{"id":9236,"date":"2018-06-18T16:26:56","date_gmt":"2018-06-18T06:26:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/?p=9236"},"modified":"2021-06-07T14:58:39","modified_gmt":"2021-06-07T04:58:39","slug":"christopher-burton-and-the-perfect-warm-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/2018\/06\/christopher-burton-and-the-perfect-warm-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Christopher Burton and the perfect warm up…"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Back in 2006, we did this article with Chris Burton, working at home in Glossodia, and working with an off-the-track Thoroughbred. Since then, he’s won at Aachen – twice, been a member of the Bronze Medal team in Rio, and many more international successes. He won a World Champion Young Event horse title with Firefly in 2016. He is now based in the UK, with his wife Bek, and young son.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Pix Ros Neave Words Christopher Hector<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Christopher Burton is a \u2018thinking rider\u2019 and it was no trouble for him to explain his simple, easy to follow warm up routine. A warm up that will work for any horse \u2013 eventer, showjumper or dressage \u2013 and improve performance every time.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Christopher\u2019s model for his demonstration was Walk the Line, alias Johnny \u2013 a 6 year old, Thoroughbred ex-racehorse, destined for a career in Eventing.<\/p>\n

According to Christopher: \u201cJohnny is an interesting mix. He\u2019s a sensitive Thoroughbred but like most horses he can easily get lazy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first thing I do is get the horse going forward. Lots of riders are obsessed with getting them round \u2013 I\u2019m not, I just want forward. I don\u2019t always ride with a whip, but I keep one by the arena in case I need it. Most of the time just picking the whip up is enough to get him thinking forward\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

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And right on cue, Johnny does a little freak on the whip and a minor\u00a0take off!<\/p>\n

\u201cI start in rising trot, he\u2019s still young. Get him soft and supple and happy. I try to get him used to this warmup then when I take him somewhere strange like a competition, even though it might take a little longer, he settles down because he is used to the routine of the warmup. There\u2019s no pressure at this stage, just long, looking down, listening to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the warmup progresses, I ask a bit more round, pressure him a little from behind but only after he\u2019s thinking forward \u2013 and thinking forward for himself because I don\u2019t want to be kicking him forward all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cOkay a fit three star horse will get a bit more excited when you start to work, but if you have been using this same warmup all through their career, it lets them settle, and it also gives me an indication of when they are ready to pick up and go to work. Establish the routine at home, and you end up with a horse with a healthy body and a healthy mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now he is a tiny bit against my right leg. In the warmup I\u2019ll gently try to talk him around my right leg. Let him do it on his own rather than pressuring him into letting go.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cBend his neck for a moment to unlock, then let him go forward. I\u2019m not fussed if he puts his nose in the air and has a little look around \u2013 it\u2019s an amateur dressage mistake to be obsessed with how round the horse is. It\u2019s not about getting the horse round, it\u2019s about getting the horse to carry its head. I ride some horses that have had the round treatment and they are just dead to the rein, all they know is round, they know nothing about left or right, or half halts.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNow let\u2019s move on to some transitions \u2013 simple, un-pressured transitions, uncomplicated transitions. We are just trying to get the horse more forward thinking but so it is his idea, so he enjoys it, so he is not dead to the leg.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFor that upwards transition, I just squeeze my legs together \u2013 if he doesn\u2019t respond, then I\u2019ll use the spur. All the time, we want to keep it simple and at the same time, keep the aids, light.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNow I will work on some transitions within the pace. Can I slow the trot? Can I ride forward by giving and allowing forward? So many people lock their horses up with the emphasis on round that they lose the forward thinking. Forward and back in the trot. I want him to stay soft but he has the tendency to lock his neck, I want it soft, so he\u2019s carrying his own head. So I can ride without reins and he should stay in a similar frame, in a similar straightness, the only change when I give away the rein should be that he stretches a bit more.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cTo get that lightness, my body has to be very independent. He carries himself, I carry my hands. That means you are riding off your seat, and that comes after the basics are there. The breaker doesn\u2019t sit into the horse\u2019s back to slow down. He starts with the reins, and the horse learns reins = slow. Once he understands that, then I can brace my body, and achieve a downward transition without the reins. It starts off with a very clear understanding, you pull on the bit of metal in his mouth, and he slows down. Then to get the horse responding to your seat, you must have a very independent seat and that gives the horse the chance to think about your seat as an aid. Once the horse is listening to your seat, then he stays forward thinking in the transition down because you are not using your reins, just bracing your body.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s the same in the upwards transition. I don\u2019t want my body flapping, legs pumping, to get an upwards transition. I want the horse so forward thinking that all I have to do is squeeze and allow.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNow I\u2019ll ask him to put his neck a little lower, and we\u2019ll have a canter. Again, off a gentle aid, sit, slide the outside leg back remembering that he can feel a fly on his skin so you hardly have to touch him, then off. It\u2019s the same subtle communication you will need for the flying change. I allow him to go forward by my body going with him \u2013 and he is carrying himself, he is doing it on his own. I\u2019m not physically making him do anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

