Favourite warmup exercises?

[Rosie B]

Hi guys,

I came up with a warmup exercise last week that has been working wonders for Bliss and wanted to share. Bliss can get a little lazy/behind the leg, and also can get sticky in the leg yeilds. So in the latter part of my warmup, I started doing LY from quarter line to wall, and then the next QL instead of LY I would ride boldly forward in a medium, then half halt, collect, do a half 10m circle and back onto the QL again. I'd alternate doing LY and mediums so that Bliss would be guessing which was coming next. Sometimes I'd do two LYs or two mediums in a row as well. And sometimes, I'll start out in a medium and then switch to LY, or start out in a LY and switch to medium. This combination of guessing what's coming, lateral, forward and back, and bending (through the half 10m circles) REALLY gets him using himself nicely as well as being nicely in front of the leg.

Do you guys have a favourite warmup exercise that works for your horse? If so, please share!

[StraightForward]

This half-halt exercise has been working well with Kyra lately: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWPQN9sBYNc

Basically, working trot, almost walk, trot off again briskly. I have difficulty keeping her from falling onto her left shoulder in the down transitions, but I noticed when I rode her Saturday night that she would not fall in during the "almost walk" and so this was a very useful exercise to both get her off of her left shoulder and more onto the right rein, and also get her in front of the leg.

Susan has also installed a good reinback on her, but she is usually dull to the first request or two, so some W/RB/W moving to W/RB/T works well to get her reactions more crisp as well.

[piedmontfields]

Great topic. I am embarrassed to admit that I think I am *still* figuring out the ultimate warm-up for Emi. In general, I do find taking longer in walk, shorter in trot, and longer in canter is the pattern that works for us. This past week, I have been deliberately practicing and timing our warm-up, as I am looking at participating in some clinics and want to get a better grip on my method and efficiency.

Here is our current warm-up approach:

After some minutes of long rein walking (if she is willing to do it, which is not every day), we go to walk squares, leg yield out on a circle or quarter line, then 10 m circles mixed in with shoulder in / renvers. Usually this produces a feeling that she is ready to swing forward in trot. But if I don't feel that, I'll take more time and do some head to wall leg yields. Then we are ready for bending line trotting for a few minutes. Depending on how swinging she is, I may mix in big leg yields back and forth down the long side, or leg yields on a circle. At this point in the warm-up, I have no medium trot available so I couldn't do your warm-up, Rosie! LOL This part of the warm-up is just dialing up the trot slowly.

Then we are ready for canter. If she is feel go-ey and eager, I start mixing in lots of circles and canter plies. If she needs to find more engine/wake up the hind legs, I do lots of canter-trot-canters with an emphasis of forward into the transition. I like to do the trot transition over poles if I remember to set them up.

This takes about 15 minutes in total, which seems too long? But after this kind of work we are actually ready to do much harder work. I usually do the more challenging work in canter before the trot work since canter helps Emi let go in her back.

A very typical ride for us is a 15 minute warm-up in all gaits, walk break, 12 minutes work session 1 (canter focused in some way), walk break, 12 minute work session 2 (lateral work or trot work focus), then a walking cool out hack (15 minutes). We will go shorter if it's a great day or an especially challenging day, but this is a pretty frequent pattern.

[Kyra's Mom]

When I ride (which hasn't been for awhile now)...once I mount and she is calm, we walk a lap each way of the arena with her on the buckle. Her 'whatever' walk. She has to move but I'm not going to get to particular. I figure she needs to adjust to my big arse in the saddle . After that, I get more particular about the walk. Usually still on a long rein but it now must march and sometimes that takes a bit. If she is relaxed and calm, it can take a bit of time to get her reacting quickly to the leg. Once she is there, I pick up the reins and start adding in some leg yielding for suppling. If she is being fussy in the mouth, I pick a line and do turn on the forehand on one end of my line and a turn on the haunches on the other end of the line. She has to do it softly and be straight at the end. Since my butt pain escalated over a year ago, I have done most of our work in the walk. I have a warm up down for that . I really haven't done a ton of trot or canter so currently add those in after a nice long walk warm-up and concentrate on straightness.

Susan

[ElaPe]

This half-halt exercise has been working well with Kyra lately: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWPQN9sBYNc

I love these short YT videos of Emile Faurie. His explanations are so succint and easy to remember.

[Rosie B]

Yes! I have watched them all. They're great!

I also love the trot-almost walk-trot transitions. I used to do that a lot but haven't been this year so thTs a great reminder.

[Bats79]

I have one who warms up best with shoulder-in volte followed by medium trot on the left rein and then leg yield (not quite ready for half pass) right followed by stretchy circle on the right rein.

[piedmontfields]

I am going to review the videos for more ideas--thank you!

Would you all be so kind to tell me how long it takes for you to feel like your horse goes from "eh" out of the stall or field to whatever level/standard they are currently working well at? I may just be slow due to being old with an older mare with PSSM. Or I may be inefficient!!! I truly welcome ideas for efficiency of warm-up, especially for the diesel engine and older types.

