From: Stephanie
Hi Jessica!
I find your archives very helpful- I've learned so much! I think the horses that I lease are happier for it.
I hope to start eventing this year, and I am learning a lot about all three phases with help from my trainer. I have a friend who is also an eventer, although she has already been eventing for 2 years. She has shown Pre-green and Green, and she hopes to move up to Pre-training this year.
She is a thoughtful and great rider, but I have a question. Every time before she schools dressage, she lunges her horse for about 15-20 minutes, both ways walk-trot-canter. After that, she mounts and goes through a whole long thorough warm-up and does her ride.
I don't understand something, though. She canters her horse and stuff when she lunges. But then, when she mounts, she goes through a while long loose rein walk and the whole warmup thing as if she didn't lunge. I don't think it's bad- warm-ups are very important- but then, wouldn't it even make more sense to warm-up and THEN lunge and then mount for further schooling? Otherwise it seems that the riding warmup would be useless, and that the lunging would mean that the horse would be worked without being warmed up first. Know what I mean?
I'm sure that she has very good reasons for it, and that I just don't understand. Could you please explain this further? Thanks for your help! Stephanie
I can't tell you the specific reasons why your friend warms up her horse this way, and you might consider just asking her directly. Most riders are quite happy to explain their reasons for doing things in a particular way. Sometimes they have very good reasons - sometimes they don't. Some answers are informative, whilst others aren't ("I don't know, that's just the way I've always done it", "My instructor does it this way, I don't know why", "What do you mean, doesn't everyone do this the same way?", etc.), but it's generally worth asking the question. Meanwhile, although I can't tell you why your friend warms her horse up in this way, I would be happy to tell you why I might warm a horse up this way - perhaps that will help. ;-)
Longeing, done properly, can be a wonderfully useful part of a warmup, as it allows the horse to work without the rider and the rider to observe the horse's body and movement. If the longeing is done systematically, so that the horse walks in both directions and trots in both directions before cantering at all, it can be a great way to ensure that the horse is happy, comfortable, and sound. Without the weight of the rider to carry and balance, and with contact only through the cavesson, not the bit, the horse can relax and move freely. The rider, watching the horse, can ask herself "What horse do I have today?" and then plan the riding session (that is, select her exercises and level of intensity) based on her perception of the horse's strength, flexibility, and comfort level (physical, mental, and emotional) AT THAT TIME.
If longeing is used this way, it's not part of the training/work session, but part of the warmup. There are two components to any good warmup: In the first part of the warmup, the large muscles of the horse's body are exercised, gently, to make them warm and stretchy and improve the horse's circulation. In the second part of the warmup, the horse is "put through his paces" - that is, he is asked to do all of the things he knows how to do, from the easiest and simplest to the most difficult and complex. Once all that has been accomplished, the "teaching session" or "work session" begins - this is the (comparatively brief) period during which the horse is taught to do something new, or asked to do something familiar in a different way (e.g., longer strides, more thrust from behind, more elevation/suspension, etc.)
Riding a warmup is NEVER useless, and longeing-as-initial-warmup can be an excellent prelude to a ridden warmup, which then serves as prelude to the intense work part of any riding session. If someone knows how to longe really well, and has a large enough space in which to do it, this is really an excellent way to maintain a horse's soundness - and a rider's keen awareness of the horse's condition, ability, and emotional state.
Are there times when it would make more sense to do the ridden warmup first, or dispense with the longeing part of the warmup altogether? Certainly. If the space available for longeing doesn't accomodate AT LEAST a full 20-meter circle, or if the horse has an injury or condition (e.g. hocks fusing) that would make ANY work on a circle painful, or if the horse is being asked to WORK on the longe, or if the horse is wearing sidereins, or being longed from the bit (horrors!) - all of those would be times to forego the longeing and just warm up the horse under saddle, working long and low and beginning with straight lines and wide turns.
I don't know the age or condition of your friend's horse, but if he is an old campaigner that she is nursing along and trying to keep sound, her warmup makes even more sense, because eventing is a very demanding sport.
The older a horse is, the longer and more careful a warmup it needs before work, and the longer and more careful a "warm-down" it will need after work. The better and more experienced a rider is, the greater the proportion of any riding session will be taken up by the warmup and warm-down. A brief warmup, a long, intense work session, and a brief or nonexistent warm-down are sure signs of an inexperienced, impatient rider. It's also a burning formula for a short career for the horse, as it tends to promote breakdowns rather than the maintenance of soundness.
Think of the horse as an athlete, and the whole focus on warming up will make sense. If a human athlete wants to stay sound and continue to perform for many years, s/he will put a lot of thought and time into a really thorough warmup before each workout, and make the big efforts (lifting very heavy weights, running very very fast, etc.) only briefly - and only at the point when every system is fully prepared to take the strain.
Bottom line: No vet is ever going to say to any rider "You shouldn't spend so much time warming up your horse, you're too careful, just get in that arena and jump those fences/do those pirouettes/chase those cows", and no horse is ever going to become injured because its rider insisted on performing a long, gentle, thorough warmup before every workout.
Hope this helps - it's an interesting subject, isn't it?
Jessica
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