Query about warming up

[TotalMadgeness]

Mine needs a good long warm up in walk / trot to start with but he has bone spavin and is stiff otherwise.

 

[Mule]

It will be fine for some but in my experience it can make a horse tense because they know work is starting, my view is that work starts from when I get on, it may be easy initially but is still work, then rather than a 'lets get on with it transition' the work intensity increases from setting off, the reins gradually shorten and more is asked of them, they have 23 hours a day wandering about doing nothing so if an hour of work is expected of them they can at least be cooperative from the start.
As I said before loose reins are for the end not the start, they can still stretch on a long rein but not have total freedom to do what they want, it is all constructive in some way.

The thing is, I used to get lessons from a grand Prix rider. She rode him for me aswell. She did the left, right, left, right thing with her hands to get him on the bit and kicked to get the back up. She had to use a lot of rein pressure for it to work.

I didn't like riding that way though. It was like fighting with him. I found another instructor that's a lot more sympathetic to the horse. She taught me passive resistance and how to engage his inside hind leg. The softer approach works so much better for him because he cooperates.
The problem is the new instructor lives at the other end of the country so it's really hard to get a lesson with her.

 

[milliepops]

It's difficult because we're just looking at words on a computer screen but I do think that training horses that are basically "remedial" in some way can be different to getting a just-started baby horse.

Sometimes you can go through phases where it's not all textbook, because you have to deal with what the horse has learnt in the past, and your new lesson to him has to over-ride what he thought he knew about the aids etc.

I'm not saying that the GP rider was right or wrong, impossible to know that. But in fairness it sounds like in not wanting to fight him, you've effectively stopped *riding* him? This isn't a criticism, I totally understand why. Finding the middle ground is the hardest thing about reschooling horses.

 

[Mule]

It's difficult because we're just looking at words on a computer screen but I do think that training horses that are basically "remedial" in some way can be different to getting a just-started baby horse.

Sometimes you can go through phases where it's not all textbook, because you have to deal with what the horse has learnt in the past, and your new lesson to him has to over-ride what he thought he knew about the aids etc.

I'm not saying that the GP rider was right or wrong, impossible to know that. But in fairness it sounds like in not wanting to fight him, you've effectively stopped *riding* him? This isn't a criticism, I totally understand why. Finding the middle ground is the hardest thing about reschooling horses.

Yep, it's the middle ground that I'm looking for. The cool thing is that when he does take the contact, I can feel his back lift up and he rounds from tail to poll.
When I used the other method (the left, right on the reins and kick up the back), the back would lift slightly but it felt completely different. I had to place him very round.

So I suppose I have to not get too handsy but be still be willing to use my hands. I will try it and see how things go. I suppose there's many roads to Rome and different ways suit different horses.

 

[Mule]

I'm going out to give it a try now.

 

[scats]

I warm Millie up on a longer and lower contact, but a contact none-the-less. She either comes out like a thundering freight train and is super hot, in which case I will ride her on a slightly shorter contact and stretch her later (for safety!) or she warms up like she’s got five legs and is quite stuffy. If she comes out like the latter, I get into canter pretty quickly and get off her back and let her swing along a bit. She warms up much better in canter to be fair.

 

[blitznbobs]

Whilst giraffe - ing is not acceptable by my horses my two have very different warm up routines. The cob (hot as hell and tends towards tension) we start with walking (on a contact )but zero pressure to do more than walk around the arena - after about 5 minutes (or longer depending on the weather conditions mainly) I feel his stride lengthen and his back come up and then we can do some proper work... it’s all about keeping cool with him. The other one is horizontal to the extent of being a lazy git so we start faster I don’t care about the outline tbh as long as he’s straight and forward but as soon as he is we do some proper work. He’s still a baby and a big one at that so he does struggle with work in the school but on a hack he’s much more forward and is beginning to show some nice work...

