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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