When I start my ride, my horse looks like a kind, push-ride amateur mount for someone trying to do training/first level. Over the course of our 15 minute warm-up, she changes quite a bit...

[Chisamba]

This half-halt exercise has been working well with Kyra lately: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWPQN9sBYNc

Basically, working trot, almost walk, trot off again briskly. .

so none of you noticed that the horse came behind the vertical through the exercise? In the video. and despite what the instructor said, the horse became heavier in the rein of the rider. Who was very strong with his hands albeit subtle. And the trot lost its quality and became and falsely passage like.

[Chisamba]

I warm up in the walk, allowing the horse to stretch and even look around, not on the contact, in each direction, then i begin to gather the reins, and start to add circles, spiraling in and out, then depending on the level of training of the horse, i will begin to shoulder in, leg yield and go through the horses lateral movements in the walk.

This probably takes ten minutes. I then begin to trot, if the horse tends to be a rusher and too forward, I will add lots of transition, back to walk , some shoulder in, and leg yield, that I will really ask the horse to bend around my legs, i will do serpentine focusing on change of bend using the legs. If the horse is a bit quiet and lazy, i will canter trot canter trot, to improve the trot.

then it depends on my plan for the week. I tend to have areas of focus for the week.

[Bats79]

This half-halt exercise has been working well with Kyra lately: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWPQN9sBYNc

Basically, working trot, almost walk, trot off again briskly. .

so none of you noticed that the horse came behind the vertical through the exercise? In the video. and despite what the instructor said, the horse became heavier in the rein of the rider. Who was very strong with his hands albeit subtle. And the trot lost its quality and became and falsely passage like.

I prefer this video of the half halt - but it isn't a "warmup exercise". It's not perfect but I don't think any video clip could be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vjT5LxVF6c&t=215s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vjT5LxVF6c&t=215s

[musical comedy]

I'm one that values most everything Dr. Clayton has to say. If you don't, then her quote that follows won't be of interest to you.
I do no lateral work or engaging half halt during my warmup. Walking on a long rein following but easy trot and canter on straight line. Then a break, followed by trot and canter that includes large circles and easy lateral work. You guys doing 10 meter circles and medium trot in your warmup .

There are 2 aspects for warm up, one is concerned with physiological preparation of the horse and the other is concerned with the training aspects for physiological prep. You need to increase the horse's body temperature by one to two degrees. This occurs with active forward movement. When the muscles are warm they contract more strongly and the ligaments and tendons become more pliable and less suseptable to injury. So, it's not until the horse is physically warm that we should start suppling exercises or stretching exercises. So, the horse should come out, walk for several minutes, then move actively forward at trot or canter, for 5-10 minutes this will raise the temperature. Then include suppling exercise circles, lateral work and transitions and beyond that, the warm up becomes more specific to the individual horse and level of competition.

[piedmontfields]

I'm one that values most everything Dr. Clayton has to say.

I think she is worth listening to! The way you warm up is how I was taught to warm up, and frankly it has worked well on most horses I've ridden. It does not work particularly well on my current horse, which is part of what has been challenging.

[musical comedy]

The way you warm up is how I was taught to warm up, and frankly it has worked well on most horses I've ridden. It does not work particularly well on my current horse, which is part of what has been challenging.

Actually, while a different breed/type, my horse presents the same as yours in his early work. To see him you would think he was an old beginner school horse. Everything is s-l-o-w and there is not a good response to the leg until he is good and ready. I have tried all kinds of different techniques and exercises, and he is what he is. He was like that as a young horse as well. Doing lateral work on a horse that is not in front of the aids doesn't work for me. The way he is was a huge problem for me showing. In the show warmup ring, it was impossible for me to warm him up the way I needed. As a result, he was a snail the whole way through a test. I finally gave up showing and embarassing myself.

[Ponichiwa]

The challenging part about the warmup is that it'll change over time. The warmup that Kiwi needed at age 6 is very different than the one she needs now 2 years later. Throw in seasonal changes (maybe less of an issue now), and the ideal warmup is a very mobile target.

That said, I do have a cookbook of sorts.

Because Kiwi has a tendency to be either a bit behind the leg (balky) or dishonestly forward (squirting away from the leg), I focus a lot of my warmup on the successful application of the leg to get a reasonable response. This means lots of serpentines in the trot, accepting the bending aids (and sometimes varying between true flexion and counterflexion), and within the bend asking for longer strides at a progressively slower trot tempo. This helps her get into the mindspace that connects the leg with honest connection and not with sewing machine trot steps at warp speed. If I tried trot/halt/trot sequences with her, she'd get balled up under/behind the saddle and I'd lose the ability to send her forward. Whoastorms. So we do lots of gentle turning and elongating alternating sides of her body.

Canter is generally best left for after the trot becomes more rideable. Before then and I risk accidentally hitting the ejection button.