 

[Mule]

Ok I just had a go. I didn't do our suppling but asked him to come on the bit with leg and a bit of rein pressure. He's perfect in the trot, all he actually needs is a steady contact.

He is not so good in the walk
He will stay flexed for a bit and then his head pops up. However, if I pop him in to a shoulder fore he stays quietly in the contact. (lateral work is great).

I suppose I'll just have to keep working on it in the walk. I'll train him to respond to a lighter touch on the rein. Fingers crossed that we will avoid our old arguments.

 

[eggs]

Glad it is going in the right direction. I warm up on a long - not loose - rein so there is some contact. As you've already noticed, lateral work is your friend!

 

[milliepops]

I think walk is a lot harder to improve than trot and canter. But the principle is the same IMO. I have found sideways and little circles, quarter piris etc really useful for developing the acceptance of the contact in walk.

 

[milliepops]

Oh was going to also say, if you find you can get him better connected quicker in the trot, then I'd crack on and trot earlier in the session,, and then use the acceptance you have developed in trot to try and just slip into walk. hopefully maintaining the same feel. Use the trot to set up your walk work, that kind of thing.

 

[Mule]

Oh was going to also say, if you find you can get him better connected quicker in the trot, then I'd crack on and trot earlier in the session,, and then use the acceptance you have developed in trot to try and just slip into walk. hopefully maintaining the same feel. Use the trot to set up your walk work, that kind of thing.

That's a good idea.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

Perhaps next time that you do manage to get a lesson with your new instructor, you could get someone to video it, so that you can remember exactly what she suggested that you do.

 

[Mule]

Perhaps next time that you do manage to get a lesson with your new instructor, you could get someone to video it, so that you can remember exactly what she suggested that you do.

Good idea.

 

[PapaverFollis]

With Granny horse who was a giraffing and jogging nightmare for similar reasons ("remedial" horse) there was a knife edge balance to be found between too much input and too little. I frequently found myself falling one way or the other off the knife. Lol. Over time I got better at finding the right level and she got a bit more tolerant. I actually found going for a walk hack on a long but not loose rein for 10 to 20 minutes before going into the school and picking up trot straight away was a good warm up for her. Her walk and contact in walk was awful and it came together much easier in trot... that fed back into the walk. Shoulder in as well. Lots and lots of shoulder in.

 

[tristar]

The thing is, I used to get lessons from a grand Prix rider. She rode him for me aswell. She did the left, right, left, right thing with her hands to get him on the bit and kicked to get the back up. She had to use a lot of rein pressure for it to work.

I didn't like riding that way though. It was like fighting with him. I found another instructor that's a lot more sympathetic to the horse. She taught me passive resistance and how to engage his inside hind leg. The softer approach works so much better for him because he cooperates.
The problem is the new instructor lives at the other end of the country so it's really hard to get a lesson with her.

how awful!

 

[Mule]

With Granny horse who was a giraffing and jogging nightmare for similar reasons ("remedial" horse) there was a knife edge balance to be found between too much input and too little. I frequently found myself falling one way or the other off the knife. Lol. Over time I got better at finding the right level and she got a bit more tolerant. I actually found going for a walk hack on a long but not loose rein for 10 to 20 minutes before going into the school and picking up trot straight away was a good warm up for her. Her walk and contact in walk was awful and it came together much easier in trot... that fed back into the walk. Shoulder in as well. Lots and lots of shoulder in.

I've started taking mine on a warm up walk hack too. It gets him much more forward thinking. He's more enthusiastic about schooling. I pop in jumping during our schooling too. He loved to jump.

It's not easy with horses whose mouths have been roughly treated. A relative has a hunter that he never rides on the bit. I've ridden him a couple of times and when asked to flex, he does it at the lightest touch. I think it's better to forget about the head rather than do it wrong and make the horse distrustful of contact.

 

[Abi90]

My horse is giraffing for the first 10 minutes or so before she softens, in all paces. She seems better once she’s had a canter for some reason.

