The Components of My Daily Riding Routine

My typical ride on a normal day with my horses includes a warm up period, an exercise or drill I'm working on that day, and a cool down period. In this article I'm going to discuss what each part of my ride consists of and why they are important for your horse.

Warm Up

This part of my ride may vary depending on where the horse is at in their training. If I am riding a junior or green horse I may start with some groundwork to make sure I've got their full attention and respect. If the horse is far enough along in their training I will go ahead and mount up.

It is important to me to always warm my horse up on a loose rein at a walk, trot, and lope both directions before taking ahold of their mouth. Horses are athletes and I think of this part of my ride as them stretching their muscles before starting their workout. As long as they stay under control and in the gait I ask them to be in, I let them move out at their own pace. I do not ask them for collection or make very much, if any, contact with the bit during this phase of my ride. If I am on a lazier horse that doesn't like to move out, then after I let them move at their own pace for a few minutes, I will encourage them to extend their stride (as much as that horse is capable and comfortable with) to stretch their muscles.

This is not only important to help prevent muscle or soft tissue injuries for my horse but also to gauge what kind of frame of mind they are in that day. If they are lazy or fresh, I may ride them a little bit different or even work on a different exercise than I had planned on in order to make corrections. Once my horse is forward at each gait and staying between my reins I will begin the next phase of my ride.

Drill/Exercises

This phase of my ride is different every day. This is when I will work on schooling my horse on different maneuvers and exercises. It varies dramatically and depends on where my horse is at in their training or what I noticed could be improved on during my warm up. The list of drills and exercises I might do is endless so I will just list a few examples to give you an idea.

If my horse was not responsive to my downward transition cues when I was warming them up, I may spend this phase of my ride just working on transitions. If they warmed up great and were responsive to everything I asked, I may start teaching them something new. If my horse is a senior horse and advanced in their training, I may work on a drill to fine tune their maneuvers. When I am finished with my exercises for the day I will enter the cool down phase of my ride.

Cool Down

During the cool down phase of my ride I let my horse walk at their own pace on a loose rein on the rail. This is going to be the last part of my ride that they remember. It's important in order to keep horses from having anxiety about being ridden that at least the last five minutes are calm and quiet. I want my horse to want to be with me and work for me. It shouldn't be stressful or confusing for them. This is why it's important to keep a loose rein here so they have a "release of pressure" and they know they've done well.

Often I am asked how long you should ride for. Generally I ride for 45 minutes to an hour. But in my opinion, I don't think it really matters how long you ride. What is important is that when you get off your horse, they are a better horse than when you got on. Not necessarily better than they were yesterday or a week ago, but better than they were when you swung a leg over today. As I've said before and I'll say it again, horse's are not machines. They are living beings. Therefore, their progress is not always linear. There will be ups and there will be downs. There will be times they do things you thought you were past and had corrected. All you can ask of them is to do better than they did when you started working with them that day.

-Michaela Pemberton, AAS in Equestrian Science