How elite riders cope when their warm-ups go awry, plus tips to overcome blips in your best-laid plans
The ideal warm-up will be perfectly executed to produce success in the ring – but horses aren’t machines. Ellie Hughes finds out how to cope when the warm-up throws you a curveball in this exclusive article for H&H subscribers
As hard as we might try, not all warm-ups go to plan – and some go really wrong – even for the elites of our sport. Becky Moody and Jagerbomb were minutes away from dancing into the main arena at last year’s London International Horse Show when the big bay stepped one foot onto another and wrenched off a shoe.
“One of the founding principles of sport psychology is to control the controllables, and I’m not sure pulling off a shoe falls into that category,” says Becky, reflecting on the moments leading up to their grand prix test.
By the time the shoe had been nailed back on the pair barely had time to draw breath. But, cool as cucumbers, they went on to deliver a plus-75% score and take third place.
No matter how well-honed your warm-up routine, sometimes a crisis can unfold when you least expect it. From lost shoes and practice-fence tumbles to weather disruptions and tack malfunctions, there are myriad ways your last-minute preparations can go pear-shaped. How do top riders deal with these glitches? And how can you minimise the impact of a crisis on your own performance?
Becky was given the option to slot in at the end of the grand prix class, but decided against it.
“I didn’t think that would have suited Bomb either. I was happy with my decision even though our normal routine went out the window and I knew it wouldn’t be our best test,” she explains. “Usually, I get on 45 minutes beforehand and give him a couple of breaks. The last 15 minutes is important as he doesn’t naturally rev himself up ready to go into the arena – I have to do it for him – and we missed that window.”
Keeping a cool head when warm-ups go wrong
Having the mental strength to deal with glitches takes practice, which is why professional riders, who have years of experience to fall back on and are generally well-versed in sports psychology, can keep a clear head when circumstances conspire against them.
Hickstead Derby winner Trevor Breen recalls a particularly eventful warm-up while preparing for a five-star ranking class at Gijon, in Spain, several years ago.
“The horse I was riding completely misjudged a practice fence and we both ended up clean upside down,” he says. “We had to dust ourselves off and more or less go straight in and jump round a 1.55m track. Amazingly, we jumped clear. Situations like that are never ideal, but these things happen and you need to try to stay calm and not panic.
“If something goes wrong it’s always worth speaking to the steward to see if they will give you a little more time,” he says. “Most are very accommodating and will allow you to take a moment and jump a couple more fences if you need to. If things aren’t going to plan you need to stop, take a breath and work out what you need to do to be able to go into the ring in a confident place.”
Equestrian mindset and performance coach Janine Lamy explains that it is important to have a mechanism of recovery to get you back on track if necessary, and explains some of the tools and techniques that can help.
“The warm-up is the place where your mind can wander as there is so much else going on,” she says. “Horses tend to mirror our energy and nervous system, so it’s important to stay as grounded and present in the moment as you possibly can.
“Slowing your breathing and using grounding techniques, like feeling your hands or massaging your earlobe, can work well,” she continues. “Like anything, you need to have practised these to find out what works for you. The idea is that you activate your parasympathetic nervous system, which tells your brain to communicate with your body so that you can respond to a situation, not react to it.”
If another rider falls off in the warm-up area, for example, and there’s a loose horse causing chaos, it is important to be able to redirect your focus back quickly onto you and your horse.
“The really good riders have tunnel vision,” continues Janine. “They have a blueprint of what they want to achieve and a process they need to go through to get themselves there.
“You need to ask yourself whether you can have a positive influence over a situation and if you can’t, then you need to let it go.”
International event rider Storm Straker was given little choice in the matter when she hit the deck over a practice fence moments before starting the cross-country at Ballindenisk CCI4*-L in 2024.
“I decided to string a line of fences together as my final prep, but my horse was distracted by something, left a leg and I went straight out the front door,”
she recalls. “We were both fine, but Fever Pitch galloped off back towards the stables, my air jacket had gone off and before I knew it, I was being marched off to see a doctor. I was terrified that I wouldn’t be able to start.”
Storm was eventually given the all-clear and ultimately went on to secure her first win at the level.
