SJ Warm up Plans

[Jnhuk]

Took my youngster to his second SJ show this morning at a lovely venue with unaff SJ. I have never really enjoyed SJ and in particular the warm-ups used to freak me out so always would just do the minimum then just go in and do the course.

However, I am finding at this venue as the warm up is huge and the folks so relaxed that ( shock of horrors!) I am actually enjoying the experience! The venue has BS the day before and the course is designed by a BS course designed so the whole thing is just great.

I think that I am slowly getting a feel for what we should be doing in the SJ warm up and actually went in with a plan today for the warm up which seemed to work well for us. I know it is early days for us but just wondering if folks have any pearls of wisdom about their warm ups or if indeed they have a plan - whether loose or fixed?

Photo to brighten up the post with our first proper rosette as we somehow came 6th despite knocking the last fence in the second timed phase!

 

[Shay]

Well done!

From my experience you rather figure out your warm up over the years as you get more experienced. And of course each horse is unique so you would have different plans for each. I tend to opt for a reasonably fixed plan - but with options depending on how the horse is feeling, what the venue looks like etc. But horses like routine and keeping the warm up as similar as possible settles both of you. Or at least that has been my experience to date - everyone is different!

Different horses need different lengths of time to warm up; some might need a lot. Some only a tiny bit or they fizz up. Some need more long and low at the start - some want to be collected more quickly. As a general rule I would aim for walk trot and canter on each rein. Jump a cross pole twice. An upright at least once, an oxer at least once. If you call out that you are jumping it helps others to stay out of your way.

Glad you are enjoying it!

 

[blood_magik]

well done 🙂

my two horses have very different warm ups as one is a stress-head and the other is so laid back he's practically horizontal.

with the stress-head, it's all about getting him in and out as quickly as possible so I try to wait until the arena is quiet and then walk him around the lorry park first.

once inside, we do very little trot work (a few circuits each way) and then up to canter. once he's listening, we pop 4 uprights (x pole, small upright then two bigger) and 2-3 oxers (small, then wider), then go straight back to walk on a long-ish rein to try to encourage him to relax.

this usually works well for him, but sometimes he gets so worked up that he can barely canter without going disunited, which is fun. 🙄
then, I generally do wtc with lots of walk breaks in between, jump 2 uprights and one oxer, and go in.

with the other one, I work on getting him forwards off my leg and ask him to work low and round. he takes longer to warm up so we'll spend a while in trot before moving up to canter and then I'll stay up off his back until he's ready to jump.

he'll jump 5-6 uprights and usually 4 oxers of varying widths, and I'll sometimes try to place him deep so he'll really snaps his front legs up (he can be a little lazy). then we walk round and when there's two to go before me, I jump another upright and an oxer before going to the gate.

I think the main thing is being able to be flexible if things don't go to plan. have an idea of what you want to do but don't be afraid to chuck it out the window if something goes wrong (whether it be with you/your horse or another competitor).