My horse and I were at a two day show this weekend. In the ring, he jumped out of his skin and was quite fun and rideable. In warm up, though, he was a bit of a hooligan and not much fun. It almost seemed pointless to jump anything because it didn’t make any difference once we were in the ring.
Anyone just skip the jumping and just warm up on the flat and go in? We’re doing mostly jumpers, if that makes any difference.
My old jumper and I rarely did anything in the warmup arena other than a little bit of flat. He simply got more wound up with every fence he faced, so it made no sense to get him more wound up. He is a machine, though, and I always knew what I was going to get once he heard the buzzer.
Sure. If it works for you, why not?
I had a junior hunter who would only jump a small vertical (2’9"-ish?) each direction and then we would go. He was brave and never spooky but could get strong, so the less we jumped, the more rideable he was.
I admit that I am often terrified of the warm up ring. Too many people flying around. It is counterproductive for me so I skip it. I do the schooling that is allowed the day before.
I have been riding a pony who isn’t quite as fit as I would like and jumps the best the fresher he is. Despite being green he is bold so he flats enough to warm up, schools one change, and then walks right in on course. His first course is always the best one too.
Competition prep is something I take seriously in that I try my best to give my horse the best warm for him before I go in the ring. For my horse, that is a solid 20 minutes of flat work followed by NO MORE than 5 jumps. As for me, I get more of an idea of what type of horse I have under me that day with a solid flat warm up rather than 100 warm up jumps.
Sometimes people need the jumps more than the horse (make sure their eye is right, make sure their gauge of impulsion is right, etc.). So if you are always on your game, and your horse is pretty steady OR the warm up ring makes matters worse (make him nervous), I don’t see a reason. A horse only has so many jumps in him. The less you have to use them up over warm up jumps, the luckier you are (in my eyes).
[QUOTE=Rel6;8124369]
I have been riding a pony who isn’t quite as fit as I would like and jumps the best the fresher he is. Despite being green he is bold so he flats enough to warm up, schools one change, and then walks right in on course. His first course is always the best one too.[/QUOTE]
This is exactly like the horse I described above. We started skipping the open card warm-up classes and going straight into the division classes because of it.
[QUOTE=karasha;8124378]
Competition prep is something I take seriously in that I try my best to give my horse the best warm for him before I go in the ring. For my horse, that is a solid 20 minutes of flat work followed by NO MORE than 5 jumps. As for me, I get more of an idea of what type of horse I have under me that day with a solid flat warm up rather than 100 warm up jumps.
Sometimes people need the jumps more than the horse (make sure their eye is right, make sure their gauge of impulsion is right, etc.). So if you are always on your game, and your horse is pretty steady OR the warm up ring makes matters worse (make him nervous), I don’t see a reason. A horse only has so many jumps in him. The less you have to use them up over warm up jumps, the luckier you are (in my eyes).[/QUOTE]
I could stand a fence or two, especially as we start going back up to the level we were at before I got hurt, but it’s hard to justify jumping fences to get get your eye in when your horse is silly consistently. I had more crap fences in warm up (and I don’t jump many at all) than I did ever in the ring.
I have one more warm up approach to try, but we may end up going with a solid flat warm up and no jumps if this keeps up!
I jump 3 jumps, but even that is probably overkill. My horse knows how to jump 
I do a lot of walking, a little trot and canter, and go in.
I spent about 4 or so years on my TB not doing any warm-up jumps before heading into our 1.20m - 1.50m classes. The footing change at our primary venue (GGT-ish mix in the schooling, grass in the show ring) wasn’t conducive to a productive school, and it took me several shows to figure out why he was pulling a couple of rails early on and then jumping clean for the rest of the class. Cut out the warm-up and we went back to a much higher percentage of clean rounds. It didn’t help the matter that he was a huge spaz in the ring with other horses. If someone knocked down a jump when we were anywhere in the vicinity he would lose it.
So for the first couple of years (1.20m - 1.30m) I wouldn’t warm him up at all (in a traditional sense). Instead I would take him for a 30-40 minute walk around the showgrounds and then head straight into the ring.
Then we started spending most of the summer at one showground in particular with the footing difference mentioned above. For those couple of years, I would walk up to a big grass field overlooking the GP field and trot and canter for about 20 minutes before the class and then head straight in. Scared me almost to death to not warm up (especially after watching the big guns jump a lot of fences in warm-up, because seriously, who am piddly little I to question what 99% of the show world does to get ready for a class?!), but it worked beautifully for my horse.
Then they changed the footing in the warm-up ring to a different GGT blend and I made a go of schooling again (for my own sake), and now I’m back to jumping 5-6 fences before walking into the ring. I do always make sure to canter a bit on grass and do a couple of halts before we go into the ring (I still think it’s a tough transition for my guy to go from footing -> grass).