AT, the elderly Hanoverian gelding that taught me how to actually ride, thrived on essentially the opposite warmup. We'd start with some collected walk work-- halfpasses with change of bend, halfpass to shoulder in to halfpass, turns on the haunches, etc.-- and then strike off into the canter. He warmed up really well with light lateral work in the canter-- shallow halfpass, leg yield, shoulder-in-- in medium or working canter. Then we'd move on to trot/halt/trot or trot/halfsteps/trot or trot/almost halt/trot, depending on the day. Sufficiently warmed up and jazzed up, we could then move on to the working part of the session. This warmup took probably 20 min, all told. At the height of our showing career, we'd do exactly that warmup and go straight to the test.

Both Kiwi and AT were at about the same phase in their training (AT maybe a bit more progressed and nuanced about flying changes). Main difference in the warmup between the two is personality, honestly. Some compensation for age/arthritis, but mainly it's that the warmup that AT needed would fry Kiwi, and the warmup that Kiwi needed would guarantee that I'd need 2 whips, a hurricane, and a pack of screaming kids to wake AT up enough to get work out of him.

[piedmontfields]

The challenging part about the warmup is that it'll change over time.

As usual, Ponichiwa sums it up so well.

I also appreciate the reminder that a warm-up does take time. I'm going to reflect some more on what we are doing and how it is going. I have to remember the value of that slow "pony" trot, too, during our warm-up!

[Rosie B]

Piedmont, I noticed no one answered your question about how long it takes to warm up. 15 minutes seems like a long time to you, but my warmup is longer than that. I either longe first for 5 minutes, then another 5 minutes of walk, then 5 or so minutes of trot large or trotting up and down the driveway if I don't longe. All this with just focusing on rhythm and steady contact. Then I start paying more attention to influencing things. My warmup exercise I described above is after this initial 15 or 20 minutes of work. I don't hop on, pick up trot, and start demanding LY, 10m circles, and mediums. Perhaps the term warmup exercise was misleading.

After that I do another maybe 20-30 minutes canter and trot work. I usually only ride for 35-45 minutes.

[piedmontfields]

Rosie, I realized as the thread went on that what you meant by "warm up exercise" was very different from what do you do for the first period of time to prepare your horse for work! I think of that as a "set" or a group of exercises/patterns with a certain focus.

From experience, I know that Emi would work best if I took the time to do a 30 minute walk before any arena work. That is the best warm-up for us to be ready to enter the arena and work. But sometimes I don't have the time, daylight or footing. I think I am being impatient to think that she can come from turn-out in summer to work in only 15 minutes of warm-up. In winter, I am very aware that we need more time (due to cold and to longer time in the stall overnight), and my expectations are different especially for our evening rides.

I am going to do some more experimenting with warm-up approaches, including setting the timer for walking, and will report back.

[Chisamba]

I find the increase in body temp interesting, but it doesn't worry me. If you do not increase your horses body temp in walk, you aren't doing it correctly

I have had numerous return from lay up recovery, with very good vets, and they all consist of return to work in walk, for months, carefully and gradually adding trot sets, so you will not be able to persuade me that I am harming my horse with walk warm up.

[Rosie B]

So just for interest's sake, here's what I did in my ride tonight:
5 min free walk on a loose rein up and down the driveway
2-3 min walk on contact asking for shallow leg yields to affirm response to the legs, also on the driveway
2-3 min trot up the driveway to the arena
5 min trot large around the arena and across diagonals without asking for much other than free forward movement.
2-3 minutes of my LY exercise from the first post
A minute or two stretching at trot
A couple minute walk break
A few walk/trot transitions then into canter.
2-3 min canter right. Then a minute or two of walk, then 2-3 min canter left followed by another minute of walk.
Then a few more w/t/w transitions, some trot/halt/trot, then a couple 10m circles, shoulder in, and medium trots each way. Then 4 loop serpentines, another minute of stretchy trot, then a few minutes of working on walk pirouettes. Then free walk on a loose rein down the driveway. All told I rode for just over 40 minutes.

Tonight was one of those rides where everything was pretty decent on the first go round, so I didn't focus on one particular thing. Next ride I will probably do more canter work because this ride was light on canter.

[mari]

Mine varies. Appaloosas can't learn a pattern, because otherwise you might as well get off and let them get on with it by themselves

We do 15 minutes of walk (on the buckle, but active) on hard ground before entering the arena, every ride. A legacy of suspensory rehab, and something I stick to religiously.

If I'm jumping, I do a bit of shuffly trot on the buckle, then start taking up the reins gradually after a few circuits, and asking for more activity. Generally our jumping lessons have about 10 minutes of trot, followed by about 15 - 20 minutes of canter, before starting to jump.

If I'm doing dressage, we get straight to work after walking. I like going from walk to canter, his trot is better after canter work. It seems like what some of you see as warm-up, I see as the easier-work stage of my ride. For me, walking and trotting on the buckle is warm-up, after that everything else is work