Warmup article - hmmm

[Saskatoonian]

Did anyone else click on this article hoping for some insight as to how to warm up correctly? I did and was disappointed. There was plenty of “why” to warm up, but almost nothing about how to do it correctly. A discussion here would be interesting.

A Case for Warming Up (and How to Do It Correctly) with Kyle Carter

His comment that his jumper coaches had him warming up for 45-60 minutes is consistent with my experience, if a little longer (I’m not exactly jumping 4’ LOL). I jump with a h/j person who has me do a solid 30 minutes of serious flatwork before we jump (transitions, shoulder in, leg yield, haunches in, etc), as well as just work over poles on the ground (lengthening and shortening, turns, strides, etc) and it does help with rideability. On my own, I have to admit that I don’t do that much, but will start now.

[Pennywell_Bay]

@Saskatoonian

His comment that his jumper coaches had him warming up for 45-60 minutes is consistent with my experience, if a little longer (I’m not exactly jumping 4’ LOL). I jump with a h/j person who has me do a solid 30 minutes of serious flatwork before we jump (transitions, shoulder in, leg yield, haunches in, etc), as well as just work over poles on the ground (lengthening and shortening, turns, strides, etc) and it does help with rideability. On my own, I have to admit that I don’t do that much, but will start now.

45-60 minute warm up and then jumping has never been my experience, unless you are counting riding up to the ring- maybe but that’s pushing it. My experienc is with BNTs in both jumper and hunters on 6 figure 1.40+ and AO horses. To each their own.

My jumper trainer does long rein trot to loosen up, collection in trot and canter, dressage moves then jumping. And that varies on what the individual horse needs. I can not think of one he has “warmed up” on the flat for an hours before jumping. In 45-60 minute “warm up”- are smaller fences included (assuming we are talking high level horses).

I guess I’m wondering about long term soundess of 45-60 minute warm ups. Seems crazy but everyone is different.

[beowulf]

This is really so personal and dependent on the objective of your ride that day (clinic? lesson? riding at home?) and the horse you’re on – as well as the horse you get that day.

I will say the best warm up for my current horse when we are not at home is to hack him around the venue/place at the walk for 15-20m before I get into the ring. We don’t need to do much warm up at other gaits at all, in fact I prefer not to, to keep my horse fresh as sometimes these clinics stretch for nearly two hours.

At home I always do three loops of my bridlepath before entering the ring, which adds up to about 14m of walking.

I have never warmed up for 45-60 minutes before jumping a horse. At most, my warmups – especially for XC schooling or clinics – have been 20m of walking and 10-15m of W/T/C over fences. If I did 45-60 minutes of warm up I would probably be on my horse’s back for 2 hours once everything was factored in.

I see the value in working on lateral work and adjustability in these warmups, but the focus should be on improving these at home so they are ready tools for your disposal at clinics.

Some food for thought is if you are trucking in, your horse is already ‘warmed’ up in the physiological sense - balancing in a trailer is hard physical exercise. I find the longer the ride is, the more the horse needs a walk warm up to get those muscles used to balance to relax. I think I would have a tired horse if I rode as hard as some of the advice in that panel.

But, I also am not riding an UL athlete - so my horse’s fitness is nowhere near as hardcore, and my goals are not that high.

[Spudsmyguy]

The title is definitely misleading. It mentions several times to do a “proper” warmup but doesn’t tell you what a proper warmup entails, plus it’s different for everyone.

[enjoytheride]

Kyle does a lot of Ride IQ lessons and he generally goes on a hack for 5 to 10 minutes, then does his ring warm up, then some serious work, then another hack.

[enjoytheride]

@Pennywell_Bay

45-60 minute warm up and then jumping has never been my experience, unless you are counting riding up to the ring- maybe but that’s pushing it. My experienc is with BNTs in both jumper and hunters on 6 figure 1.40+ and AO horses. To each their own.

My jumper trainer does long rein trot to loosen up, collection in trot and canter, dressage moves then jumping. And that varies on what the individual horse needs. I can not think of one he has “warmed up” on the flat for an hours before jumping. In 45-60 minute “warm up”- are smaller fences included (assuming we are talking high level horses).

I guess I’m wondering about long term soundess of 45-60 minute warm ups. Seems crazy but everyone is different.

SOME OF US go to a show, trot 2 laps around the warm up arena, jump something twice, and then call it good. If our trainers were with us they’d probably have a stroke.

[PNWjumper]

My warmup at home before we jump is probably in a 20-45 min range (counting walking - and usually is closer to the 20 min than the 45 min number). But my warmup for shows is much shorter and doesn’t vary a ton between young horses and my High AO/GP horses.

I try to get them out a couple of times during the day for a long meander through the show grounds or a 10 min lunge (in a halter, no gear of any sort) if I’m pressed on time.

When it’s time for the class we walk up to the ring and walk around for a while and then usually a couple of laps around the (usually very large) warm up arena in each direction with some lateral work thrown in the second half. Then a couple of canter laps with the same. Then to the jumps. I rarely jump more than 5-10 jumps, and I don’t start all that small.

