Exercises for freeing up a stuffy warm-up

[Caol Ila]

Looking for ways to change my warm-up routine, as I seem to be stuck in a rut. When we start schooling, the horse feels slow and behind the leg and I am feeling like I am spending the first 15 to 20 minutes arguing with her about moving off the leg in a timely way. After 20 to 30 minutes, something clicks and she is light, responsive, forward, and everything feels great. I'd like to get to the light, responsive, forward without the arguments.

I know it's cold; I am stiff, she is stiff. She's not a horse who will give you anything until she feels up to it and you are riding reasonably competently. If your seat is like a bag of bricks in the middle of her back, she won't go. If you're too stiff and heavy with your contact, she won't go. If your lower leg is flapping like a flag in the wind, she won't go. My issue is finding the right balance between being sympathetic to all that, while being reasonably insistent that the horse respond to the leg. It is very easy to fall into the trap of thinking, "well, that leg aid was crap anyway" and before you know it, the horse has slid into not responding that instantly to any leg aid.

I think my warm-up has gotten too monotonous and perhaps isn't as effective or efficient as it could be. I walk around for 10 to 15 minutes, both on a loose rein and in a long frame, then pick up rising trot. Do some leg yields and mess around with the temp/stride length in a fairly long frame. This is where the horse and I argue about moving off the leg. Once we've trotted for long enough for me to feel I can ask her to left the forehand a bit more and shorten the frame, we have half a chance of picking up canter. Then we start arguing about that. The first canter transitions always suck. I have a terrible habit of stiffening as I ask for it, and the horse blows off the aid and it gets really stuffy. Once we get canter (eventually), everything comes together. The horse starts working correctly and subsequent canter transitions come much easier.

In a perfect world, I'd have a great dressage trainer to help me out, but this area seems to have a shortage of them. My friend who used to 'unstick' the canter for me by sitting on my horse and doing a couple transitions, then offering me advice from the ground, is in the hospital after major cardiac surgery and complications. The hacking is unsuitable for any fast work, unless you want to canter or gallop your horse over sharp, loose rocks, so I can't tune her up out of the arena where she is much keener (sometimes too keen) to go fast.

Obviously no one on the forum can be as useful as someone watching us go. But some of you have worked with a lot of horses and may have some ideas. A change in warm-up routine might help us. Something to get the horse's mind working so she is not falling asleep doing the same old sh ** t every time we have a schooling session.

 

[be positive]

I have often found the stuffy ones benefit from having a good canter after the walk , rider in forward seat so they can move easily through the back, will help no need to be too concerned about the transition just push on and maintain it for a few circuits, change the rein and do a few more then move more forward and back until they are in front of the leg and you can sit deeper at which point they are ready to start work, as long as they are not too stiff or cold there is no real reason to keep trotting if it is not getting the required response.

It doesn't suit them all but is my go to whenever I think something is starting to get stuffy or switched off early in a schooling session.

 

[milliepops]

Yeah I'm trying the same approach with my newbie who can be sluggish at home to start with - we just need to get to the canter any old how, lob around for a circle or 2 and then repeat the transition a few times until she's taking me, then I'm finding she does a big sigh and we can crack on. Worth a try. I used to canter Millie before trotting as well, she was always better for having a little canter.

Mine is 100% better away from home so I think this is partly a napping thing, at some point I might have to tackle it head on but for now this gets me to the point where I can train her so it'll do!

 

[paddi22]

for ones like that after I walk a bit on a loose rein, I go straight into a loose canter up off their backs to open them up. for ones that tune out constantly keep them on their toes, then I would do a lot of halt to canter, walk to canter - expecting a really punchy transition from them - if they feel like they are tuning out or bored. Some horses really don't warm up their backs or hind ends until they get a good canter. I agree with the other posters, I wouldn't worry about the first canter transition, just get her forward and happy with no pressure first

 

[coss]

Your horse sounds a bit similar to mine. I find that if I ask for canter too early in the session I get halt or very backwards thinking so then get in a battle about being off the leg. I find that doing trot-halt-trot transitions as well as the lateral work helps get him off my aids and not until i have a more forwards trot will I get a decent canter (and even then the first canter can still be sticky). Yesterday he was particularly bad and used other horses as a distraction to not be on my aids. Several trot/halt/trot and small circles to bigger circles then asking for canter and maintaining it for as long as possible he gradually came out of it and back to responsive. I also do trot-halt-reinback-trot. Really gets the backend tucked under (if they don't hollow) and usually I find he'll offer me canter once i've done a few as all this trotting is suddenly hard work and he'd rather use a different set of muscles. If I trick him into thinking canter is easy we get better transitions then I can later pick up the contact in all 3 paces more and expect a better quality trot than we start with.

 

[Templebar]

As other have said i would try canter earlier. With mine we pretty much go straight into a loose canter, short stirrups and light seat, if the transition sucks who cares just get there. Get that going, kid ourselves that we are going jumping/hunting whatever, once she is moving freely i have a play in the canter shorten and lengthen a bit, add some circles. Then a few canter-trot-canter transitions. When we both feel warm, back into a mix of walk with lateral walk and trot with shapes.

