The warm-up sets the tone for your ride with your horse, so it is important to start things off on the right foot. By beginning at the walk and adding in simple lateral work, you set your horse up for success by easing into your training session and warming up important muscle groups.
In her training video on EQUESTRIAN+, Grand Prix dressage rider and trainer Laura Ashley Killian demonstrates how she warms up her upper-level horse at the walk using lateral work. She provides tips on engaging the back and hindquarters as well as helping the horse’s responsiveness and flexibility with the lateral work.
Warming Up at the Walk
“As he’s walking, I’m looking for him to be working over his back, reaching down into the hand, taking the reins from me and seeking that connection further, deeper, lower and rounder. It’s common that if you just let them go to their own devices, they’re going to go a little bit more like they’re on a trail ride—stretch their neck out and just kind of drop the back a little, lower the shoulder sling and drop down into their withers instead of engaging and basculing their back.”
“I’m focusing on the following of my arms and the swing of my hips. When I’m following in the walk, I want that straight line to continue towards the bit, so I want to make sure I don’t end up doing a pushing, rolling motion with the hands, but I’m just allowing them to take the neck and angulate it forward and downward. In both the walk and in the canter, we need the neck of the horse to move in a nodding motion to allow for the natural gait.”
“We want to be careful that we continue to follow the motion and not block the motion so that our horse can have the biggest, freest movement and show the best possible gait, especially while we’re stretching. So I’m allowing from my shoulders being back and down, my elbow being underneath me and feeling like I’m reaching out and forward to create that following sensation.”
Lateral Work at the Walk
“The reason I’m doing the head–to–wall leg-yield is so that I can work on him abducting and adducting the hind leg. So [going to the right] I’m looking for that left hind leg to cross in and I’m looking for that right hind to stretch away from his body. As I do this and trying to be aware of the control over the right shoulder so that he doesn’t seep and lead through that shoulder. I actually want him to stay relatively aligned from nose to tail and not create too much arc in his body. If he over-arcs, then I’m going to lose that outside half-halt on that right rein and then I’m also going to lose the ability for him to cross.”
“So now I’m going to take that head-to-wall leg-yield and I’m going to turn it into a leg-yield across the arena. I’m using the mirror as my focal point so I can have an idea of what’s going on with the hind legs, how parallel he’s staying in his body and how parallel he’s staying in the connection.”
“Walking forward [into a leg-yield to the right], the left leg slips back and the right leg guards the right shoulder because we don’t want to take that leg off and create a big opening that then the horse seeps through. We want to be able to control and ride all corners of the horse, so we don’t want to create a gap there where we take away our ability to ride that right side of the body. We want to keep that side passively engaged.”
Watch & Learn on E+
- You can watch Laura Ashley Killian’s video here on EQUESTRIAN+.
- For additional videos featuring Killian’s top tips and training strategies, click here.
- From short training tips to how-to videos and insider-access to private clinics and lessons, learn more from top dressage experts on EQUESTRIAN+.
About Laura Ashley Killian
Laura Ashley Killian is a Grand Prix dressage rider and trainer as well as a USDF Gold, Silver, and Bronze medalist with Silver and Bronze freestyle bars. She is also a USDF Certified Trainer/Instructors through Fourth Level and a USDF “L” Judging Graduate. Killian uses her expertise to train both horses and riders from their first ride to the FEI level. She lives and trains year-round in Loxahatchee, Florida.
