Tom McCutcheon

Making the Most of Your Paid Warm-Up
by Tom McCutcheon as told to Wendy Lind
reprinted with permission from The Reiner

In the last several years we have seen a rapid evolution of the reining horse industry. Not too long ago the emphasis was on the three-year-old events. But now with the success of the aged, non-pro and USET events, not to mention the considerable amount it takes to make a reiner in the first place, the focus has shifted to maintaining a reining horse at a competitive level for as long as possible. In my own training program, I have found that one of the keys to making and maintaining a top-notch reiner is the paid warm-up.

Offered at many reining shows around the country, paid warm ups allow you to sign up for a 4 to 5 minute block of time and use the show pen as if you were actually showing. Since the paid warm up is basically the same scenario as an actual class, it provides a great opportunity to fix problems in seasoned reining horses that occur if you show with any regularity or intensity. At the other end of the spectrum, the paid warm up also provides a great atmosphere to get the younger horses in the show pen and let them learn the ropes without a lot of pressure. In this article I will outline the philosophy that I use for paid warm-ups, and show you how you can integrate this valuable tool into your training program to make a confident, honest and competitive show horse.

For the Younger Horse

I have found that the paid warm up is an ideal way to 'test drive' my futurity colts before I start showing them in the three-year-old events.

As a rule, I don't like to do a paid warm-up on a colt until I feel he is broke enough to do the pattern as if it were a horse show. To me that means that they need to be able to go one-handed and do all the parts comfortably. The last thing you want to do is take him in show situation, ask him to do maneuvers that he is not confident with yet, and end up scaring him the first time in the show pen. For that reason, I wait for each individual horse to tell me when he is ready. Sometimes it may just be a week or two before the first time I show him.

When a colt has progressed enough in his training to do a paid warm up, it is important to remember that the main objective is just to get them in the show pen and build their confidence. So that first time that I take a colt in a paid warm up, I will run one of the patterns just like I would in a regular class, but only at about 50%, or 40%. I don't want them to think that the show pen is someplace they have to be concerned about. During that four or five minutes I will make sure they aren't afraid of the judges, and lope them into the corners while making sure that they have had the chance to get a good look at everything.

All horses react differently to the stress and foreign surroundings of a horse show, and seeing how your colt reacts will tell you how to prepare him when you actually show him. Some colts will go in and get a little nervous when they are in there by themselves the first time. What that tells me is that before I go show a horse like that, I probably will want to lope him down a little bit more than I normally would at home. Other colts will go in there and act just like it is another day at home and they will be great. On a horse like that you know you can pretty much prepare them just like you ride them at home and then go show. All of this is valuable information that you can use to make you and your horse more competitive when you show him the first time and there is actually money on the line.

Another element that the paid warm up brings to light is just how broke your horse is. It can go both ways. Sometimes you might go in there on a colt and be surprised at how well you can get him through the pattern. However, more times than not you will walk away realizing that you have a couple holes that you didn't know existed, since we often help them at home more than we realize. That is why I approach the paid warm up as if I am at a regular show those first times on a colt, so I can see what I really have and what I need to work on.

A final benefit of taking a colt through a couple paid warm ups is the precedence it sets for keeping that colt honest. If the first time you ever show them is a horse show and not a paid warm up, they can learn that they can maybe get away with certain things in the show pen that they normally can't get away with at home. If you take that colt in a paid warm up, however, you can correct them that first time or two. Then when you do start showing them, there is a good chance that they will start out and stay honest longer through their show career.

For the Seasoned Reiner

When I do a paid warm up on a reiner that has been shown extensively I approach it from a completely different angle. With the seasoned reiner there are two things to keep in mind above all else. First, use common sense. Don't go in there and make a bigger problem than you had to begin with. Secondly, plan a paid warm up that fits the horse and the problems you are having before you go in there. This may sound obvious, but it means really trying to understand why your horse is doing what he is doing. Some horses are may be problematic because they have been shown hard several times and they are just nervous. On the other hand, some horses may be causing problems just to be bad. So it is important to understand the root of the problem to fix it correctly. You definitely don't want to make the nervous horse even more nervous by over-discipling it, nor do you want to go soft on the belligerent horse and further reinforce his tendencies.

Every horse has a different problem, and you can fix every problem to a point if you treat the paid warm up like a horse show. However, if you walk in there and you are two handing all the way to the center of the pen before you start, those seasoned reiners are going to know right away they are in a schooling situation and they are not going to cheat. So when you go out there, don't guard your horse. The whole idea is to let him make a mistake so you can fix it.

Below are some common problems that we run into with reining horses that have been shown a lot, and how I approach the solution to each.

