The Warm-Up: Part III - Exercises for the Athletic/Easily Distracted Horse

I wrote in Part I that the warm-up phase for Cruz, my athletic and easily distracted horse requires more contact than for my husband's older and calmer horse.

Not only must I keep Cruz on a shorter rein, but I also need to keep his brain busy. Rather than riding large circles and asking for bend and stretch, I have to sneak up on him with more subtle suppling exercises.

To be honest, they keep my brain busy, too.

Walk Work is Under-rated!

I have a tendency to overuse my hands, which Cruz understandably resents. So I devised a sequence of movements to loosen his shoulders and neck without him getting bored. The advantage to me is that I must keep my hands quiet and be effective with my seat and leg. All my aids must be communicated to Cruz in a clear and unhurried way, so he can understand and obey them without resistance.  

Harry Boldt’s fantastic, but wildly expensive book “Das Dressur Pferd” explains how useful lateral walk work is for suppling the horse.

 The Exercises

1. I walk a few large circles before asking for leg yield on both reins - on a 'Training Level' contact. I try hard to keep my hands quiet and slightly in front of the saddle, so I’m not ‘in his face’ when I ask for the lateral movement. By asking for only slight inside flexion I avoid blocking his shoulder with a too tight inside rein. 
2. I then ask for shoulder-in on the long sides, in both directions. 
3. Now comes shoulder-in till the half-way point of the long sides (E/B) then an unhurried switch to travers (haunches-in). When Cruz is happy with this, I switch a couple of times between shoulder-in and travers on the long sides. 
4. As soon as Cruz is giving nicely to my quiet hands and listening to my leg and seat aids, I ride him down the center line in shoulder-in, then change to renvers (haunches-out) to make sure he’s supple in his neck and through his ribcage. I switch back and forth every few strides. (I got this idea from this YouTube video of Bent Branderup.) 
5. Once Cruz is bending without any resistance, I go down the center line again. This time I ask for shoulder-in followed by half-pass in walk to the right (his better side). I then come round and ask for half-pass to the left.

My gelding is now supple and willing to work long and low in all three gaits with a soft, round contact. Best of all, we’ve achieved our goal without a fight.

This may seem a somewhat back to front approach, but it works very well for us. Maybe it could help your horse and make the warm-up walk phase more interesting for you both?