Warm up on a warm day!

[oldie48]

I watched my trainer ride Rose on Monday. It was a rather hot and humid day and Rose was a bit lacking in enthusiasm. I was quite surprised to see my trainer warm up mainly in walk, lots of flexing, bending and general softening followed by halt/walk trans with a quick back up with the leg or a tap of the whip if Rose was slow to react. The work that followed was lovely and when I got on, I had a lovely soft forward horse. I tried the same approach today and although I'm nowhere near the rider my trainer is, Rose was great and the BEST news is, I managed a 40 minute session even though it was hot. TBH its still not perfect, I'm still lacking fitness but we are def going in the right direction. Do you ever think you work too hard, harder than the bloody horse?

 

[AmyMay]

I suspect most of us work harder than the horse ?

 

[alexomahony]

Yes I think this too! My Sky is the master of making me work harder than he does... unless we're doing something he enjoys of course haha

I get round this by doing as your trainer does - warm up in walk, bending and flexing etc getting him to move away from my leg and then I go straight into canter in a soft seat. this excites him enough to be forward for the rest of the session.

 

[Bernster]

I suspect most of us work harder than the horse ?

yup! And finnegan likes it that way, tyvm ?

 

[Alibear]

Less is always more I find from my riding point of view. On the H&C Pammy series she mentions lateral work is best kept simple don't get all hung up on it, or something to that effect . She's right everytime its going wrong I try again but do less and ask less and I get a more.

 

[Skib]

I was quite surprised to see my trainer warm up mainly in walk, lots of flexing, bending and general softening followed by halt/walk trans with a quick back up with the leg or a tap of the whip if Rose was slow to react.

This describes my typical riding lessons for years and years. Mostly in walk. And no it didnt mean I was working hard.
Oddly enough if you warm up a horse like your trainer (and our RI), you can accidentally get canter from walk. And I dont reject it too fiercely. You are creating a forward and responsive horse.