For my lower level youngsters, I also often do not do jumps. I figure pretty much anything below 1.0m is fair game to walk right in after a good flat warmup. So if I’m having trouble finding a fence setter (occasionally the case when I’m at a show by myself without a helper), I just don’t sweat it.
My daughter’s horse (eventer) is really horse shy and the warmup is often way too chaotic for him.
We attended a Lucinda Green clinic where I was bemoaning the issues of the warmup, and was advised to skip it and make jump one his warm up jump. As she said, the horse already knows how to jump and the warm up just makes him unsettled, so don’t do it.
If it’s a good enough plan for Lucinda, it’s good enough for us!
It seems to be working . . . warming up away from the crowd and then just trotting straight into the ring. My daughter now does the same thing for dressage and cross country. Horse is heaps happier when he starts and much more attentive.
As the mom who has to go into the warm up area to try and manage the jumps, I am delighted this plan is working! Seriously the warm up area is a nightmare!
I’ve never liked jumping a lot of jumps in warm up, on any of my horses, from hunters as a kid to jumpers now. It just seems like spending their energy for no reason instead of saving it for the ring. I also know if they are focused and listening that it is time to go, not keep mucking around in warm up.
I just moved up to the 1.10-1.15m with my young horse and it seems like we don’t need much to be ready to go in the ring. What I currently do in warm up is make sure he is supple on the flat, jump a few fences so he knows he is on the job (a couple of verticals and an oxer or three), and then go in. So far, so good!
Me! I haven’t jumped a warm-up fence in going on 10 years now, with two different horses. Both were “packer types”, but both quite hot and the warmup just wound them up, and made me nervous. I have a good flat warmup routine and then head in–doesn’t matter if it is hunter or jumper rounds. Mind you, I stay 3’ and below. Now that my boy is 18 (zoiks!), we are careful with the number of fences he jumps even at home.
This makes me feel so good. The warm-up just gets my horse (the last two)
fussed and me cranky at all the buzzing about. I do like one small jump to get our eye in and a feel… I thought I was inadequate 
My old stallion that I showed in hunters I quit doing warm-ups with; if I did warm-ups he left his best jumps in there; it was better if I took him into the class for the first time–then he jumped brilliantly, and as I was showing him heavily, it left the energy for his classes.
I used to ride a jumper that would just be totally cuckoo if you jumped outside the ring so we just flatted and went in. He was careful and scopey but a beast to ride but he did lay down clean trips!
I’m with those who don’t jump many fences before heading into the ring. I do a nice flat, jump one or two just to see how my mare is feeling, then either walk until it’s our turn if she’s settled, or trot her a bit longer if she’s more up. At our final show last fall, her best round was actually one which we trotted two laps, cantered one, and headed to the ring - the order moved right along much (!!!) faster than expected due to horrendous weather, and I couldn’t have been prouder as to how my lovely horse coped with it!
On my childhood pony I usually just jumped whatever was set in the warmup by the previous people, on vertical, one oxer and went in the ring. She was a total pro and didn’t need more. Most of that probably comes from showing on my own, it is a pain to set your own jumps so if you don’t really need it, you don’t do it!
I have a total spaz of a jumper, however, and I could always tell that if he was a fruitloop in the warmup he was going to have an ON day in the ring if I didn’t ride like a monkey and kept my leg on. So…there’s that up side.
I still never jump anything more than a crossrail or two, two verticals and two oxers. no use leaving your horse in the warmup arena. what he hasn’t learned by the time we get to the horse show he isn’t going to learn over another 20 jumps, he’s just going to be tired, fried and unravel. Try taking a long walk, take him down to the ring on a rope when you aren’t showing and just hang out as much as you can by the ring off his back so he can get used to the action, and just let his brain settle. I also spend a lot of time trotting on days when I’m not riding and seeing if I can get him long and low. This is a challenge for him everywhere, but particularly at horse shows. I spent this horse’s entire career SLLLOOOWWWINNNGGG DOOOWWWNNN EEEVVVEEERRRYYYYTHHHINNNNGGGG but that’s what he needed, every ride.
My horse has a vision issue, so the warm up area is a scary place for him. He gets a 10 minute lunge right before, I get on, we go to the ring. We show in the nervous adults and he’s 18 hands, so for him it’s like cantering around a course of poles.
[QUOTE=Didi;8124346]
I admit that I am often terrified of the warm up ring. Too many people flying around. It is counterproductive for me so I skip it. I do the schooling that is allowed the day before.[/QUOTE]
This is me- I was terrified of the schooling area. We did one low and wiiiide oxer on an angle, and then a tall vertical on the other angle (we figure-8-ed the jump) to get a rub and went.
I’ve never understood those who do 20 warm up jumps, but it works for them so…
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