In the last blog entry I said that the warm-up should lead each horse to a physical, emotional, and psychological state of balance and relaxation, and I compared the warm-up to the process of tuning a musical instrument before playing it. The horse should be taught to respond faster and more precisely to the rider’s aids. Together, these two goals lead to lightness. They can be achieved through a variety of specific methods and strategies.
A very common approach, that probably everybody is familiar with, is to walk the horse for a few minutes on a loose rein, and then to pick the reins up and to ride some large circles and straight lines in the rising trot. Letting the horse stretch forward/downward is often included in this method. This can work well for many warmbloods. The downside of it is that it sometimes takes a very long time before the horse is supple, and that it does not address the horse’s hips. If a horse is very stiff to begin with, warming up at the trot can cause unnecessary wear and tear.
Oskar Stensbeck who was one of the most famous German dressage riders at the beginning of the 20th century, and who produced several Olympic horses, was famous for a completely different kind of warmup. Colonel Felix Bürkner met him at the famous Tattersall Beermann in Berlin during the 1920s, when Stensbeck was in his 70s. Bürkner gives a brief description in his autobiography: “Old master Stensbeck used to show up around noon, the inevitable Brazil cigar in his mouth, which never went out, even during the work. His enigmatic art, which we all admired, consisted largely in ‘placing the horse into the hand’ in the walk and in collecting the horse at the halt. He had the patience of an angel and waited at the halt until his horse was standing absolutely balanced on all four legs and quiet on the bit. Then he animated the horse with almost imperceptible aids at the halt, so much that it started stepping, sweat began to show, and – the first piaffe steps developed. He always remained in the center of the arena for this, never on the outside track, next to the kickboard, and he almost never allowed his horse – against all rules – to gain ground forward. This often encouraged a slight ‘balancée’, which he felt of course with his incredibly fine equestrian tact, but which he could not always prevent. He posted the forward trot, and in the canter work he was an artist in teaching the pirouette.” Stensbeck was in his 70s at the time and probably found trotting or cantering on a stiff, unbalanced horse too uncomfortable. So he found an alternative path, which is reminiscent of French dressage in some ways: establishing balance and suppleness at the halt and in the walk first, before riding forward in the trot and canter. The great advantage of this type of warm-up is that it is very low impact and causes no wear and tear. However, this path requires a certain feel, in order to prevent the horse from getting behind the leg.
I often warm the horse up slowly by riding curved lines and lateral movements in the walk. I stretch both sides of the horse by bending in both directions and frequently changing direction. I supple the shoulders by riding corners, voltes, figure 8s, and turns on the haunches. I supple the hips by riding turns on the forehand in motion and lateral movements. After 15 or 20 minutes of this, you can generally skip the rising trot and ride a slightly collected sitting trot.
My teachers often longed their horses for 10-20 minutes at the trot with side reins as a warm-up. This has the advantage that the horse gets an opportunity to find his balance and warm up his back muscles without the weight of the rider. By the time the rider mounts, the horse is ready to start the work. This technique only works if the horse stays on a round circle in a steady tempo that is neither too fast nor too slow. Otherwise, the horse becomes even stiffer and harder. The side reins have to be adjusted at the proper height and length, not too long, not too short, not too high, and not too low. Otherwise, they actually prevent the horse from finding its balance and create further muscle stiffnesses.
Double longeing can be highly useful at certain stages of the horse’s training. It requires a horse that is familiar with the outside rein, i.e. it is not suitable for very green horses, since they tend to become claustrophobic when they feel the outside rein. But from Training level on, double longeing can serve to connect the outside rein to the outside hind leg and to supple the neck and poll. The rider can eliminate tensions in the shoulders and the hindquarters through half halts and flexing rein aids as well.
Work in hand can be an excellent warm-up method as well. All the different varieties can be useful. They all have their advantages and disadvantages. The Viennese method with side reins and cavesson is good for transitions between walk and halt, walk and trot, trot and halt. The horse can be brought into a more uphill balance with it, and the more advanced horses can be asked for some piaffe steps as part of the warm-up.
The Portuguese method, where the rider walks next to the horse’s shoulder, with one snaffle rein in each hand (no side reins, no cavesson) is very good for suppling the horse through lateral movements at the walk and trot. This gives the rider more flexibility than the Viennese method, but if the horse is big and strong and exuberant, it can be a little more challenging to control the thrust of the hind legs. The danger of getting run over or dragged by the horse is greater, especially for smaller riders. With the side reins and cavesson, it is easier to stop the horse, especially if one rider leads the horse with a short rein and one rider walks behind with a longe line attached to the outside ring of the cavesson.
The work in the pillars is excellent for suppling the horse’s hips and directing the energy of the motion upward. In the past, almost all arenas used to have a set of pillars. Nowadays, they have almost completely disappeared. They are an extremely effective tool – if the trainer has been thoroughly instructed on how to use them. In the wrong hands, a horse can easily break its neck, if something goes wrong, and if the rider does not take the proper precautions.
The work in hand creates vibrating haunches, a swinging back, and a very alert, energized horse that is ready to go to work. It’s a pleasure to sit on a horse like that right from the start.
