Warmup Question - On the bit or loose rein?

[tbchick84]

I’ve been reluctant to even ask this question since it’s more subjective than anything, but here goes. I recently had to opportunity to clinic with a highly qualified dressage instructor. He/she has trained several horses up to Grand Prix level, made the Olympic dressage team with one of them.

I ride your typical cold backed TB who needs a lot of warm up, or at least so I thought. I’ve always started just walking around on a loose rein for a good 10 minutes before even picking up contact. After than it’s W/T/C on a longish rein with just a slight feel of the mouth. I use bending exercise to work out any stiffness I feel and only then do I finally move onto on the bit work and asking him to use himself properly.

I was told this is all wrong, and that my horse should be firmly on the bit from step one. I’m not going to say she did not have him supple and going nicely by the end of the lesson, but I was concerned that I was being unfair to my horse. He was very sore for several days after which tells me he does not have the muscles for that much connected work. While I loved the lesson and the information he/she has to give, I’m concerned it is not in the best interest of my horse.

So the question for you all, particularly those who ride at the higher levels is, which type of warm up do you do? Is it fair to ask a horse to use muscles that are not even warmed up yet or does the connection from step one actually facilitate the muscles warming up?

[woodhillsmanhattan]

I walk on a loose rein for 5-10 minutes. Then trot on a loose rein with light contact for 5-10 minutes. I might even try to get him to stretch long/low and really use his hind end. I then go back to the walk and pick up regular contact and go to work. Afterwards I trot long and long for 5 minutes and then walk on loose rein for 10-20 minutes outside the ring if possible.

[normandy_shores]

I walk loose rein. Depending on his energy after 10 mins I might pick him up a bit. Trot on long contact and then back to walk on contact before trotting on the bit.

[mychestnutvalentine]

My old mare I would let warm up in a loose rein. Current mare (who is cold backed, 6 yr old OTTB)I start on the bit because she needs that consistency. Depends on your horse. If they have a good, rhythmic trot established then I don’t see a problem letting them warm up on a loose ring. However, if your horse is like my new mare (shoots off at the trot, head sky high, pace random) then a contact might be a good way to start out. Today my mare was started with a contact and by the end I had her in a nice swingy trot with her head seeking contact.

[silverdog]

I walk on a loose rein for a short while and then take light contact and ask for stretchy walk. I do serpentines and so forth asking my horse to flex side to side. Then I pick up the reins, at the walk and do walk halt transitions to be sure he moves off promptly from my aids. Then some lateral work at the walk on contact alternating with stretching walk. Then I work at trot getting him equally supple. If I get that then we do some harder work. If not I do stretchy trot and call it a day. If it is cold, I will do a brisk trot with no concern for his outline for 5 min or so and then gradually ask him to stretch down.
When my favorite clinician comes to town she works my horse quite hard, and yes he is tired behind for several days. This next time I am scheduling an acupuncture trmt for the day following to help him recover faster.

[Highflyer]

I guess it depends. My horses typically come out of the field, and I rarely feel like they need that much walking (and often it would give them an opportunity to be silly) and I will typically spend the first ten minutes walking and trotting on a light contact and asking them to stretch a bit. But on a cold, windy day or after a break, I do pick up more contact right away.

[MKV]

My 7yo OTTB does better with light contact right away. If I try to walk him around on a loose rein for too long he’ll look around at other horses, cars, birds, and other things around the arena, so some contact helps him stay focused.

[skipollo]

My 7yo OTTB is rarely stalled so is moving regularly, but I still give him a good 15 minute warm up on the buckle. He starts looking for contact when he’s comfortable and ready. When it’s not cold out, he seeks contact out much sooner. I’ll do W/T/C with him just on a relaxed rein, let him cruise around the ring/field for a while. His trot is always nicer and more workable after cantering.

If I got on and immediately got in his face with contact, he would be one unhappy pup. He gets frustrated and really tight through his back.

