How do you warmup for showjumping?

floradora09

floradora09

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Sorry if this has been done before :o

Just wondering what people's routines are, how long they allow, what they jump etc.. and why.

Also- do you aim to jump a bit bigger than the class, same height, or a tad smaller?

I'm just having a ponder really after our outing to BCA. 90/95cms is our comfort zone now, so will happily jump a 90/95 fence warming up in 'cold blood' as it were. When we've got a good forward, positive rhythm the height becomes irrelevant really, but when I was warming up for the 1m I struggled to get a good line and a good canter into the fence (therefore not a good jump!) as there were quite a few people about. But in the class just kicked on and it came much more easily.

So what I'm really getting at is does it matter if I'm not jumping the class height, in the warmup? Hoping to go the blewbury BS next sunday and I seem to remember there that the warmup is crazy, so was thinking of keeping it cool and relaxed, even if it means only jumping 90/95 before the disco class.

Sorry for my ramblings... :rolleyes:
 
I warm up every horse differently. I never do too much in the warm up. I work them in, jump one cross pole, small upright, bigger upright and small oxer, bigger oxer and thats it. With my youngster Lily she is hard in the warm up asn she is wary of the other horses and i always seem to end up warming up with the person of feels its acceptable to ride straight in front of the fence as im coming to it and it really puts her off! So usually i just jump the same size on her as is in the ring. My other mare again i do the same warm up but probaly give her a wider oxer before i go in to get her stretching. It really depends on you and the horse and if you are happy not doing too much in the warm up then stick to that if its working :D
 
I agree with Escada - all horses are different and its trial and error what works. My current horse can be spooky so I spend a while walking round just letting him relax and take in the atmosphere. He generally stays quite relaxed in the warm up (if its quiet) but really gets his blood up in the ring so I do enough to get him warm, listening to and pop a few jumps just to make sure his muscles are warmed up, he is confident and then leave it. If the warm up is very busy I try and find somewhere quiet to walk round and squeeze a few jumps in when there is a quieter gap.

My last horse was very differnet and really need hyping up in the warm up otherwise he was too relaxed in the ring.

I pretty much always jump an up to height upright before going in though to get them up in the air. Each to their own and if what works for you gets the results then keep doing it!

When I first started BSing I spent too long watching what everyone else was doing and thinking I should do the same! not true - practice your warm up before you jump at home and stick to it. xx
 
I like to keep the jumping phase of my warm up short and sweet.Ideally I spend about 20 minutes on the flat making sure the horse is listening (although this can be hard in busy warm up where you can't change the rein without causing a huge pile up!). I like to start jumping with about 4 horses to go before me. I jump 1 cross pole, then a low upright, then an upright at the height of the class, then an low ascending oxer, followed by an ascending oxer at the height of the class. Then I keep my horse walking until the person before me goes in, once they are going I jump an upright at either the height of the class or slightly bigger, and pretty much go straight in from there! Obviously this doesn't always happen if the warm up is busy or your fence putter upper goes missing, but it seems to work for my horses quite well!

when jumping on grass if the ground is poor I will do 1 cross, 1 upright a little smaller than the class, and an oxer a little smaller than the class to ensure the horse goes in to the ring with confidence. I know my horses jump well enough not to be phased by the height of the fences, so I do the minimum.
 
It really depends on the horse. My horse though she can be mareish always behaves the same when faced with show jumping. R's horse is a Jekyll and Hyde character and sometimes is just mew highly strung than others. We have an ish routine that involves something like a cross, couple of uprights and Oxers off of both rains. Never jump her higher than what's in the ring as that's what works for her. If she seems really stressy will have a little pop, then go for a wander before coming back to do the final warm up. :)
 
Do around 10-15mins on the flat on both reins just doing walk trot canter etc then do 2 X poles, small upright bigger upright small oxer bigger wider oxer and thats it.. i HATE warming up i get more nevous than in the ring so i stick to as less jumps as possible :p
 
* hijack alert *

what do you all do when the warm up only goes one way.... i discovered this on saturday.... my attempts to go the other way lead to 'the death stare' so i gave up & went the same way as everyone else!!
 
it depends on the horse..

Monty used to literally only need a quick walk, trot, canter on both reins, and a pop over a cross, straight, oxer... and he'd be ready - but he was 17-20yo during the years i BS-ed him!!! so he really never needed much warm ups!!

A horse i used to have, Dani, needed pretty much the same warmup at Monty flat wise, he just relaxed and softened straight away, just needed a few more jumps.