“In hindsight, it was probably a good thing I didn’t have too much time to think about the fall as it made me ride in the moment,” she says. “Once I was allowed back on board, I jumped the fence that I fell at, so that I could put that behind me, but then I just had to trust that Fever Pitch would do his job. We both knuckled down and went on to have a brilliant round. I would say the fall sharpened us up.”
The uncontrollables
The weather is something that is completely outside your control and yet may exert a considerable influence over your warm-up. Former World Class performance manager Yogi Breisner recalls day two of the eventing dressage at the London 2012 Olympics when a monsoon-like thunderstorm descended on Greenwich Park moments before British team member Tina Cook was due in the ring.
“There was no better person to have to deal with a difficult situation than Tina because she was so cool, calm and collected,” he recalls. The competition was held briefly to allow the worst of the storm to pass over, leaving those in the collecting ring completely drenched and with their carefully considered warm-up routines disrupted.
“We had prepared our horses the best we could for the challenge of a home Olympics – during team training we had even bussed in some local school children to wave banners and flags to try to recreate a bit of the atmosphere – but we couldn’t control the weather,” he continues.
Yogi explains that although it is crucial to have a warm-up plan, it is also important to be able to adapt it.
“It is always worth looking at the weather forecast because that might dictate how long you warm up for,” he says. “If it is very wet or very hot, you might not want to spend as much time on board before your test. If it’s very cold you will likely need an exercise blanket, so make sure you have someone on hand to help take it off.”
Taking care of the factors that are within your control will leave you more able to deal with other issues should they arise.
“Sometimes there is more than one warm-up area, so do a recce before you ride and make sure you know where you need to be at what time, and also where the steward is,” advises Yogi. “Both you and your groom should locate the farrier in advance and know where to find spare tack, so you’re not wasting more time than is necessary if the worst happens and you lose a shoe or have a tack malfunction.
“At a championship we make sure the only people in the warm-up are the ones who are part of a rider’s close team,” he adds. “This helps minimise the chance of outside distractions and helps riders focus on what’s most important.”
Ultimately, that means peaking in the ring itself. While the warm-up is designed to set you up for success, a bad dress rehearsal can still lead to a polished show.
Can warm-ups go too well?
Psychologically, having to deviate from the best laid plans just before a big moment can be unsettling. But what happens when plan A goes too well and you feel your horse has peaked too early? This was exactly the conundrum last year’s Burghley runner-up Austin O’Connor faced before his dressage test on Colorado Blue. Fifteen minutes before his test, Austin hopped off and rolled up his stirrups.
“I’d already worked ‘Salty’ in the morning and had gone up to the warm-up 25 minutes before my test,” recalls Austin. “After about 10 minutes he felt great and was exactly where I wanted him to be.
“It wasn’t the plan at all to get off, but at that moment I felt he was exactly at the point where I wanted in the ring. If I’d have stayed on board I would have been tempted to carry on working him, which could’ve led to him being over the top. I took a gamble and jumped off so we could both just take a breath.
“At this level, with an established horse like Salty, it’s all about fine lines and small margins. I knew I was taking a bit of a risk getting off and if it hadn’t worked out I’d have looked like a bit of an idiot, but fortunately for me it did and we went in and did a great test.”
The duo went on to record a personal best five-star dressage score of 27.8.
More examples of top warm-up recoveries
Champion unshipped at Dublin Horse Show
Germany’s former world eventing champion Sandra Auffarth, who is now a top-draw showjumper, was unshipped from Quirici H in the warm-up just before her first round in Nations Cup showjumping at Dublin Horse Show in August 2025. She was permitted to take a little extra time to recover, so jumped a couple of horses later than the original running order, and went on to record an impressive clear round, ultimately helping Germany to second place.
A snapped stirrup at Boekelo
New Zealand five-star eventer Amanda Pottinger suffered a snapped stirrup iron while warming up for cross-country at the final leg of the FEI eventing Nations Cup series at Boekelo on Good Timing.
“It’s part of the sport – there are pressured situations and things don’t always go to plan,” she said at the time. “You learn to adapt to get the job done.”
Testing the nerves before Blenheim Europeans gold
Moments before she was due to canter down the centre line at the 2025 European Eventing Championships, eventual individual gold medallist Laura Collett had to contend with her often comedic partner, London 52, trying to scupper her last-minute prep by grabbing the bit and trying to run off.
“He does test the nerves in that respect,” she said afterwards.
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