[M_Owen]

If my horse had her way she’d be a giraffe at all times. I start out walking for a good 10 minutes asking her to step up from behind and stretch down into a long rein, but with light contact. Then I shorten my reins and push her into a fairly long, low carriage at the walk, again focus on push from behind. I ask for trot on that same contact and if she pushes from behind she’ll stay connected and go into a nice rhythmic trot. If she doesn’t push and disconnects behind. The head goes up and her back drops. When that happens we go back to walk and do some walk, trot, walk transitions until she is listening. For that horse, if you let her warm up on a totally loose rein, no contact, she takes forever to get her hind end working and get connected. I think you have to try different things and see what works best.

[bornfreenowexpensive]

Honestly it depends on the horse. I generally want to warm up with long and low work. For proper long and low…you have to have a connection. There are times when he is amped up…in those times, I put him right to work. BUT I will ask for the stretch as soon as I think he will give it.

I think more important is also stretching him several times during the ride and at the end as well as taking many many breaks during the ride.

[fordtraktor]

I do walk on a loose rein to warm up. But then don’t spend a lot of time on a true loose rein after I pick up a trot. My horses are out 24/7, they are loose out in the field. they walk around for a few minutes just to make sure everything is limber and the tack is feeling good, and then we start trotting and working a bit. They get stretchy breaks often and I don’t work them so long they are going to be sore. I try to do something constructive at the same time and that usually involves a light contact. If I am on a totally loose rein it is usually during a break. I usually start pushing them inside leg to outside rein as soon as babies get here off the track and start trotting.

But the horse shouldn’t be very sore afterward, that is a sign of having done way too much. Perhaps the trainer thought your horse was fitter than he actually was. You may need to step in and intervene if your horse isn’t up to something. Top riders, their horses are generally in six day a week programs of serious work – what is a normal program for their horses is not normal for your horse if you are only asking your horse to really work a few minutes a day, even if you ride more often. You have to speak out for your horse’s welfare and tell him next time that maybe you want 20 minutes only because the last lesson was too much for your guy. or whatever. It’s not OK to make your horse super sore. It’s not really the trainer’s fault or anything, just a miscommunication about how ready your horse is to handle that. Now you know. He’s not.

The trainer may have thought “she rides X number of times a week, the horse will be fit enough to do this”. It’s just not being on the same wavelength or reading the horse right. So you can fit the horse up, and back down lesson intensity. Probably both are a good idea so you can meet in the middle and eventually be able to use your lessons well. I doubt he or she meant to make your horse that sore. Make sure to communicate about that so the trainer knows it happened and can push your horse less next time.

[yellowbritches]

It’s going to depend, but to a point I agree with you. OP.

Typically, I warm up by going for a 10ish minute walk on a long rein. I prefer to do it out of the ring. When I get to the ring, I then pick up a light contact and start working on some flexing, moving away from my leg, etc. I do not trot or canter on a long rein (but will encourage stretchy trot and canter) because Toby, if left to his own devices, goes around inverted and hollow backed (bad for his back) and usually will play up and spook at stupid stuff in that type of situation. So, if he’s not in a mood to stretch properly (and sometimes he’s not) he is being ridden with a contact, though it is still easy, basic work meant to limber him up. I don’t like to immediately fling him into hard work, but I also don’t like him to go in a shape that makes him stiff backed and short strided. Even in our long rein walking around, if he starts to get silly and hollow and lose his big cat walk swing, I will take a contact and ask him to stretch down.

Also, don’t forget cool down. I try to always spend at least 10 minutes walking, even if it’s cold and we haven’t done a ton, before taking him in.

[Mukluk]

If I were a horse I’d prefer to warm up on a loose rein or at least loose contact. I figure that is true of my horse as well. Plus not only is she warming up but so am I.

[Libby2563]

I believe in warming up however is most comfortable and effective for a particular horse–it is not one size fits all. I recently watched a video of a young horse clinic with Ingo Pape and he said the same thing. Some horses at some stages of their training do better warming up on contact and stretching later, and others at other times do better if they stretch at the beginning. I do think a horse should be asked to reach for the bit from the beginning, regardless of the length of the frame–“stretching” should not be trotting around with head up, back hollow, and reins flopping.

With my 20-year-old GP horse, we typically walk on a loose rein for a few minutes then do a few laps of stretchy trot (again, not head up on a loose rein–I ask him to reach for the bit from the beginning). Sometimes I canter a little bit round and deep too. But other days I pick him up in the walk first, do some half-passes, then do a regular working trot on contact. They all seem to work for him and we move on to lateral work etc fairly quickly.