At this point, Johnny decides to offer a leap in the air as an added\u00a0attraction\u2026<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Chris laughs: \u201cYou can\u2019t take that away from him, so you have to re-direct it, \u2018you want to talk about extra energy? Let\u2019s talk about medium trot.\u2019 I didn\u2019t scold him for playing up and being a young horse \u2013 I just turned a bad situation into something good \u2013 medium trot \u2013 and he didn\u2019t even notice what I was doing. You don\u2019t want to take that excitable energy away from a nice young horse because it is just that added brilliance that is going to leave the final fence up at the end of a tough three day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am trying to shape him more in the canter but I still let him carry himself, still let him think he\u2019s doing it on his own and he\u2019s not held together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s test the warmup by going back to trot\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNow I know that our warmup has been successful because there is more reach in the trot, and I never discourage that, never \u2013 I really like them to reach.\u201d<\/p>\n

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While the warmup is a recipe for any horse, according to Christopher, it is particularly necessary for the talented horses:
\n\u201cThere are some horses that will get there with anyone riding them, but some are professional\u2019s horses \u2013 they are the ones that need kid gloves to preserve the brilliance. Johnny is one of those horses. So I am careful to give him a breather to think about what we have done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now it\u2019s time to tighten the girth:
\n\u201cIn rising trot I don\u2019t need the girth so tight, but now we need to tighten it, because I never want to bounce in the sitting trot. I hope the warmup has carried through and he is happier in the mouth and we can ask for more engagement. He\u2019s very calm now so when I work him up and ask for more engagement, he should keep that relaxed feeling.\u201d
\n\u201cSitting trot shouldn\u2019t be any different from rising trot \u2013 elastic hips and back, so you become part of the horse.\u201d<\/p>\n

more follows<\/em><\/p>\n

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The picture looks nice, but Christopher is not entirely happy:<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a tiny bit locked in front. I\u2019m waiting for him to fold through the poll. I keep my aids very soft, just waiting, and once he yields I allow a tiny bit more.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNow we can have a little talk about the right leg issue. If he steps away from my leg, then I\u2019ll take it off. And if he doesn\u2019t step away, then a little spur. There, that was better.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this stage, I ride lots of transitions, staying very secure with my body. Now the transition to halt.\u201d<\/p>\n

And in halt, Christopher is sitting there waiting for something to\u00a0happen:
\n\u201cI waited in the halt until he breathed, until he relaxed. He breathes and I pat him and let him settle. That way I can ride the hottest Thoroughbred \u2013 the ones we like on cross-country \u2013 and in the dressage test when I come to a halt at X, I feel him breathe and relax. They love that and as soon as they get the hang of it, that at every halt they get the chance to stop and breathe, they want to do it. Once they get the idea, they want to do it all day long.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNow I want to think about shoulder-in, just going with him \u2013 not asking for as much as he\u2019s got, there is more there, but right now I want to keep the rhythm and the even steps. Expect less today and tomorrow you get more.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Johnny was happily standing there, Christopher talked about his major challenge:
\n\u201cCanter is not his strongest gait. I hope it will continue to improve \u2013 I know he must have a good canter because he\u2019s got such a good walk and trot. I\u2019ve just got to keep him happy and explain the idea to him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Off into canter:
\n\u201cThe first thing is to allow him to go forward. He\u2019s still a baby and he still falls in on the circle. So I work on bending and softening the poll. Right \/ left, trying to keep a light seat on him, and ask for a bit more activity, increase the jump.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI like to use a little canter pirouette exercise. Once he feels he is trying, let him feel free. Always let him feel there\u2019s a way out, he\u2019s a Thoroughbred horse and he\u2019ll bottle up real quick if you give him a chance, but at the same time if I just go forward, he\u2019ll run onto his face. I can\u2019t use forward to make the jump bigger \u2013 I have to make him collect a bit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the left canter he is more balanced. So we try a few pirouette steps, then allow him forward, allow him to think free but always maintaining the balance. That\u2019s nice I think he has done enough for today\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

