Better Training Tips: How To Warm-Up and Cool-Down Correctly

When working your horse it is important to remember that the warm-up and cool-down phases are as crucial as the exercises you work on, this will support better performance and wellbeing long term.

When working on the flat (or over jumps), follow these tips to help improve your horse’s flexibility, development and overall performance:

As soon as you get on allow your horse to walk for 10-15 minutes on a long rein, especially if he has been standing in the stable before being ridden – Allow an extra 5 minutes in winter, especially with older horses to help warm up their muscles and joints.

Gradually shorten your reins, a warm-up in walk doesn’t mean you are not working your horse, start to ask him to move forward and straight, keeping him channeled between your reins and legs, change the rein, do transitions to halt, circles, leg yielding, etc.

Once you move forward into trot you’ll be surprised on how much looser your horse is already, and willing to work. If you have a particularly stiff horse remember that the stiffer your horse is, the looser you need to be. Let him soften with you rather than you getting stiffer with him!

Listen to your horse. Go through your work routine and whether you are jumping or working on the flat always remember to make sure you are not overdoing it, (or not doing enough) for your horse’s fitness level.

Cooling down is as important as warming up properly. We often don’t give our horses enough time to recover after their work routine. Before you walk back to the stables remember to make sure your horse’s breathing and heart rate are fully back to normal and he has been allowed to stretch his neck and back. This phase will allow the muscles to cool down gradually to prevent the build up of lactic acid that will cause sore muscles and stiffness.

Follow ReadySupp on social media and via our newsletters for useful (and interesting) articles on nutrition, training, events and equestrian news from our experts. ReadySupp Co-Founder Didi Verdina is our ‘training’ expert, she continues to teach in her spare time, competes, and she is qualified to BHSI level (Italian equivalent). Visit our homepage to subscribe.

If you have any questions on equine supplements, and want to improve your horse’s health, performance, or attitude give our friendly team a call 01672 541 157 for advice. We won’t try and hard sell you anything – we promise.

Training Tips: Improve Your Hands

It’s easy to forget that our hands are directly connected to a horse’s most delicate area, and because of this we can completely compromise performance, attitude and paces with poor contact. Bad hands are one of the most common rider challenges faced so we’ve provided 5 tips to help reinforce good habits…

• Inconsistent hands. The most obvious and common problem is an ‘inconsistent’ hand. It’s essential that your hands communicate with the horse’s mouth all the time and the hands follow the bascule of the horse, without interfering. The contact should be consistent all the time. A hand that keeps losing the contact and retaking it provides a constant ‘surprise’ and can create stiffness, bad direction and inconsistent rhythm. Make sure you communicate with your horse’s mouth all the time, imagine riding a bicycle, if you keep taking your hands off the handle bars you lose control of direction and if you hit a bump you wouldn’t be able to correct the direction of the front wheel… not much difference in controlling the horse!
• Slipping the Reins. Another very common problem is letting the reins slip because your hands are loose and not gripping the reins properly.  Constantly changing them causes inconsistency in the way you communicate with your horse. Bear in mind that gripping is NOT pulling, it’s only giving a secure and consistent contact. A fantastic tool to avoid this, while teaching the rider the benefits of consistency, is reins with loops. These are never to be used to increase strength, but to provide an understanding of ‘feel’, and of what a difference a consistent contact can make. It works wonders on young horses, provided the loops allow you the correct length of the reins
• Heavy, strong hands are another common problem. Never pull or grip the reins to support a lack of balance! If you can’t hold yourself in the saddle without holding the reins your balance is not good enough. When safe to do so practice riding without reins as much as you can, and work hard at it, as it will pay off! You should be able to trot, canter, do sitting trot, 2-point position, and jump grids all without the reins

• Hands on Hips. Another very common mistake is the ‘hands on the hips’ contact. This is the result of reins being too long, once the hands are blocked against them there’s nowhere else they can go and inevitably the shoulders fall forward to compensate, the horse will end up on the forehand then the rider will lose control, balance and rhythm. Here’s a useful tip to prevent this, whatever your discipline: When you are thinking of using your hands, especially to slow down or for a transition, ALWAYS engage your core first, sit up and push your hips in front of your shoulders. The rein action MUST then start from your shoulders, followed by your elbows, and finally your hands. If you imagine this exercise now in front of your computer you will already notice how much bigger the range of movement is, resulting in a softer action on your horse’s mouth. Once you’ve tried this, then try to use your hands only. They will end up on your hips as there’s nowhere else to go

• Lowering the hands to lower the horse’s head. Always remember the hands and forearm should be an extension of the reins and there should be a straight line from the bit to the elbow to allow for a softer, more direct contact with the horse’s mouth. Lowering the hands will produce a short lived success by lowering the horse’s head and making the horse rounder, but this roundness won’t come from behind and won’t last, as it is simply just pulling the head down and bending the neck. Sit up, give with the legs and take the impulsion created with the hands, then let the horse trust your hands (with all the above tips) and you will end up with a happy horse, working for you!

Follow ReadySupp on social media and via our newsletters for useful (and interesting) articles on nutrition, training, events and equestrian news from our experts. ReadySupp Co-Founder Didi Verdina is our experienced ‘training’ expert and she is qualified to the Italian equivalent of BHSI level. Visit our homepage to subscribe.

If you have any questions on equine supplements, and want to improve your horse’s health, performance, or attitude give our friendly team a call 01672 541 157 for advice. We won’t try and hard sell you anything – we promise.