I had a lesson the other day and was told just to keep an even contact at all times and keep her going forward and not to worry about it... but she still giraffes. She will stretch down lovely when cooling off and I always finish with a stretch in trot then walk like that.

So I assume the problem is me, so this has been interesting reading

 

[ycbm]

I have a giraffe!

My ex racer will giraffe and/or set wooden if you take up the reins straight away. I do a circuit on each rein loose to start, then long but not loose, and finally I can pick the reins up properly after about ten minutes of bending and stretching.

If I was to ask him to flex any sooner than that, he would just go mulish. And trying to trot too soon is disastrous, like riding a road drill 😖

He's getting quicker and quicker to respond, with training. I figure it is because of the way he was started as a prospective hurdler.

 

[Mule]

how awful!

I didn't like it. Neither me nor the horse were enjoying it. There was too much force used. In saying that, she rides at grand Prix, I most definitely do not

When I first started riding him without doing this I felt almost guilty for not immediately getting his head down!

We are definitely a lot better than we were back then. I've learned to feel where his feet are and when to give the aids based on that. When all my focus was on getting him on the bit I wasn't paying attention to anything else.

 

[Mule]

My horse is giraffing for the first 10 minutes or so before she softens, in all paces. She seems better once she’s had a canter for some reason.

I had a lesson the other day and was told just to keep an even contact at all times and keep her going forward and not to worry about it... but she still giraffes. She will stretch down lovely when cooling off and I always finish with a stretch in trot then walk like that.

So I assume the problem is me, so this has been interesting reading

I did that during my first lesson with the new instructor. She wanted me to learn to take a steady contact and quieten my position so I could feel what the horse was doing. Just to feel his mouth without fiddling with it. She then started me on spiral circles and the horse came on to the contact himself.

In the next lesson she taught me about feeling the horse's footfalls and when to give aids. She also taught me how to take a light resistance on the rein to teach the horse to flex. (That's the bit I need help with again). I found out later that she's an enlightened equitation instructor. She's the best instructor I've ever come across by far.

 

[Mule]

I have a giraffe!

My ex racer will giraffe and/or set wooden if you take up the reins straight away. I do a circuit on each rein loose to start, then long but not loose, and finally I can pick the reins up properly after about ten minutes of bending and stretching.

If I was to ask him to flex any sooner than that, he would just go mulish. And trying to trot too soon is disastrous, like riding a road drill 😖

He's getting quicker and quicker to respond, with training. I figure it is because of the way he was started as a prospective hurdler.

Mine used to go so mulish with my old way of riding. His nickname is mule, both because he looks like one and it accurately reflects his temperament 😂
Now that I coax him instead of forcing things he's like a lamb!
It was the same when he used to nap. If I tried to drive him forward he'd march backwards, whereas when I just relaxed and laughed at him he went forward again. He's stopped it completely now.

 

[Mule]

I was on him yesterday. I taught him to flex vertically from very light pressure in halt and walk. He already been taught this but he doesn't retain info well. (If I wasn't so fond of him I would make a suitable warmblood joke) Are ISH considered proper warmbloods?

Anyway he was great in halt but in walk it's flex, pop up head, flex, pop up head (even when I get him before he comes up he doesn't seem to get it). I then put him in to shoulder fore, moving on to shoulder in and that did the job. I asked for this in walk rather than going straight to trot because it was really windy and he was calmer in the walk.

Next up were some spiral circles. That got his inside hind working, and up came his back. He felt lovely, very supple.
Then the person I share him with started doing repair work on a shed. Sheets of plywood flying through the air are not conducive to a calm horse

Then the wind really picked up and then his headshaking started There was some hay in the box. Hay and also high winds tend to set it off. So I did a couple of jumps with him and called it a day. I've removed the offending hay and will try again later. Hopefully his headshaking will be gone.