Is Warming up Horses Necessary?

I received a phone call from Colleen, a lady who had previous called me to order some Functional Tie Rings and we ended up talking for almost an hour on ground training. This time her question was "is it necessary to warm up horses by lunging them before you ride them."

I told Colleen, that the short answer was 'yes' in my opinion, if at all practical and possible. I liken warming up a horse to me getting out of bed in the morning. Long gone are the day's I can swing my legs out, tie on some running shoes and go for a run. These days it takes me one cup of strong coffee and 50 minutes of stretching before I feel I can face my chores.

Warming up, horses or humans, helps get the blood circulating and making the muscles, joints and soft connective tissue more pliable and less prone to injuries. Warming up can also reduce pain. I think horses are no different than humans in this regard. And warming up a horse, if we pay attention, can show us where they are having problems, stiffness, lameness and such. Warming up is not just a physical thing, but again, if we pay attention, a warmup period can help focus on the horse on the handler who becomes a rider shortly thereafter. Can help make for a safer ride.

Lunging, either using a long lead rope or lunge line, or free lunging, what some people call lunging at liberty, is one way to warm up horses, not the only way. Before we even halter a horse and lead him to where we are going to saddle up, we have to approach the horse. This in and of itself is a opportunity to remind and re-establish leadership with the horse. Once haltered and leading, we can use that to help the horse focus on us - correcting an improper leading position; stopping; backing; having the horse stand when there is no feel in the lead rope; correcting the horse if he becomes distracted. I would just caution not to make a federal offense out of anything, just correct him with as minimum pressure as necessary. All this takes maybe an extra 2 minutes, so there is not really a reason not to do it.

Once I have saddled a horse, some times my warmup on him is just riding at a walk for a bit, stopping and backing, disengaging his front end, moving his front end over, giving me softness in lateral and vertical flexion. Some times, I dismounted nd stretch a horse out. Other times on other horses, who need it and could benefit from it, my warm up may be lunging usually with the lead end of the mecate reins. Any time you are asking something from the horse which is usually be directing his feet - providing you are giving him clear cues - serves the purposes of getting that horse connected to you, so warming up both is a physical and mental benefit to the horse.

Stretching Horses

Molly wrote to ask if I stretch my horses out and what, if any, supplements I can recommend to her for joints and muscele health. "Hi, I looked all over on your site to see if you have any articles or videos on stretching horses or if you believe that does any good. Also, on a middle aged horse around 15 years old, what , if any, joint supplements or muscle supplements would you recommend?" Thank you for any consideration in answering this. Molly."

Yes, I do stretch my horses out, not all the time, but more often than not. From the ground I'll lunge a horse around at a slow jog to warm him up alittle and get the blood flowing to his extremities as I think stretching cold muscles increases the chance of an injury (muscle strain or tear) especially on older horses. Pretty much just like us humans. I think that if you have a horse chiropractor in your area, he/she may be able to give you some good stretches and other ideas on stretching horses. So I guess you can tell I also support equine chiropractic care in some cases and only if you get a good chiropractor.

Stretching the horse's legs out, when he is saddled, can help get the cinch sorted out and maybe more comfortable for the horse, as well as just continue the process of getting the horse gentled on having his legs handled which is good for your horseshoer and particular good if you ever get your horse tangled up in wire and you have to cut his legs out and move a leg or foot out of the way. If you stretch out the horse when he is saddled, go back and check the cinch.

On the ground, I'll bend the fore leg back and pull slightly up on the leg and hold for 10-15 seconds. This is much the same thing a Vet will do to check for leg injuries, stretching in the same manner then having you trot your horse of to see if there is any lameness that would be associated with a chronic leg condition. I know people also stretch their horses in this manner, and some also include a small shoulder rotating into it. I don't do that.

I'll also stretch the front foot out until the horse's leg is straight - like in the picture. I don't jerk on it, I just apply a little steady pressure until the horse fully gives me that extension. Many times after you extend that leg fully, the horse will pull down on his leg stretching it himself. Again, I'll hold for 10-15 seconds or so. When doing these stretches, I don't give the horse back his foot/leg until he relaxes, otherwise you are teaching him that he can pull his foot away he wants to. Your shoer will be grateful if your horse is well mannered and doesn't pull his feet away when handling them.

As I go from one side of my horse to the other I'll sometimes lift his tail straight up and not release it until he is soft about it. From the beginning you might hold the tail up for one second then release and build on that until he is comfortable with you holding the tail up for as long as you have a mind to.  This is a routine handling thing as well tail brushing is so when I go about stretching the tail it is usually no big deal for the horse.

 

When I stretch the tail I'll grip the tail just above where the tail bone ends and pull straight back, not sharply, again just a steady pull. I'll hold for about 5 seconds, release, then do it again for maybe 10 to 15 seconds and lean back to put just a little more of my bodyweight into the stretch.  Don't do this on a horse that is not soft about having his tail handled, until he is. But all this tail handling will pay off making your horse softer about his tail and safe for you taking his temperature with a rectal thermometer or if and when you get a rope underneath their tail - this is called rimfired, where the horse will clamp down his tail tighter than a Sister of Mercy in a Nevada cathouse.

For the back legs, I'll lift up a leg (see above picture at left) just like when your shoer puts the leg on a stand and hold for 10-15 seconds, then unflex the leg and pull it out directly behind the horse to full extension (see picture at right). Again, I'm not jerking just putting steady pressure until the horse softens and relaxes.  

Once in the saddle, I will do what might be described as 'pre-ride checks'. This is when I'll ask my horse for lateral and vertical flexion to get him prepared to listen for my signals before we ever start moving. I don't do this all the time like I really should, just more often than not.

As far as supplements go, I don't use muscle building supplements.  I gave used red cell before on really underweight rescue horses, but do not routinely use it. 

 

I do have one horse on joint supplements. Glucosamine, Chondroitin and Hyaluronic Acid (HA) are the big three ingredients found in most joint supplements. Sometimes you'll see Yucca extract or MSM added for their pain relieving and anti-inflammatory properties. I think Glucosamine is the most important of the joint supplements. Talking over the years with human and horse nutrition researchers, many believe that Glucosamine likely works, but there is no empirical evidence that Chondroitin or HA works. That matches my experience on using human joint supplements. Many believe that Vitamin C is also as good ingredient in joint supplements to help the soft connective tissues to the joints. But whatever you use be sure of the quality, based on the raw ingredients, manufacturing process and subsequent certifications as these are probably key to the effectiveness of any supplement.   Hope this helps Molly.