The Most Powerful Thing you can Train isn't Your Horse—it's Your Mind with Barbra Schulte - sponsored by Total Feeds

Champion cutting horse trainer Barbra Schulte joins the Dear Horse World Podcast after teaching host Noelle her first cut in Weatherford, Texas, explaining her teaching approach through mechanics and nervous system regulation.

They discuss staying in an optimal state between under-arousal and fight-or-flight, slowing down when things speed up, and building skills through fundamentals, clear sequences, repetition, and positive reinforcement (dopamine) to install neurological pathways rather than "muscle memory."

Barbra Schulte outlines beginner learning, the discouraging "messy middle," refinement, and mastery, emphasizing between-lesson work, visualization, scripts/mantras, and self-coaching tools like "what's my job?" and "what do I control?" They address negative self-talk, fear of judgment, blame vs responsibility, and self-worth, and Schulte shares how human performance training influenced her competitive success, plus retreats and book recommendations.

To find out more about Barbra - Website | Instagram | Facebook

Barbra Schulte is hosting a Cutting Clinic September 17-20th 2026 in Pony, Montana. Click here for more info.

What You'll Learn:

• Why your nervous system — not your technique — is the real ceiling on your riding performance
• How to find and stay in the sweet spot between flat and frantic, and what to do when you lose it
• Why positive reinforcement creates a dopamine cycle that accelerates skill acquisition
• The truth about muscle memory — and where new riding skills actually live in your body
• How to navigate the messy middle of learning without losing confidence or motivation
• Why nervousness is closer to peak performance than you think — and how blame moves you furthest away
• How Barbra used visualization and nervous system work to win two legs of cutting's triple crown

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Chapters:

00:00 Meet Barbra Schulte

01:00 Teaching With Awareness

03:40 Cutting Fundamentals Explained

07:06 When Things Speed Up 1

2:41 Dopamine And Learning Waves

19:38 Installing Skills And Practice Plans

31:41 Surviving The Messy Middle

35:48 Taming Negative Self Talk

38:46 Scripts Mantras And Regulation

42:38 Why You Ride In The First Place

43:54 No Failure In Learning

44:07 Total Equine Feed Story

47:19 Coming Home To Yourself

49:50 Visualization For Show Nerves

52:05 Do You Be You

01:00:28 Why Judgment Hurts

01:09:02 Nervous Anger Blame Rings

01:17:09 Hard Things Build Confidence

01:19:34 Why Nervous System Work

01:24:18 Retreats And Courses

01:26:37 Rapid Fire Wrap Up