• Walk warmup for 20 minutes?

    Who has the time?

We’ve all heard the importance of a good walk warmup. But what exactly does one do in those 20 minutes?

As busy as life can get and how tight your time can be to squeeze a ride in, I highly recommend doing a walk warm-up even if it only ends up 10 minutes long. Here is how to make it useful for you and your horse.

Now is the time to let go of struggles of the day

Firstly, if you feel safe start your walk on the buckle. You don’t want to influence your horse in a negative way, which tight reins can do.  If you feel safer with a shorter rein, try having a small loop in the reins to limit the contact with your horses mouth. Horses are mirrors of their riders and a tight tense rider will inevitably cause a tight and tense horse. So as you unwind, try not to influence your horse in any way.

Make a positive intention to incorporate relaxation and breathing in your next ride

Most people hold a lot of tension in their bodies and don’t even realize it. Learning how to identify muscular tension and ways to release it can benefit you in multiple situations in life. Do you ever give presentations or deal with strong minded, rude people? Have you ever stood in what seems the slowest line? Learning how to release this unwanted tension can make your day go better and perhaps even help you live longer.

The beginning of every ride should start with conscious breathing

  1. Release your entire body with THREE LEVEL breathing
  2. Create calming grounding energy with BELLY breathing
  3. Energize your body with QUICK OUT, SLOW IN breathing

Try the following breathing techniques for relaxation to find the right one for you, and utilize it into your 20-minute warmups.

FOCUS in the walk

Get yourself into the zone

Focus. Get into the habit of checking into your body. Certain areas must be soft without tension: shoulders, elbows, hips, knees, and ankles. Mentally see if you can relax each area of your body just a little more. You will be amazed on how much tension is still hidden in those areas even though you think you are completely soft.

(ILLUSTRATION by Sandy Rabinowitz for Dressage Today)

CONNECT in the walk

Bring your horse together

Connect.  Now it’s time to bring you and your horse together. First connect with your most influential aid, the seat. Allow your seat bones to move in the rhythm of your horse. Try being in total unison to start, then see if your horse is listening to you – look for a more forward walk, then less walk, just by using your seat. Flow between quiet unison and influence. See if you can turn only using a weighted inside seatbone. Do a mini serpentine: one way – straight – then the other way, all with your seat. Make sure the outside of your hips are soft and add a little leg for impulsion.

And lastly pick up your reins. Aim for unison, allow your elbows to follow the natural neck movement of your horse (rowing action forward and back).

Let your horse stretch out his neck all the way down to the buckle, walk a few steps and pick up your reins again. If they snatch at the reins, it shows that you need to be softer when you pick them up again. Keep practicing!

OUTSHINE in the walk

Stay in the zone and enjoy for the rest of your ride!

Outshine. Having taken the time to slow down, breathe, focus and connect, you and your horse are in the perfect state to have the best training session ever. Connecting with the three aids; seat, legs and elbows; start lateral movement like leg yields, shoulder-fore or halting. If all this goes well, you’re you’re ready to move on!

Let’s start mindfully working in other gaits…