How long does it take for your horse to "warm up" ?

[cob&onion]

As in from when you first enter the school untill the horse is working nicely taking up a soft contact and working correctly over the back? Also how old is the horse and what breed etc?


My 5yr old cob takes around a good 25 mins to really warm up and have her going nicely. Problem is she's then tired by the time it comes up to the 30/40 min mark and by then we are cooling down and stretching, so we only get 10 mins or so before the petrol tank is empty! . I am just wondering if this is because she is still only 5 and will get better the more she builds up or if she will always be the kind of horse that needs alot of warming up first before getting a tune? at first she pokes her nose, and feels quite heavy and resistant than after circles, transitions (hundreds to get her off the leg) she goes amazingly lovely with a beautifully light contact and very forward and just holds it with minimal support from me. When she goes like this i can literally hold both reins in one hand and lift hand up and move it forward and there is zero pull just lovely forwardness its nice to be able to concentrate on my position then and not a constant strive to get her listening and light.
I would love to get this sort of work after a good 15 min warm up and then a good 30 mins of it then a good 10 mins cooling off and stretching.
She is ridden 4 x per week mainly hacking, hill work, mostly walking unless there is a soft field we have a canter. On the route back i sometimes as k for a bit of schooling work.
We use the school 1 x per week and do around 40 mins.
She was backed as a 3.6 year old lightly then left 10 months then brought back into work March time as a 5yr old.
Thoughts please

 

[BorgRae]

My lad takes a good 30 minutes to warm up... He is a 12 year old ISH, but has only been in "proper" work for the last 2-3 months (long story!!).

I have the same issue, that we warm up for 30 mins, have 10 mins of really good work, then he's knackered so we have to cool down!!

He's slowly getting better though. He's gradually taking less time to warm up and relax. Last night for our lesson, he was closer to the 20-25 minute mark to warm up, as opposed to the 30 minute mark!! I guess, the fitter he gets, the easier it will get for him to work properly, but it'll always take around 20 minutes for him to warm up properly anyway, but we'll be able to work for longer afterwards x

 

[be positive]

I think they all vary partly depending on their age and the level they are working at, the average 5 year old with a basic education is learning, or should be, while it is warming up, the rider should be using the time to develop further understanding of the aids, getting the horse moving forward off the leg, flexing and doing some early lateral exercises. This time will usually shorten once the foundations are more established.
I am currently riding 3 regularly, horse 1 walks for about 5 mins then he gets picked up and worked through loads of transitions to sharpen him up, he then stretches before picking up to work some more, he is a very well established at elem level 10 year old.
Horse 2 is 15, he is at elem level but mainly events, he needs 15 mins stretching in walk and trot before he gets into work mode and will then gradually build up over the next 15 mins to really working, pushing him results in tension unlike horse 1 who needs pushing early to get his brain in gear.
Horse 3 is a green, for his age, 9 year old coming back after injury at the moment all his work is pretty much in warm up frame with short periods of asking for more then letting him ease off and take in what has been asked before repeating the exercise and getting improvements.
They all school 2-3 times a week hack 3-4 times and are ridden 6 days most weeks, the first 2 are competing.

 

[JFTDWS]

7 y/old highland, working reasonably nicely after 15 minutes, peaks between 30-45 minutes. Then another 10 minutes stretching in trot and canter, before cooling off. Warm up is 5-10 minutes in walk, lateral work, stretching and picking up, transitions etc, before picking up stretchy trot for about 10 minutes, working through changes of rein. Gradually picking him up and riding transitions within all gaits, developing lateral work in trot and canter etc for the next half hour or so.

But he's probably quite a bit fitter than your boy, so we have a lot more petrol in the tank so to speak. The average length of our sessions is about an hour.

 

[Jango]

My horse takes quite a while to warm up, around 20mins to get any productive work and at least 30-35 minutes to be able to do a decent dressage test! Our warm up routine starts with w/t/c large or in big circles on both reins, then lateral work, smaller circles, lots of changes of bend and counter flexion in walk, followed by all of those in trot and canter. He's an 11 year old Welsh D and competing BD Novice. I've just accepted he needs lots of time to supple up, he looks and feels awful when I start the walk work but with our routine he is pretty consistent when he gets going!