Below are some common problems that we run into with reining horses that have been shown a lot, and how I approach the solution to each.

1. Anticipating run-downs

When I have a horse that is blasting off to the stop instead of gradually building speed, I will go in and do a regular pattern at ¾ speed. I ask them just enough so that they are thinking that they are getting shown but not to the point where I then have to do another paid warm up to fix them because I ran them so hard. Then when I get to the point where I run around the end and line them out for the stop, I will make myself go ahead and tense up. By doing this I am trying to bait them to make that first 'step' where they start to accelerate too fast on their own. I will let them get going and actually make the mistake, at which point I pull them in the ground and scold them. The idea is to scold them just enough so they are backed off the bridle. As always, use common sense. If the horse is running off because he is nervous, which is 80% of the time, you don't want to go in there and get after him so much that he is even more nervous. Once he is backed off the bridle, start over again. If he runs off again, pull him in the ground. Keep doing that until he stays at the speed you are asking for, then stop, rollback and do it all over again on the other side.

2. Lead Change Anticipation

With lead change anticipation, there are a lot of different fixes and they are related to what your horse is doing, and why he is doing it. With a horse that is simply getting tense through the middle of the pen, I will lope a lot of circles through the middle and act like I am going to set them up for a lead change but then hold them in that position without changing leads. Going through that drill will often help get the horse relaxed and listening again through that portion of the pattern.

Another thing I will do in a paid warm up is change my horse on a diagonal rather that at the middle of the circles. That lets me work on changes while at the same time letting the horse think that the changes might not always be in the middle.

As always, it is important to plan a paid warm up that fits your program. In my own program, there will be a lot of days at home where I might change 30 or 40 leads on one. As a result, my horses are very comfortable changing leads. So when I go in the paid warm up and change several leads I'm not making a bigger problem, I am just getting them to relax and change leads like I taught them. Now, if you seldom change leads at home and then you go in a paid warm up and change several times, you are creating a bigger problem. Be careful that what you do in the paid warm up fits your program and your horse so you don't make matters worse.

3. Busy in the Middle

For the horse that is worried about the center of the pen, a lot of slow time will help them. Again, use common sense. A lot of times people's first reaction is 'Ok, he doesn't want to stand in the middle, so I am going to go in there and make him stand.' But in reality that type of reaction just compounds the problem, because you are taking a horse that is worried anyway and then you are going to go in there and scold him for it. What often works the best is to stand there maybe fifteen or twenty seconds-even if your horse is prancing around- and then lope off, do a circle or two, stop him in the middle and let him stand again. Go through that over and over in a quiet manner until you build his confidence back up and he will stand there without fussing.

4. Turnarounds

After some horses have been shown several times, they start to get sluggish in their turnarounds because they know you can't really get after them like you do at home. Other horses get to the point where they know they are only going to turn four times, and they start looking for that last turn. So the paid warm-up provides a place to re-spark them. Again, when I say re-spark them that doesn't mean kill them. Just get after them enough to make sure they know they have to turn around in the show pen like they do at home.

5. Big fast to Small Slow transitions

If your horse has gotten to the point where he is not really coming back for that small slow circle in the show pen, the paid warm up is a great place to tune that back up. The key is to go ahead and use your horse in the paid warm up. That is a mistake some people make-they go so slow in their paid warm up that those horses that have been shown a lot know they know they aren't being shown. So go fast enough that you are tempting your horse to be bad. That way when you are running around there they are thinking 'yeah, maybe I am being shown.' Then when you sit back and they don't come back, you can go ahead and pull them into the ground and back them into the middle. And then go back into a big fast and do it all over again. Keep repeating this sequence until they respond and start coming back in speed for that small slow circle.

For both the younger and seasoned reining horses, you want to use your time wisely and be careful that you don't get into something that you can't get out of. If you have a horse that needs a little more work, try to get a double paid warm up so you are in the pen long enough to finish what you started. On the futurity colts, five minutes is plenty of time to get them in there and see the sights.

A final point I want to touch on is that I believe a paid warm up is for schooling, and a horse show is for showing. I always tell my non-pros that when you walk in the pen for an actual class, you get through it. Unless it is just a disaster, I feel that a rider has to learn how to get through things because a lot of times it feels worse than it looks. You don't want to get in the habit of bailing out when ever it doesn't feel right. So when we go to a schooling show, we go to school, and when we go to a horse show, we go to show.

<< Back to top of page

4982 Warschun Road
Aubrey, TX. 76227
Barn: 940.381.0880
Tom's Cell: 940.390.RIDE
tcutch1@gte.net

website by AxialArts