30/09/2021
About ten years ago, give or take, the NEDA clinician at U-Mass Amherst was Klaus Balkenhol, the legendary coach of the German gold medal dressage team.
One thing that he said changed forever my opinion about the concept of "warmup."
Klaus said that when he gets on a horse, whether out of a stall or out of a paddock, he always just walks calmly for a MINIMUM of ten full minutes. He joked that you need to time this with your watch, because ten minutes will feel like 20.
He also said that as the horse learns that this will ALWAYS be the case, that the first ten minutes, AT LEAST, will be calm walking, every single time he is mounted, that the horse will learn to start out with less anxiety about the upcoming work.
Then, after the walking, Klaus said that the initial trotting should be to establish forward rhythm, and only after this is obtained should the rider gradually take up more rein connection.
Klaus said that too many riders (I think he was directing this at me!) think of the warm up as something to be gotten through and dispensed with swiftly, so that they can get to the "real" work. Klaus reminded the audience that the warmup is just as integral a part of the "real" work as any other part.
Guilty as charged, sir. But I have reformed! Thank you!
