Warm Up
Warm Up
Purpose
warm up muscles / joints / soft tissues
increase oxygen delivery & blood circulation to muscles / tissues
increase elasticity of tendons – less chance of injury if stretched / warmed up
Description
start with minimum 10 min walk on long rein (adjust to weather/temp/health)
active walk
neck stretched down / forward
allow horse to look around / take in environment
encourage hind legs to be active & reach (not on forehand)
as horse loosens up – strides cover more ground
legs swinging through larger range of motion (hips & shoulders)
rider encourage horse to use entire body to move forward
horse moves freely & relaxed
Check in with Your Horse
how does he/she feel?
stiff spots?
happy/grumpy/worried….
Check in with Your Self
focused?
“in the moment”?
horse responsive to aids?
happy/grumpy/worried?
Check in with Horse/Rider Partnership
harmonious?
horse responsive to communication?
rider’s responsibility to adjust to get harmony & responsive communication
Don’t start work until horse feels warmed up, and rider/horse in sync. Start your work with a smile!
Most horse’s need their “own” warm up. Once you find what works for your horse, it’s useful to use similar warm up / exercises to check in with your horse and yourself each day. Do you need adjustments? It’s the actual training session that needs to be different each day.
After warm up walk: trot or canter (depends on the horse)
Look for:
which gait is the horse more comfortable/relaxed/balanced
trot – start with posting
canter – light seat
horse should not pull on reins
not on forehand
if unsure – try trot one day, canter the next – which feels better?