Mine is fairly good off the aids, but if i can kid ourselves that we will be doing something exciting then its better. But mine struggles to bend and work from behind. Also i would work with the mindset that it doesn't matter if your aid is a bit rubbish you still expect something, so a good aid should get a good transition/movement a poor aid will still get it but it lacks sparkle.

 

[scats]

Diva is the queen of stuffy, although, bless her, it’s not her fault at all.
Even so, she’ll happily shuffle around with every muscle locked tight if I let her. I liken her to a load of rusty hinges at the start of each session and they just need freeing off.
I can’t do the canter early thing because of her breathing (this was always my go to trick with a previous stuffy native chap I had) so I have to approach it from a different angle.

The trick with her is to start her off long and low, but still with a consistent contact. So I do the first part of the warm up with low, wide hands. Worst thing for her is to let the shoulders get a chance to take over, so I’m quick to correct any drifting or falling onto them at this stage. We do about 5 minutes of walk- any longer and she switches off, any less and she’s even stuffier- mixture of basic lateral work, shallow loops etc. Then pop forwards to trot. I don’t expect razor sharp transitions at this stage, but I expect that if I ask, I get. Our trot part of the warm up probably wouldn’t be helpful for a normal horse, as it’s a balancing act with her breathing- I have to know how much to ask and when to back off and allow her to walk. But again I keep her long and low, circles big, loops big, slight tempo changes but nothing too drastic, what I need at this stage is that she stays forwards in any form of transition- direct or within the pace.
I have to ride her completely leg off to free up her rib cage up to expand as much as possible without restriction in order to breathe, so she has been taught to respond to a sharp inside ankle/foot aid. I start chucking this in occasionally during the trot work if I feel she needs to give me a bit more but I make sure I contain anything she gives me with the outside hand. I like to feel, at this stage, that I can ride with a bit of flexion both ways and she’ll stay on my track but allow me to move her head independently. When I feel this, I know shes starting to unlock.
Then as we move through the trot part of the warm up and we’ve done 5 or so minutes on each rein, I can start bringing the contact up slightly and lifting her frame.
This is when I can ask for some more direct transitions and not be concerned that I’m going to pull the plug on the energy. I usually feel her getting a bit sharper by this point.

Not sure if any of that is helpful. As I said, I have to ride her based on the cards she’s been dealt and I do have to intersperse a lot with walking breaks and take into consideration weather and conditions as all that can impact on her ability to breathe.

 

[Caol Ila]

The canter transitions are one of our weak points, to be sure. I would not call her a "lazy" horse but she is a horse who won't expend much energy fighting through an unbalanced or stiff rider just because the rider asked for something. If the rider is making that movement difficult, she's like, "Nah... I'll have a cup of tea and think about it." If the rider is correct, she hops into it. It all goes wrong when the rider (me) anticipates the transition not working, gets stiff and bracey, then the transition doesn't happen, then gets even more tense, ad infinitum. I know, just don't do that, but easier said than done.

She is also smart and I think have gotten boring, with always getting sucked into the same damn routine.

 

[SEL]

The canter transitions are one of our weak points, to be sure. I would not call her a "lazy" horse but she is a horse who won't expend much energy fighting through an unbalanced or stiff rider just because the rider asked for something. If the rider is making that movement difficult, she's like, "Nah... I'll have a cup of tea and think about it." If the rider is correct, she hops into it. It all goes wrong when the rider (me) anticipates the transition not working, gets stiff and bracey, then the transition doesn't happen, then gets even more tense, ad infinitum. I know, just don't do that, but easier said than done.

She is also smart and I think have gotten boring, with always getting sucked into the same damn routine.

I could have written this! Poles around the arena wake mine up - we do transitions over them. Pony loves polework.

 

[DabDab]

Generally I always do the canter first, up off their back, no pressure thing, but that doesn't work with current horse. I think his tricky muscles mean that not only does he struggle physically until he gets properly warmed up, but also he struggles mentally as he has zero confidence in the ability of his own body, so panics and shuts down.

I find the best thing for him is doing very similar to Coss. Halt-reinback-trot-halt is particularly useful. Once super warmed up in trot, a pole for the first couple of canter transitions can be really useful for distraction from the actual business of canter.

Also, if you're anticipating, you could try running through a canter preparation routine in your head to stop you obsessing. So a bit like mirror, signal, manoeuvre - pushing from behind, Swinging through back, straight through body, weight even over both shoulders, canter.

 

[Mule]

You could try using a short hack as your warm up. Then get straight into it when you get back. I find a hack is great for getting them thinking forward.

 

[blood_magik]

There are several good trainers in the area - stephanie delpierre and Dominique flament, linda Barnes and Jill Grant are just a few I can think of.

Not sure if linda travels but stephanie and Dominique definitely do. PM me if you want their contact details.

 

[Caol Ila]

I could have written this! Poles around the arena wake mine up - we do transitions over them. Pony loves polework.

My horse loves poles. And jumps. I suffer from laziness and usually can't be bothered dragging the things around, but it would definitely wake her up.