5 Key Exercises Guaranteed to Improve Your Riding

Whatever your goals are, make yourself a better rider by including these pro tips to establish a more secure seat…

1. Work on developing position and balance – these are two key points you must focus on to improve your riding. Exercises such as trotting in a light/two point position around the school (or the field if you do not have an arena) are useful. Incorporate a cavalletti – still in trot, as you improve. Move on to jumping a small grid (in the arena) with your hands on your hips to further develop balance (secure the reins with a knot!) Ensure you use a sensible horse to perfect these exercises, a run out without reins might not be so productive!

2. The third key point that must not be overlooked is “feel”. Once you know the basics and you are secure in the saddle learn to “listen” to your horse.
Riding is not automatic and requires more than just physical ability and talent, remember every horse is different and understanding ‘feel’ is important. Exercises such as quick transitions from walk/tot/walk, then trot/canter/trot, progressing on to canter/walk/canter will help you gain understanding of your horse’s way of going. Listen to your horse and the way he is reacting to your aids, feel where he likes or dislikes to feel your legs and how much (or little) pressure he responds to, and gauge the amount of ‘weight’ he likes you to have in your hands.

3. Lunge work is extremely beneficial. Get an experienced person to assist so while they are lunging you on the horse they can help you with direction. You can practice riding without stirrups, without reins, then without both. This will help increase your balance and strengthen your muscles and your position.

4. Once stronger in the saddle try a new exercise.  Add a small amount of rising trot without stirrups in to your routine, although don’t over do it or you will start to grip with your legs. This is a useful exercise to strengthen your leg muscles.

5. Learning to ride in rhythm is the key to every discipline. Try this exercise. Place two jump poles one after the other with an average of 21m between them. Ride over them in 5-6 strides (this will depend on size and stride length of horse), once you know how many strides feel comfortable for your horse, shorten your stride to add one. Then go back to ‘comfortable striding’ for a round. Then lengthen again to take a stride away. Keep varying the distance so you learn to adjust the canter in order to achieve the correct rhythm and length of stride to get it right. Make sure you adjust early enough to be balanced and rhythmical by the time you reach the first pole.

Work these exercises in to your riding routine and in a short time you will start to feel improved balance, confidence and awareness of your body.

Follow ReadySupp on social media and via our newsletters for useful (and interesting) articles on nutrition, training, events and equestrian news from our experts. ReadySupp Co-Founder Didi Verdina is our experienced ‘training’ expert and she is qualified to the Italian equivalent of BHSI level. Visit our homepage to subscribe.

If you have any questions on equine supplements, and want to improve your horse’s health, performance, or attitude give our friendly team a call 01672 541 157 for advice. We won’t try and hard sell you anything – we promise.

Our show jumping team riders feed ReadySupp Ultra Calm, Moody Cow and Performance Joint as their favourites from our supplement range.

Gridwork Dos and Donts: Seven Important Tips

Gridwork is an incredibly useful tool and there are many interesting combinations to assist in development of horse and rider balance, strength, suppleness, and coordination. It can also help improve specific issues such as poor rhythm, difficulty in covering the ground, and use of whithers over the jump. 

Follow ReadySupp’s tips to help improve your skills:

• DO start simply. Begin with a couple of jumps initially, then add more as your horse grows in confidence. Do not introduce bounces until your horse (and you) are comfortable and confident with grids

• DO think of frequency.  Ideally do gridwork once a week and aim for gradual development

• DO allow the horse to find his balance and rhythm before you build a larger or longer grid

• DO have someone knowledgable on the ground to assist you as you might need to adjust the jumps and the poles on the ground quite often

• DON’T guess. If you are not sure about the distances between jumps don’t make them up.  If the person on the ground is not 100% sure use a gridwork book for exact distances and a tape measure.

• DON’T over do it. Gridwork is hard work as it requires a much more intense jumping effort, so always build up your horse’s ‘gridwork fitness’ gradually

TOP TIP: If your horse is young or inexperienced start from a pole grid and slowly progress to jumps. 

 Follow ReadySupp on social media and via our newsletters for useful (and interesting) articles on nutrition, training, events and equestrian news from the experts. Visit our homepage to subscribe.

If you have any questions on equine supplements, and want to improve your horse’s health, performance, or attitude give our friendly team a call 01672 541 157 for advice. We won’t try and hard sell you anything – we promise.

Our show jumping Team riders feed ReadySupp Ultra Calm, Moody Cow and Performance Joint to help them get the best from their horses.

Struggling With a Strong Horse? Start with these top tips…

Riding very strong horses can be a frustrating experience, especially if you are a lady rider. ReadySupp show jumping trainer Didi Verdina shares some useful tips on dealing with this problem.

Usually there is a reason a horse pulls, so before anything else try and establish if there is a cause for the pulling problem. Mouth or teeth issues are usually the first area to investigate, followed by tack assessment, and research in to a horse’s history.  Poor training and inexperienced riders can contribute to problems with the way a horse goes.

Schooling is essential. Make sure you do plenty of transitions, get your horse used to doing changes in the rhythm and use the school/field to ride circles and serpentines.

If after all this the horse is still pulling consider changing the bit. There’s a huge choice of bits on the market so make sure you get advice in picking the right one. It’s not always a stronger bit that can solve the problem, it needs to be the correct one depending on ‘how’ your horse pulls.

Work on your position in the saddle and core strength. It doesn’t matter how strong your arms are, if a horse pulls you are never going to be stronger than him. Learn how to use your position and balance to be able to control your horse.

Be patient! A horse doesn’t stop pulling very easily, (unless there’s a major problem or pain you can resolve quickly) so be prepared to do plenty of schooling!

Follow ReadySupp on social media and via our newsletters for useful (and interesting) articles on nutrition, training, events and equestrian news from the experts. Visit our homepage to subscribe.

If you have any questions on equine supplements, and want to improve your horse’s health, performance, or attitude give our friendly team a call on 01672 541 157 for advice. We won’t try and hard sell you anything – we promise.