Two Minute Training Tip - A Simple Warm Up Plan
Why warm up your horse? Change your thinking about when your ride your horse from just riding to more along the lines of a workout that you would do. You need to warm up your muscle and body to get the blood pumping and the joints lubricated. Your warm ups also need a plan because you need a few types of warm up to use regularly so that you a way to measure and feel that you have your horse’s attention and are ready to do some exercises as well as have fun. The different types of warm ups will address different things like the weather - a hot day warm up vs a cold day warm up. Or you're warming up and your horse has way more or way less energy than normal. And you also want warm ups and exercises that are similar to begin with you be able to gauge your horse’s attention and if their body is ready for exercise regardless of the weather, your mood and your horses' mood.
Review your riding plan for the day.
Groom and tack up your horse.
Check you have your timer on your phone and set it for 5 min. Spend 5 minutes walking the horse forward and back on straight lines and circles for 5 min. Focus on doing quieter aids with more response from your horse.
When the timer goes off – reset and do 5 min of Trotting. Again, go forward and back in the trot, use straight lines and circles and lateral work your horse is ready for like Leg yields and shoulder in and haunches in.
When the timer goes off – decide what’s next. Does your horse need a few minutes of walk or are you ready to Canter? If you need a walk add it here for about 2-5 minutes.
Once you’re ready set your timer and start to canter. Go forward and back in the canter, use straight lines and circles and lateral work your horse is ready for like Leg yields and shoulder in and haunches in. Depending on your fitness level and your horse’s fitness level use Trot or walk transitions in between to keep the work forward and consistent without losing your balance or your horse's balance.
It’s about 15-20 min into your ride and now you can evaluate is your horse moving off the leg? Is their bend in each direction easier and more willing and flexible/supple? Are you ready to move on to some exercises? If so – great! Move on to the next thing in your plan. If not, do a little more warming up.
Reach out to me and let me know what you need – we can come up with some ideas together!
Stay tuned for next week’s Two-minute Training Tip! If you need help building a training plan you can always email me questions at revelationfarm1911@gmail.com or check out our YouTube channel, revelationfarm.com for upcoming events. Like us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/RevelationFm