Bugsy on the other hand needs a long warmup... 30mins preferably - even more if i have time. i would have to do 20minutes flatwork to get him settled (very sharp horse - tense)... and then would spend ages doing circles, transitions etc to keep him busy and calm... do all that in all 3 gaits, and then start popping fences.. usually not too many.. i'd say a cross x2, straight x1, bigger straight x2, small oxer x 1, bigger oxer x2 and then maybe once over a straight again depending if he had got a bit flat.

as for height of fences... on Monty he needed reminding to pick up, so for my normal warmup i'd do class height.. but then just before i went in i'd do one about 10cm higher than the class, verticle. but for bugsy and dani i stuck to the class height. i wouldn't see a problem jumping them smaller than the class height if you wanted to - i'd just be wary encase they were on an off day, and you jumping smaller things didn't show this - and so when you went into the class the fences might overface your horse? probably unlikely though... but it could happen!!


although - my sj luck currently is not good... so maybe not best to take advice from me ;)
 
racingdemon said:
* hijack alert *

what do you all do when the warm up only goes one way.... i discovered this on saturday.... my attempts to go the other way lead to 'the death stare' so i gave up & went the same way as everyone else!!
Click to expand...

in my experience i have never been in a warmup with a one way system!!! how do they expect you to warm up your horse correctly and go round a course of fences after going round one way for 20mins in a warmup?! thats ridiculous..!
 
MandyMoo - some warm ups just arent big enough to be going both ways!
It's unfortunate but it happens - i think the number of people in the warm up should be restricted but then if everyone wants 20/30 mins to warm up classes would take longer! Bury farm have got it right - a flat warm up and a jumping warm up.
 
The little TB of my daughters that she will sometimes allow me to compete gets very wired in a SJ warm up so we don't jump him very big at all as he over jumps warming up and scares himself. He takes very little warm up as he gets too wound up!
 
RD - I avoid those venues like the plague, but if I do find myself there, counter flexion is your friend! As is the brief amount of time you have before the bell goes. I actually travel a lot further to a venue with a better warmup rather than use the one local to me with a tiny horrible warmup.
 
Where as I can't think of a venue without a one way system!! Much preferable.

Counter canter, counter flexion, lateral both ways.
You aren't schooling, only warming up brain and body!
I honestly think if you couldn't jump a horse over a fence in ring coming off left rein, having only jumped off right rein, then there is a greater issue than a warm up system :)

My mare has 10mins walk, five mons trot, maybe two mins canter over a few fences,roughly in order of the others above, and in we go!
 
Depends how many are actually allowed in the warm up ring. Usually where we go it's 8/10 so it's about 10 mins on flat then 1 xpole, couple of uprights & couple of spreads. No more than about 8 fences. Usually go up to the height of the class. Luckily pony doesn't need much warming up so if it's a shorter warm up time he can cope xx
 
I don't tend to warm up for long, as much as anything because warm ups stress me out!

I'll do a few minutes walk, a bit of trot, canter on both reins, and then pop a few fences - usually 4 - 7. Height wise it totally depends on the horse. I'd usually like to jump up to at least the height of the class, perhaps even slightly bigger - but some horses don't need that, and I've jumped before with no problems warming up over smaller fences.

How long I warm up for and how much I jump depends on how the horse is going - I'm not aiming for a schooling session, but just to have the horse going forward but listening and balanced, and jumping out of a nice forward rhythm.
 
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I normally get in with about 10-15 to go depending in the type of class (speed or two phase etc ) and it also varies as to whether they have already jumped one class.

I will do some flatwork basic stretching and some leg yield to get him moving away from my leg and get him supple.

With about 6 to go I will have a x pole, then a small upright, bigger upright then depending in class height either a couple more bigger uprights or a small oxer.

I will have my small oxer twice then a wider oxer, then a bigger oxer, then again depending on class height I will either leave it or go bigger an wider again

I tend to get off with 2 and move my saddle forward then when the 1 before me is in the ring I will have a vertical a little bigger than the class height and get a nice deep shot.
 
It amazes me how many people jump and jump in the warm up! You are effectively leaving your jump in the warm up arena.... !!

I generally get into canter quite quickly, as madam is slightly less stupid in canter. Lots of work off her back, transitions in as long an outline as she will allow, and lots of forward and back in the canter. I then jump a cross pole, 2-3 uprights (getting upto ring height quite quickly) and 2-3 oxers max. I tend to keep the warm up fences smallish, as i've previously scared the bejesus out of myself just before a class where a friend got over enthusiastic about putting the fences up, and we ended up jumping a 1.30+ oxer badly just before we went in! NOT what I need.

Warm ups for us is all about making sure the controls are in place, and both our minds are focussed. Not how big we can jump ;)
 
Floradora are you familiar with Blewbury? If not just to let you know warm up is small and often manic! When we have been it is normally one rein only as said above. Good luck have fun :)
 
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