A warm-up/timings question for the dressage divas amongst us

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blood_magik

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How long before your test do you aim to arrive at the show venue?

I'm dressage-ing tomorrow and am slightly worried I haven't given myself enough time to get myself sorted and warmed up. I've allowed an hour for this but I'm now thinking that I could probably do with a bit longer as I'll be a man down (usual helper is away) and my first horse can be a little spooky.

Help... ;)
 
My boy doesn't need much warmup, stretching and a look round and he's usually good to go. (We are only doing Intro atm though, he would need a bit longer if we were including canter!) I like to get there an hour before my time, so I'm not rushed with tacking up, getting changed etc.
 
How long do you want to warm up for?

My current horse only needs 15mins or she goes off the boil, previous horse had 2 warm ups of around 20 minutes each so needed to arrive much earlier!
 
I'd say my first horse needs about 20-25 minutes to work in and probably another 5 to have a good look around/mooch about on a long rein as he can be rather spook-tastic. 🙈

It's only our second attempt at BD so im having to play it by ear a little bit re our warm-ups.
 
If you want to warm up for 30 minutes, personally I'd want to get there at least 1hr 15 ahead of time, so I can get horse ready and get me dressed and polished and lorry locked up etc while relaxed!
 
I like to arrive an hour before, have time to quickly get changed tack up and warm up for 20 mins, inteestingly my boy is so much better after he has done his first test, had a break for around 30 mins or so then a good warm up for 25 mins before his next test, hes so much more relaxed second time round
 
Am an hour girl, gives me time to plait horses forelock, go for a wee, get changed into comp gear, go for another wee, tack up and warm up 25-30 mins.

Taking youngster into her first intro test last week was a little different, tacked up, on 5 mins before time, quick trot round, gallop in both directions then straight into test. Worked for her tho!
 
I aim for an hour but usually leave an extra 15 mins in case of traffic problems (but I do live in the south east where getting from a to b can be a total nightmare).
 
I aim for an hour and 15mins as I like to warm up for 30mins. 10mins to walk on a long rein, 15mins of work, 5mins to chill out again before picking him up finally. He is competing Advanced.
 
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