Antoine Nowakowski – top tips for an effective warm up and cool down

Continuing our recent series of ‘how to’ articles from leading riders, leading dressage competitor and trainer and Derriere ambassador, Frenchman Antoine Nowakowski, shares with us his suggestions for the warm up and cool down stages of flatwork training.

 

Warm up

Let’s think about what are the practical reasons behind warming up? This phase prepares the horse’s muscles and tissues for work, and can also have a psychological aspect, in terms of preparing the horse mentally. Each horse’s warm up and cool down programme should be tailored to its level of fitness and discipline. Generally speaking, the warm up period is a phase of gentle exercise that stimulates the muscles to safely contract by increasing blood flow; allows synovial joint fluid to lubricate the joints; helps prevent lactic acid build-up by stimulating the circulatory system; and prevents injury caused by strain to tissues, such as tendons and ligaments. Generally I find that horses work best when given around twenty minutes of initial slow work, especially in walk, before they are asked to perform anything taxing.

 

Warming up and cooling down is fundamental to training! If you are not effective in your warm up, you will be building on tight muscles. The primary purpose of this stage for me is to get blood to the horse’s surface muscles, and warm them up. My golden rule is, never stretch cold muscles; stretching longitudally and laterally comes afterwards, when the muscles are more supple. After this happens, the next stage is to get the horse responding to my aids.

 

 

Non-mounted warm up

Ground work can be very beneficial to a horse’s exercise programme. In colder weather you can walk the horse in-hand in the arena for five to ten minutes before mounting. This allows the horse to physically warm up and get used to its surroundings. I would advise only mounting when your horse has relaxed sufficiently. Other ground-based warm-ups include lungeing and long reining, which can help a horse to supple up through his body, begin working from behind and stretch down into a relaxed frame.

 

Mounted warm up

An important piece of advice is not to neglect the walk in your mounted warm up, especially if you have not done any ground work first. A useful show warm up is often lots of walking - straight lines and lateral work. This relaxes the horse and prepares them for the subsequent work. Warm up is key, as horses working and competing at high levels need to be physically and mentally able to meet the demands of competition.

 

Cool down

A cooling down period is also vital! At the end of a flatwork session, you could do around five minutes’ worth of ‘long and low’ work, keeping the horse’s concentration by putting in lots of transitions. You can then walk on a loose rein for up to five minutes, or even take him for a walk outside the arena, to cool off.

 

Comfort and performance

Antoine is French vice-national champion in the 7-year-old division, and recently won the Inter II at the CDI Deauville event in France with Quatergirl, in the pair’s second ever international competition, culminating in their first victory at this level. “If you are a big fan of flatwork training, as I am, then you need to be comfortable in the saddle. I like Derriere riding underwear. Remember that when the rider is comfortable within the saddle, they can move more easily with the horse’s gait. Comfortable underwear and breeches are a must and the Derriere Equestrian range is designed for both men and women; it’s hard to find great riding underwear for men, but I find these products excel at their job, offering exceptional comfort and performance,” he says.