Long reining can be a wonderful warm-up for the horse as well as the rider. In true long reining, the rider walks right behind the horse, or right next to the croup, so that he can touch the hindquarters with his hand and forearm. The horse is tacked up only with a snaffle bit to which a rein of approximately 18 ft. length is attached. Of course, this is something that should only be attempted with a horse who does not kick, who does not wear shoes behind, and with whom the rider is intimately familiar. Otherwise, the danger of getting kicked and seriously injured is too great. The work at the long rein allows the dismounted rider to do all the dressage movements in all 3 gaits. The leverage of the long distance from the bit to the rider’s hand allows the rider to ground all four legs of the horse more effectively than under saddle. Since there are no side reins involved, it is possible to supple the poll and neck through flexions at the halt as well as in motion. Since the rider should stay at the walk, while the horse is trotting or cantering, it requires a certain degree of collection, which means that warming up at the long rein is predominantly useful for more advanced horses. The relative height of horse and rider plays a role as well. It is most recommendable for tall riders and smaller horses. Short riders with tall horses will probably find it impractical, because they may not be able to keep up with their big horse. The greatest danger of the long rein is that the rider may not be able to walk fast enough to keep the horse going forward. When that happens, the rider starts hanging on the reins, and the horse gets behind the aids.
Dismounted flexions can be useful for horses of all stages, including very green remounts. The rider can eliminate tensions and stiffnesses from the neck and poll, the musculature on the outside of the bend gets stretched out, and the green horse, as well as the correction horse, learns to yield to the pressure of the rein or the cavesson, depending on where the pressure of the flexion is applied.
Free longeing works very well for some horses, including green horses. This requires two or more people with good feel for the horse’s reaction to their own energy level, their placement in space, their movements, and the movements of the whip. Insensitive riders are likely to make the horse frantic with their uncoordinated movements, which is completely counterproductive. In good free longeing, the horse trots quietly around the arena, without trying to turn around. If he chooses to canter, the riders remain passive and wait for the horse to return to the trot. The goal is not to make the horse tired, but to get a relaxed, balanced trot.
Cavaletti work can be useful for horses of all stages in training. With very green horses, one will put only a single pole on the ground at first, of course, in order not to create too much psychological or physical stress. Ground poles and cavalettis can be incorporated into longeing as well as the work under saddle. They can be placed on a circle, in a corner, or on a straight line, depending on the rider’s intentions and the horse’s needs and capabilities. They can be taken at the walk, the trot, or the canter, with the trot being the most commonly used gait. Cavaletti work loosens up the horse’s back and makes him pick up his legs more. A certain disadvantage is that one needs an assistant to adjust the distances or to pick up cavalettis that the horse knocked over, in order not to have to interrupt the session.
Free jumping can be very good to develop the thrust of the hind legs and the swinging of the back. It’s not important to achieve great height, but rather a good stretch and a good bascule of the top line. It is therefore better to keep the jumps low, but to vary the widths.
Gymnastic jumping under saddle, at the longe line, or at the double longe line can also be a good warm-up for some horses. Rows of jumps are especially suitable for loosening up the back. Just as for the free jumping, it is not important that the jumps are very high, but that the horse rounds and stretches his back and top line. On the other hand, as young riders we were always reminded that anything under 3 feet is just a canter stride, not a jump.
Hacking can also be a good way to warm a horse up. It can have a mentally relaxing influence, if it is done at the walk or a quiet trot or canter. Coping with uneven terrain uses slightly different muscles than working on the level surface of an arena. It teaches the horse better body awareness, and helps to make the back musculature more supple.
These are a few of the possibilities that the educated rider can choose from. Some of these warm-up methods work for all horses, some of them require a more advanced horse, some of them are especially suitable for young horses. Each horse is different, and each horse changes and evolves throughout its training. The rider’s job is to find out each day which warm-up is most effective for each horse. It’s good to vary the structure of the workout, so that the rider does not fall into an inflexible routine, which becomes boring for the horse and the rider, and which works the same muscles every day, while ignoring or neglecting other muscle groups. It is often beneficial not to ride every day, but to limit the workout to 20 minutes at longe line, or to some work in hand or long reining on some days, in order to give the horse’s back a break.
Some horses warm up very well in the canter. Trot-canter transitions and flying changes can be used very successfully with these horses. Some horses do really well with long reprises in a quiet trot and simple arena patterns. Some horses do best with lots of transitions and more complicated arena patterns. Older, arthritic horses do very well with work in hand and lots of suppling exercises at the walk under the rider. Of course, the rider can combine two or more of the abovementioned warm-up techniques. You could, for instance, free longe a young horse for 10 minutes, then longe for another 10 minutes before getting on. Or you could longe an older horse for 10 minutes, work in hand for 10 minutes, and then do some suppling exercises at the walk under the rider. You can combine free longeing and long reining, or longeing and long reining, etc.
There are hardly any limits, as long as the rider does not lose sight of the purpose of the warm-up: Establish balance, suppleness, blood circulation, focus and obedience to the rider’s aids, without making the horse tired, and without creating unnecessary wear and tear.
A warm-up that makes the horse more crooked and unbalanced misses the point. A warm-up that makes the horse stiffer and less responsive is counterproductive. A warm-up that creates wear and tear is a failure. A warm-up that leaves the horse sweaty and exhausted damages the training.
Within these guidelines there is enormous room for experimentation and creativity.
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Thomas Ritter
