back’ gentleman rider seat to the ‘monkey on a stick’ crouch - the latter made famous by Todd Sloan in 1897. Both of these (very different) changes revolutionised the sport of racing. Tod Sloan was initially ridiculed when he began riding with a very short stirrup and short rein, crouching over the neck of his mount, but his resulting success ensured that soon jockeys everywhere would copy his style.
For some time now I have been interested in the research undertaken by Kerry M Thomas as he transposed his study of the horse in the wild into practical applications for the thoroughbred in the modern racing environment. An article about one facet of Kerry’s research can be viewed on Thoroughbreds Worldwide. Today I would like to introduce a new concept for racehorse training, as devised by Kerry.
Rather than dissect the major points (that particularly interest me) I have decided to publish his latest article in its entirety. - editor.
THT Misfit Racing Management Program
“Being an Innovator means you lead with your imagination, introduce new concepts and learn through experimentation... Pioneering innovative concepts for today, tomorrow and beyond..., that’s THT.”
Kerry M Thomas, Founder
THT Misfit Racing Management Program Introduction: Projected for 2012 and beyond, our goal is to become the worlds most advanced and innovative racing program development service providing investment management opportunities for the individual owner or multi-person partner-ownership. Our effort shall be to set a new industry standard of development in both breeding and training. We are a service provider for hire, we do not offer investment shares, however our General Management services are not just management, we will be intimately involved in every stage of the athlete’s development using our research and unique innovation, Emotional Conformation Profiling, that allow us to design and develop for the individual athlete based upon their unique and specific needs. We will not place a horse in a program, but rather we shall design a program and team around the horse.
The Vision:
We envision our race management programs being the most affective when starting from the bottom up with the development of athletes. (I came up with the name Misfit Racing to honorably represent under-privileged children around the world. I have long felt that it could help raise awareness for humanitarian efforts by racing for children from time to time by aligning a race meet or two a year in cohesion with some special needs charity for children.)
A student of the natural horse, I learned from the study of wild horses and their natural environments; gaining insights and understanding of things I never knew existed until exposing myself to them. I realized early that in order to fully understand the intricacies of a species, one must as well research and understand the natural environment nature has intended that species to live in. Embracing this ever ongoing education I began to work toward integrating the Natural Herd Dynamics into our artificial human environments. The rhythm of life, the patterns of the herd dynamics, the flow of motion and how horses communicate, the esoteric power of that window into the invisible; Emotional Conformation and Behavioral Genetics.
Now with this learned knowledge, I am thrilled at the TEAM atmosphere we have in place and will nurture at THT. A cohesive team concept is often lacking in racing, things are spread too far out, there are too many corporate disconnects and too large of operations to be otherwise. The key to success, the core of rewriting history, is to create and establish the team concept, and seamless continuity for the horses.
The herd dynamics and family structure for the horses MUST be adhered too, must be allowed for and we must rethink what we think we know and apply more in as many ways as possible, the natural herd dynamics. THT’s innovative AirWorks System© was developed for this need.
Ideally this would embrace two THT Training Centers; one in the USA and one in another part of the world strategically located. Among our goals will be to independently obtain or lease property or properties around the world to develop all-inclusive programs for race horses where we can also breed and cross train athletes for future careers as equine ambassadors of the sport in becoming therapy horses. Such a location(s) will afford us the opportunity to continue our innovative herd development while ensuring our program designs are followed properly and can be strategically placed for racing from the farm when possible. We have at this time selected one primary location near Lexington Kentucky where many of our program requirements can be met and are delighted to introduce December Farm as a THT base. We have chosen this location after a careful selection and interview process and December Farm offers an immediate location to house THT Managed horses when and if necessary where we have access to several hundred acres to develop a mental stimulus cross training course. If our clients have their own facilities, we of course do our best to blend our program designs to fit the location.
In order to achieve new standards of success we must blend natural environments with specifically designed "artificial human environments" that will properly amalgamate the herd/the individual athletes/and the human world they will treat with and communicate with. This means a dedicated team, balanced riders and cohesive, well communicating human structure. This also means not depending on what others do or have done, but building something new from the ground floor with new vision, new concepts, developed while blended with Natural Herd Dynamics.
It makes little difference how large or small either an individual or group investment is, our management style is one in the same as is our entire team’s dedication. We are not working to be good; we are striving to be the best. It matters not if you have one horse managed by THT or 50, we do not accept average for excellence and each horse is profiled and managed per their specific needs and abilities. It’s also based in reality; we cannot promise to make your athletes into what they are not, but we can find innovative ways to allow them the best opportunity to be highly competitive wherever they perform.
Our unique Emotional Conformation research has shown that patterns of behavior translate to patterns of motion; the horses that are profiled as our top athletes with the highest potential must be nurtured slowly, properly, lest we not get the most from the physical ability. Physical efficiency is governed by mental aptitude and preparedness.