Other horses I ride show no inclination to stretch at the beginning of the ride and it doesn’t seem productive to giraffe around the ring at the trot. Those get picked up right away, and the stretch comes later. It’s a good test of a correct connection.

Not saying this is what’s happening but if your horse was trotting around inverted and disconnected, I could understand why this clinician would insist on more connection from the start. You did say “slight feel of the mouth” so probably this wasn’t the case.

To me it sounds like you know what works for your horse and should stick with that, while knowing it could change as he develops. I find that clinics are good for a few pieces of information and new techniques to try, but I don’t typically overhaul my entire way of riding/training.

Could the soreness be more about how hard the horse worked in the lesson overall vs. how he was warmed up?

[HappyTalk]

Depends on the horse. My one horse tends to be easily distracted. He gets a short 5 minutes on loose rein, then into contact. Warmup work is in walk; Walk-halt transitions, leg yield, then to shoulder in, renver, haunches in. Once he is loose, we to on to trot and canter work. As my instructor once said “don’t ever let him go down a long side without having something to do!” It keeps him focused and has almost eliminated his spooking.

[trubandloki]

[QUOTE=bornfreenowexpensive;8526931]
Honestly it depends on the horse. [/QUOTE]
I agree with this. Like everything dealing with an animal, it depends on that animal.

Did this trainer give a reason why they felt that all work should be done on the bit? If the answer is something vague and not horse specific then I think it is best to find a different trainer. If she has a reason why she felt your horse might be better in the end and more capable than you are giving it credit for… then it might be worth listening.

[beowulf]

different point of view, but remember, the clinician only sees you that once - maybe they are seeing (or thinking they are seeing) that you are “taking too much time” or “being too gentle/accommodating”, “not getting after dobbin enough” “not being firm enough/expecting too little out of dobbin” which IMHO happens a lot in clinics of all levels and I am guilty of it too.

I think it does the horse a world of good to limber up without being on the bit… but IMHO if I was at a clinic (not saying you did it wrong OP) I’d be warming up 15 m before my slot, just so I could get in the maximum amount of “work” accomplished.

for instance, for all of my rides, I always get on, wiggle my toes a little, and march around the property for 5-10m before I even consider picking up contact. IME it gives my guy time to limber up and it gives me time to figure out where we are that day and what I want to work on. It sounds like Yellowbritches and I have similar regimes – I don’t warm up in the ring… I make them march out around the property, up/down the driveway, around the trails – and then once I think we’re warmed up I go in the ring and start getting him relaxed and responsive to my leg aids - he is green, so baby leg yields, TOH/TOF, bending change of direction, etc. Once we start to trot I will ask for more contact, but the beginning of the flat sesson is usually all about relaxing and getting him really supple and accepting of the AIDS. if you just get on and instantly go to hard physical work I think it is damaging both to the horse’s structure (tendons, ligaments, etc) and to their willingness to work with you. There was a study published earlier this year that proved 40m of walking before physical exertion proved to be beneficial in preventing soft tissue injuries – we already knew that, but it was nice to see it on paper.

In the end it does depend on the horse and the rider.

[devvie]

Lots of feedback above regarding contact .vs not in the warmup so I’ll skip that and comment regarding the walk warm up: don’t take my word for it – find out what the top riders do, and you’ll see, it’s NOT 5 to 10 minutes of walking and then into trot and start work. Whether it be a hand walk, a walk warm up by a working student, walker, etc., the best are walking their horses.

[redalter]

Depending on the horse, I will try to do a good, forward walk on light contact for about ten minutes.
Then I will trot and canter, changes of direction, bending, stretching as much as we can in the early part of the work.
Then I will start to ask for more.

For a young, or potentially naughty horse, I will change it up and do things that will have them focus more in the beginning.

[caradino]

My pony tends towards being lazy and behind the leg, and uses contact as an excuse to not go forward, and for that reason I’ve learned to warm up WITH contact. Not all the way up in a working frame, but my reins are not floppy and pony is being asked to go forward with me having a feel of his mouth from the get-go. I find that with this method, he doesn’t take such great offense to me picking up the contact after 20 mins of walk and slow trot with floppy reins!