Some people ask me, 'How do you get good times on speed events?' & 'Is it hard to learn the pattern(s)?'
Well, the first thing you gotta do if you want to run speed events, is to get you and your horse used to the pattern(s). Its not that hard to memorize the pattern(s), its actually very simple. Then you have to work the pattern starting at a walk, when you get good at that that's when you move up to a trot, then up to a canter.