We try whenever possible to race from the farm and thus not allowing your horse(s) to become institutionalized by being behind bars too many weeks in a row. Barns are for people, fields are for horses, and we will get more from them if we carefully create an atmosphere and environment that allows the horse to be the athlete. Creating environments that allow the horse’s to define themselves is a key to unlocking true potential; 90% of the horse's physical and mental cross training preparation should be off the race track and 10% on. Multi surface training, even altitude training and pasturing when possible and hands-off eyes-on approach to allow the herd horses to assist in our athlete's growth and training process. Only other horses can teach a horse how to manage space and communicate with horses properly; as mentioned it is our job to create environments that allow the horses to define themselves. You do not make history, you create it.
Balanced riders are important; for example only riders who are schooled in riding Dressage and Eventing should be allowed to ride our Primary Thoroughbreds and we like to have a finite number of jockey's who ride our horses who know our horses and are brought in to ride the horse they will compete on at the cross country and oval training tracks when possible.
Creating a team atmosphere, close and tightly woven for efficiency, allowing the innovative talents of both man and horse to gel in synchronicity, the application of physical as well as mental coaching and development... this is the key to unlock the yet untapped potential that surrounds us. If you want cookie-cutter bargain management, you have many choices, if you want specialty programs and unique innovation, you have really but one choice; THT.
A breeding program as well as racing program can be housed at the training centers allowing us to breed and create our own from within for the client, carefully selected and strategically developed. A separate subsidiary called THT Behavioral Genetic Breeding Management Program sisters with our racing program or acts as its own entity.
If you’re interested in having THT manage your race horse(s) or are interested in developing a new program or our consulting on your current program, contact us and we will be happy to learn your goals that we can develop a plan of action proposal. *The management program is not limited to only Misfit Racing name, we’re eager to amalgamate with your program or develop one for you; whether you fly your own racing colors or ours, you get the same effort.
Let Me Introduce The THT Herd
The utter importance of qualified human resources cannot be overstated. No THT program could hope for true success without the founder realizing the importance of finding carefully selected high quality skilled people to become a part of our company goals that we set for ourselves and pass along to our clients. The following people are just a few core members all working together to bring forth the very best innovation and concept performance to our clients’ investment goals:
Larry Knepper: Chief Compliance Officer & Race Strategy Advisor. In truth, Larry is very hard to officially label as is the case with all of the core members who consult on various things. Larry’s unique skills at oversight and advisement as well as race planning are goal achievement oriented and he knows how to think forward. Larry is a trusted friend to man and animal as well, and indeed a top advisor. HYPERLINK Really Long Link larry@thomasherdingtechnique. com
Pete Denk: Director of Equine Services. Pete’s skill set and experience inside the racing industry made him a natural herd selection to be a part of the THT Team and certainly that experience with racing and writing allowed for the defining of his position to happen naturally. Pete handles all inquiries professionally; thorough thought and careful planning and his talents opened the door that placed my on-site profiling thoughts into a refined and easy-to-read Emotional Conformation Profile reporting system.
Ovidiu Vajiala: Equine Services European Representative. Extending our professional herd reach into other parts of the world so that our clients would know that no matter where they wanted horses we could have feet, eyes and THT skills on the ground to personally handle their investments. Ovidiu’s base in Romania affords him easy access to much of Europe and the Middle East and he has intimate knowledge of the industry workings of both European and Middle Eastern racing and breeding. Ovidiu also has great experience in race management on his own and is a great asset to THT.
Barb Grosso: Events and Sponsorships. Barb’s skills of meeting the needs of clients are special and she truly is our lead herd mare. Whether putting together the pieces of the puzzle for an event or special request, be it a racing party or something as detailed and large as a special day at the races, private or public, Barb has unparalleled ability. Barb is our team go-to-girl, if you will, and the core team at THT would not be completed without the compliment of her. If you want to host a party, get T-Shirts, have rooms reserved for you and your guests, or need tickets to a special event, Barb can meet your needs.
There are many others who are a part of the THT family, who are working with us because they share the vision, they share the goals. So no matter if you would like to have one horse managed by THT Misfit Racing Management or an entire stable and training center, you know you have sent your horse, your investment, to a team who works more like a coaching staff for individual achievements than they do an assembly line management program.
Sincerely, Kerry M Thomas, Founder
THT: Innovation Forward…
We invite you to learn more about our work and research by visiting our Thomas Herding Technique website where you will find research articles free in the A View From The Hoof section of Giving Back.
Thomas Herding Technique
206 Homeville Road Cochranville, PA 19330
Telephone: 610-593-4889
THOMAS HERDING TECHNIQUE
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