Warm Up & Cool Down

Here are two things to think about immediately after you swing your leg over your horse’s back: 
mental mindset & forward movement 

Mentally, I find that my horse has to do one of two things at the mounting block: walk off with a long rein or walk off with a short rein.
In the ideal world a horse should be able to spend the first 5 minutes of the ride walking on a long rein, with plenty of relaxation and swing in the body.
Now, there are some goofballs who need to be reminded that they are a riding horse, and may need to have the tone set before exercise begins. For this type of horse, the rider should shorten the contact at the mounting block before the horse takes their first step, that way, the horse pays attention to the two-legged friend on their back. The goal here is to establish steady contact from the get-go, keep his focus on you, and find the moment during your ride to walk on that longer contact- maybe that’s in five minutes or maybe that’s during a walk break in 20 minutes. It's important that this type of horse still has the opportunity to limber his body up, even with a shorter neck, before your workload is increased to full-blown exercise.

Now, get going! 

No, no, no… we aren’t galloping away from the block or going straight into trot, but in order to get your horse breathing deeply enough to properly to oxygenate his muscles, you have to walk. Like, really walk. 

Focus on taking long, forward thinking steps- like you have somewhere to go! Puttering around in the walk isn’t going to properly prepare his body for the workload ahead. 

As your horse is limbering up, I avoid shop turns, tiny figures, and immediate lateral work. Generally, after several laps around the arena on a long rein where the horse is forward, swinging in the body, relaxed in their brain-space, and looking toward your contact- I shorten the reins. (This is a great time to insert that lengthening and shortening of the neck exercise…just saying) 

At this point, I start incorporating some suppling exercises that are going to limber the body. This may not be a core or supplemental suppling day, but I want the body to in good condition, with joints lubricated and mobilized, muscles pliable, and I’m looking for the heart rate to start to slowly begin to raise. These suppling exercises can be: spiraling in and out on the circle, shoulder-in to ranver transitions, or my personal favorite: long lines of leg yield. 

Once the horse is walking in a nice contact, moving forward, swinging in the body, and breathing deeply- generally around the 10 minute mark I will go into trot. 

Now, did you read what I just said? Yes, the 10 minute mark.
(and some horses need even longer)

So many riders skip this crucial step in the warmup phase, and it can be absolutely detrimental, here’s why: 
Remember back in Muscles 201 when we discussed lactic acid?
The goal is to keep the body in aerobic exercise for as long as possible early in the ride, and we want to ensure the body is flushing out any leftover lactic waste that could still be remnant from a previous ride. Additionally, we want to make sure that the body is only producing lactic acid when we do need it, not just because we are pushing the warmup process along because we are late, cold, or bored. 

Switching prematurely to anaerobic exercise will exhaust the muscles before you begin your structured work, which will greatly diminish the productiveness of your ride! Don’t skip this step. 

I generally get my students out of the mindset of “omg, we need to hurry this ride along because my trainer is here and we have so much to do!” by chit-chatting.
How’s your life? (stop leaning to the left) How has the horse been? (shorten your reins) Did your husband remember your anniversary? (nice leg-yield!)because the walk phase is crucial! 

Now we are trotting! Hooray  

Within the trot, I keep my contact- only stretching down when my horse is working nicely in the body, so that stretch can be effective. I also always begin the trot by posting in order to allow the back an opportunity to loosen, swing, and fully engage before I ever sit into it. My horse must move forward in a long-strided working trot, and again, I am looking for that relaxed swing in the body. 

Sometimes, with a non-forward thinking or short-strided horse, I will take a few long sides to gradually drive the trot forward until I achieve the working trot I want. 
Now I have forward and contact, so I start incorporating bend on large figures, like 20-30m circles and serpentines. If needed, a couple long lines of leg-yield is also a super effective way to loosen the body.

Then the canter! Same as the trot: forward thinking, into steady contact, and supple. This is a super time for some large circles, long sides, and for some of my educated horses: long lines of balanced leg-yield to encourage a little shoulder freedom. 

Now, we’ve hit all three gaits. Nothing too challenging, and your horse is breathing deeply and has started to work up a sweat. Excellent! Now it’s time to incorporate some smaller figures, and go on with your plan for the day. 

Remember: within the warm up you are literally warming up the body, especially now in the wintertime. If you get moving and then start chatting with your friend (or trainer) at a standstill for 5-10 minutes, you need to restart the process!