How do I develop a horse's rate and acceleration for speed events?

Rate and acceleration are two complementary but distinct athletic qualities in a speed event horse. Rate refers to the horse's ability to compress its stride, collect itself, and slow its speed at a specific point — typically before a barrel or pole — in a controlled, athletic way that sets up a correct turn without losing the energy needed to power out of the turn. Acceleration refers to the horse's ability to produce maximum speed quickly after that rate point, driving powerfully off its hindquarters and building pace through the straight portions of the course. Rate is trained through consistent repetition of asking the horse to compress its stride at a specific, marked location before each obstacle. Cone markers or ground poles placed at the rate point give both horse and rider a visual reference for where compression should begin, and practicing to that marker until the rate is automatic produces the self-regulated rate that competitive speed events require. A horse that rates because the rider hauls on the reins at the last moment has not trained rate; it has trained evasion through resistance. Acceleration off the turn is built through exercises that develop hindquarter strength and pushing power — hill work, gymnastic exercises, interval training, and conditioning that develops the explosive muscle groups of the hindquarters. A horse that can sit on its hindquarters through a turn and then drive powerfully from those engaged hindquarters has the physical capacity for the explosive acceleration that separates competitive speed horses from those that run quickly but not explosively.