The Right Way to Warm Up Your Horse
Most riders have heard about the need for a good warmup before schooling each day. But what makes a warmup good? Is an active one better than a slow relaxing one? How long or short should it be? Many riders with good intentions hope that a period of moving their horses around either on the lunge line or under saddle prior to their workout counts as suitable preparation. Unfortunately this isnt the case.
From a physiological standpoint the warmup determines how much conditioning and positive physical response your horse will or wont receive from your training. This means that since we dressage riders are aiming to make our horses stronger fitter and more supple every day our preworkout routine could either help or hinder us. This article will give you some simple tips to make your training sessions more successful and your horse stronger day by day.
First lets clarify the distinction between loosening up and warming up. These are two different activities you need to do both before your workout. The overall goal of warming up is to increase oxygen delivery and blood circulation to the horses skeletal muscles to prevent early accumulation of metabolic wastes such as lactic acid in the tissues. In addition to causing early fatigue lactic acid buildup also prohibits the horse from benefiting from the workout because it changes the muscles pH levels which controls their ability to contract and relax. To counter this and to receive the benefit of exercising the muscles you want to stimulate enough oxygen and blood flow to the horses muscles to peak them for performance.
Each day when you first mount up or begin lungeing you should spend eight to ten minutes allowing your horse to walk around in a relaxed posture without any restrictive rein contact. Some choose to do this portion inhand others like to hack around their properties. This gentle activity allows the horses joint fluids to begin moving and lubricating. Studies have shown that it can take several minutes of slow movement for joint fluids to circulate fully for horses that live in mostly confined accommodations. It is important that a horses muscles not be in a contracted state such as a collected frame or with side reins. Joints must be allowed to move through their full range of motion prior to being held in a static position during dressage exercise with a rounded
