The Most Powerful Thing you can Train isn't Your Horse—it's Your Mind with Barbra Schulte - sponsored by Total Feeds
4/22/20261 hr 33 min
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."
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 hostin a Cutting Clinic September 17-20th 2026 in Pony, Montana. Click here for more info.
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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
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
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsNoëlle Floyd· Host0:00
Barbara Schulte is one of the most respected figures in the cutting horse world, a champion at the highest level, and someone riders turn to when they feel stuck or at a crossroads, because it's rarely an issue with the horse. In this episode, we talk about timing, position, keeping a steady mind, and what to do when things start to speed up. It's a conversation about learning in a way that makes you want to go back and try again.
Barbra Schulte· Guest0:36
Dear Horse Worlds, it's Barbara Schulte.
Noëlle Floyd· Host0:39
Barbara, welcome to the Dear Horse World podcast.
Barbra Schulte· Guest0:44
Thank you, Noelle. I'm thrilled to be here. I'm really, really happy to be here.
Noëlle Floyd· Host0:50
So I'm really excited to dive in because we actually... I had an opportunity to get a lesson with you this morning.
Barbra Schulte· Guest0:58
Yes. Yes.
Noëlle Floyd· Host1:00
And something that we were just talking about before we hit record was this idea of way-- being conscious of how we teach.
Barbra Schulte· Guest1:11
Mm-hmm.
Noëlle Floyd· Host1:11
And I want you to share with everyone who's listening or watching what you are conscious of that m- not maybe everyone who teaches students.
Barbra Schulte· Guest1:23
Mm-hmm.
Noëlle Floyd· Host1:23
And we're gonna dive into why you're conscious of it.
Barbra Schulte· Guest1:26
Mm-hmm.
Noëlle Floyd· Host1:27
But can you explain what you're thinking about when