When my TB was in the big GPs he struggled with footing at Thunderbird Show Park in particular. He couldn’t jump on GGT and then head into a grass ring. So we would hack on the grass above the GP field for 20-30 min (i.e. more trotting and cantering than I would do on the other horses). We would do zero warm up jumps. Then we would walk into the 1.40/1.50m classes straight off. That taught me a bit about what horses actually need versus what riders need. The short story is that they need to be “loose” and literally…warm. They certainly don’t need to jump 25+ fences (though the rider very well may need exactly that).

[subk]

I would point out that at a big H/J shows by the time you get to the big classes on the last day of a show many of the horses have been on the grounds in stalls for 5 days–and if they are on the road it can be quite a length of time between turnout opportunities. So I can see a different need there.

Honestly, at the lower levels with my green horses I’m much more interested in having their brain in the right place than I am about the fine nuances of physical preparedness. Especially if we are talking 3 feet and under. And I certainly don’t want them to think of competing as hard work or drudgery. I hate watching people take a lesson or train their horses in warm up.

[subk]

Also, not to be argumentative but more recent studies are showing that “stretching” prior to rigorous physical activity is more likely to lead to injury. There are many of ideas and thoughts around “what is a proper warm-up” that are not scientifically based. Remember when we used to think that you should only let a hot horse drink a few sips of water at a time, or that you shouldn’t put cold water on a hot horse because cooling down a hot horse too quickly was bad for them?

[Saskatoonian]

This is part of the problem with an article that’s so vague: he is talking about warmups not only at competitions but for lessons, clinics and training. He doesn’t talk about the factors that will influence the appropriate warmup (a horse who’s just come in from turnout vs one who’s spent the day in a stall vs the one who’s headed in to stadium after dressage and XC earlier in the day, to cite a few examples), and most fundamentally, he doesn’t talk about what he means by warmup. I almost always start with 10 minutes of walking on a loose rein. Does he consider that as part of the warmup? What if I pick up the reins and ask the horse to round his back? I think that’s fair to call warmup if it’s long and low; the more up in front, the more it looks like work. So much depends on the horse.

Anyway, it’s an interesting topic - I just wish the article were more specific.

[skydy]

You have to pay for specifics.

[Saskatoonian]

Apparently I missed the fine print LOL - but I was so unimpressed with the rest that even if I hadn’t missed it, I wouldn’t have done it!

[Pennywell_Bay]

@enjoytheride

SOME OF US go to a show, trot 2 laps around the warm up arena, jump something twice, and then call it good. If our trainers were with us they’d probably have a stroke.

BA HA HA. @enjoytheride - are you referring to my magificent warm up at our last schooling show

[enjoytheride]

I was referring to mine

[Pennywell_Bay]

@enjoytheride

was referring to mine

I guess we can time our warm ups this weekend… I am going to count walking to warm up, standing in warm up wanting to vomit, etc etc etc

[FozzyB]

Saskatoonian - valid point! I’m on the team at Ride iQ and we read this thread and we’re going to host an “Office Hours” next week (Thursday, 7/7 at 6pm ET) with Kyle and Jen Carter about warming up. The discussion will be livestreamed to YouTube, so people can tune-in to ask questions via the chat, and Kyle and Jen will get into more details about what a proper warmup consists of, the various factors to consider when choosing a warmup plan, etc. I hope this can fill in the gaps from the article! If you’re interested, you can click this link when it’s time to join: https://youtu.be/r4WPe0JZ7hI. If you can’t make it live, you can use that same link to watch the recording anytime after the event. Thanks for bringing this to our attention!

[horseshorseshorseshorses]

Oh man I wish I could do two laps around the arena and go jump a course. When I’m at a venue I have to plan for at least 30 to 45 minutes of hacking/trotting to get his brain back on me. But on the other hand when I’m at home I can Hop on and have a 15 minute ride that’s extremely productive.

[Calvincrowe]

H/J here: in a jumping lesson, we flat for 20-30 minutes, working on specifics that will be used over fences that day, if a concept is being taught/reinforced (going forward, using your corners, pace and rhythm, etc.). At shows, I warm up each horse I ride according to their needs first, then mine. My jumper, as he aged, needed a set routine of flat warm up-- lots of walking to settle his pea brain (ooh! look! a sign, a dog, a garbage can, a portapotty!!) then long and low trot, contact trot, bendability, canter with go forward and whoa in place. I did not jump a single jump in the warm up ring with him-- he would just get tense and bouncy, so into the ring we’d go and he was all business.

My hunter mare comes out all business and highly professional. WTC both directions to loosen her up, drop my irons and do a few laps of sitting and posting to tighten up my leg and my position, then we hop a few low fences to get my nerves settled (yeah, I’m the anxious one in this partnership!) and getting me going forward rather than getting in Ms.Mare’s way, and into the ring we go.

I believe everyone should be attuned to their mount’s needs of the moment and venue…especially if one’s horse is a sensitive soul.

[subk]

I always love how H/Js use “flat” as a verb!

[Calvincrowe]

The special jargon of equestrian disciplines is a stumper for those outside our world. I’ve had to ask questions when I encounter terms from other of our sports. My DH and non-horsey friends have given me some odd looks over the years, too. And don’t get me started on sheath cleaning/digging for the bean!