And of course, the session finished with a lovely loose rein walk with the horse stretching his neck \u2013 it was the perfect warmup, especially, as Christopher stresses, for a potentially hot horse:
\n\u201cNice horses, they try but give them to an idiot, and they are crazy very soon \u2013 but those brilliant ones are the ones I want to ride. I see it so often when I am teaching, I get on the horse and think, well he\u2019s almost ruined. You can\u2019t help but think, could that horse have been brilliant if someone had done a better job? But with a talented young horse like Johnny, he\u2019s got a good attitude, he wants to do it, but all I am doing is using that energy, that extra that he has, to work for me rather than against me.\u201d<\/p>\n

But it would be easy to bottle him up and make him anxious?<\/strong>
\n\u201cAbsolutely, it would be terribly easy to make his brains pop out his ears \u2013 only because he is all try. He wants to do it himself, so I use that by being tactful with my riding, and going with him, and letting him be free, letting him think that he is doing it on his own. That\u2019s the biggest tool, that I am not physically making him do anything. You can\u2019t make a horse do anything when you are on their back\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

It was interesting that the rhythm was very even and constant \u2013 right through the work\u2026<\/strong>
\n\u201cI definitely work at making rhythm my priority. I think with training, rhythm has to be the first thing that is there and it is just habit. Practice makes it so permanent that you don\u2019t have to think about it. I wasn\u2019t even thinking about rhythm today because I just have it \u2013 rhythm is there, that\u2019s how I ride. I don\u2019t want to have to think about it all the time, I have too many other things to think about \u2013 rhythm should just be there permanently in place. With all the horses, rhythm should be ingrained in them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Horses off the racetrack are not used to keeping a nice rhythmic frame?<\/strong>
\n\u201cSure, but that\u2019s how you work with the horse, and that\u2019s when it is important to know what level of horse you are riding. You should feel each day, what level of riding they are up to \u2013 that day \u2013 and what you can expect from them, so you can work on smoothing it all out.\u201d<\/p>\n

That must be hard with a horse like this, that you say you don\u2019t want to bottle him up, yet when you start to ride him, being a racehorse, there must be times when he gets quicker because he hasn\u2019t got the balance, and if all the time you are pulling on his head to bring him back into a rhythm, then doesn\u2019t this create problems? How do you regulate rhythm without over-controlling the horse?<\/strong>
\n\u201cExactly. It\u2019s just repetition, just practice. The more patient I am with this horse, and the less I expect of him, the more he gives me. I am asking him all the time to stay with me, but I am not expecting it always. If it doesn\u2019t happen today, it will happen tomorrow\u2026 and he just gives more and more. Sure, there are times when they have to be told, \u201cthis is a bit of metal in your mouth and you do have to stop here\u201d, but if that happens with him once a month that is fine. I just want to be very patient with him and have him stay with me and what I am doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat makes it possible to ride him without the apparent use of the aids, is that he knows through habit that we ride like this \u2013 so even when there are circus wheels and fireworks going off, I hope he can listen to that tactful gentle aid that I am using with my seat and body.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The halt, breathe and pat exercise, that\u2019s part of this tactic?<\/strong>
\n\u201cYes, that is a very useful tool. I want him first to halt off a very gentle seat aid. Then he has to halt and maintain halt and then I wait for him to breathe, and that process gets quicker and quicker \u2013 I\u2019ve had really hot advanced horses trained in that system, and it works. You\u2019d think they\u2019d be off their head in an indoor, or at a big Three Day when they are fit and ready to go. You halt at X, and you might just touch the horse, or just go through the sequence of aids, and you feel them breathe. They are standing there at X, they breathe and relax, and you know you are away\u2026 This is going to be the best test of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

And with a warmup up routine like Christopher\u2019s, you can work on making every test you ride, the best you can\u2026<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A perfect warm up for anyone, with Christopher Burton. “The first thing I do is get the horse going forward. Lots of riders are obsessed with getting them round \u2013 I\u2019m not, I just want forward…”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41904,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[249,1244,826],"class_list":["post-9236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eventing","tag-christopher-burton","tag-eventing","tag-training-the-event-horse"],"acf":[],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9236"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48542,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9236\/revisions\/48542"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}