Dear
Nancy,
I have a very athletic warmblood gelding. He is 6 years old, he has
had
good basics and he is very safe. My question is : I am an amateur
rider,
still learning to get my seat and I feel like I spend the whole
ride trying
to get things right. At the end I have five minutes of good
work and then
we are both pooped. What is the best way for us to warm
up so that we can
get beyond the warm up sooner and spend more time
working.
Thank you for
your time, Directionless in NY Dear
Directionless, I
do have a very good basic warm up for you. With this warm up you
should feel
that you and your horse become warmed up more quickly and
are able to move
on to more advanced work. When
I first get on I walk on mostly long reins for at least 10 minutes
to let
the horse loosen up and start moving in his back. Mostly long
reins means
that the neck is long and low the back stretching thru to
the bit, the contact
can be very light, or almost completely loose, but
when I touch the mouth
the horse is giving in, not ever pulling at the
reins. I make sure right from
the start that he moves away from my
legs, meaning that whenever I give a
forward aid with my leg that my
horse immediately responds by going more forward..accelerating,
goes
from here to there with a more vigorous step. At this point in the ride
that does not have to be pretty. A quick step, jig step or rushing is
acceptable
for a second, just checking that he is listening to my legs.
Eventually for
him to be more enthusiastic without loosing the gait is
preferable. Do not
pull on the reins if he gives too much reaction,
just settle him with the
seat and perhaps massage the mouth with the
wrists so that he does not get
strong, most of all do not pull back. It
also helps that you have the idea
that your horse is flexed to the
inside around your inside leg right from
the start. Even though the
beginning work is long and low remember that you
have and inside leg
and an outside leg. It is much easier to collect a horse
that is supple
to the inside and not too "straight". After
the walk I do the same work in trot and then in canter. The work
will consist
of trot circles 20 meters, long diagonals to change
direction and trot canter,
canter trot transitions. The warm up is done
in half long reins, the horse
should be round, stretching down and
bending nicely to the inside. To get
the bending you will need to
supple the inside rein as well as keep him nicely
obedient to your
inside leg. Your outside rein will have a nice light contact
and be the
rein in the future that determines the length of frame, in the
beginning you may need to let loose on the outside rein to allow the
horse
to bend his neck easily to the inside, later he will need to
respond to half
halts that will encourage him to stay more collected as
he accepts the bending.
It is important to remember that the warm up is
used to loosen you and your
horse up, however, it is also used to prime
the horse again about your aids
and what they mean........... so for
instance if you ask him to go forward
to your leg....... and he does
not go............... you must not think öh
he is not warmed up enough"
Even if it is not pretty he must understand
what the aid means, he must
accelerate. If you ignore that he ignored you
then you will not have
legs that mean anything to him later in the ride, he
will be thinking
"she does not care if I go forward when she puts her
legs on" Later in
the ride you will combine forward aids and half halts
to create more
balance and collection. Now you are just checking the gas pedal
and the
breaks, it does not all have to look perfect it has to feel like he
is
listening. Trot
canter do not walk canter or canter walk yet, this requires more
balance and
collection and you are still warming up. Also remember to
sit 5 or 6 steps
of trot before you canter and after you canter to
practice sitting. Just walking
to avoid sitting trot is not teaching
you anything. Also he needs to feel
you sitting before your canter
depart. You want to practice small stretches
of sitting trot with your
horse so he gets used to swinging in his back under
your seat, and so
you get used to letting him move under you without using
your hands for
balance. It is very important that you do not feel that he
stiffens in
his neck and mouth when you give him a rein aid. You always want
him to find the place of give in the reins. For this the neck needs to be
round
and poll giving in. If the neck is too long and the horse is
going too fast
this will be difficult to achieve. It will be the response to your go aids and
wait aids that will turn it into give. Do not spend too much time waiting for
a reaction. If you use your legs do not get a response , ask immediately again
a bit stronger and then praise him for a positive reaction by relaxing the aid
and with your voice. The same with the reins, when you ask him to slow down or
make a downward transition do not wait too long, if he does not respond use the
aid a bit stronger and then relax it. Do be careful not to create pressure in
the hands or legs because your horse is not reacting. Use a stronger aid and then
relax. Remember always with the hand it is not pulling back, it is pressure against
the forwardness and then going with or accepting the forwardness through the wrists. Okay
that is the warm up. That should take 10 of walking and then
another 10 -
15 minutes or so. More after days off or cold days or when
they get no turn
out. I
hope this helps! Good luck, Nancy |
