Hartpury University Repository

Godfrey-Porter, Lucy

Wilkinson, Kate

Coming together, the Achievement Success Centre, does the name fit?

Merrifield-Jones, Megan

Tabor, Gillian

Williams, Jane

Inter-and Intra-installments Reliability of Soft Tissue Palpation Scoring in the Equine Thoracic Epaxial Region

Drury, Ben

Ratel, Sébastien

Clark, C. C. T.

Fernandes, John

Moran, Jason

Behm, David G.

English

Eccentric Resistance Training in Youth: Perspectives for Long-Term Athletic Development

Lewis, Victoria

Baldwin, Kate

Dumbell, Lucy

The prevalence of pain in international female event riders during competition, in the United Kingdom

Mitson, Keely

Greening, Linda

A preliminary investigation comparing the frequency of grazing and movement behavior between a track paddock system and a conventional paddock system

Melfi, Vicky

Visitor-animal interactions in zoos: a framework to help interpret the contradictory data in this field

Chateau, M.

WHAT’S IN A WARM UP ?
A PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION OF HOW FRENCH DRESSAGE RIDERS AND SHOW
JUMPERS WARM-UP THEIR HORSES FOR COMPETITION
M. CHATEL and  J. WILLIAMS*
Hartpury University, Hartpury, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom, GL19 3BE, 
*Corresponding author: jane.williams@hartpury.ac.uk
INTRODUCTION
Warming-up before intense exercise is acknowledged as an effective way to lower the risk of injury and increase performance in
human athletes. Dynamic warm-ups regimes prepare the body for exercise, increasing heart rate and blood flow, stretching muscles
and loosening joints, yet despite potential links between inadequate warm-up regimes and increased risk of injury and poor
performance, equine warm-ups have not been widely studied. Previous work has shown that warm-up duration varies between
disciplines with showjumping (SJ) warm ups reported as 5-10 minutes and 12-27 minutes, and dressage (DR) ~29 minutes.
RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: To evaluate rider decision-making when planning and implementing warm-up regimes in DR and SJ 
METHOD
Participation was voluntary via a questionnaire, written in French,
which was distributed via equine related social media pages.
The survey comprising closed and open questions including asking
riders their age, competition level and riding experience.
Further questions focused on warm up practices, separated into show
jumping and dressage sections: time spent warming up at home vs. at
competitions, and to identify riders key goals from the warm up period.
Differences between DR and SJ rider for warm up duration were
identified using MannWhitney U analyses using SPSS.
REFERENCES: Dyson, S., Tranquille, C., Walker, V., Guire, R., Fisher, M. and Murray, R., 2018. A subjective descriptive study of the warm‐up and turn to a fence, approach, take‐off, suspension, landing and 
move‐off in 10 showjumpers. Equine Veterinary Education, 30(1), pp.41-52.
Murray, R.C., Mann, S. and Parkin, T.D.H., 2006. Warm-up routine in dressage competition: association with level, type of competition and final score. Equine Comparative Exercise Physiology 3: 185-189 
Tranquille, C., 2014 Quantifying warm up in show jumping horses over 3 consecutive days. Equine Veterinary Journal 46: 2–55 
RESULTS
257 riders completed the survey; 49% SJ (n=126) and 51% DR
(n=131); the majority were female (96%, n=247).
Most DR and SJ riders agreed/strongly agreed that the warm-up
should relax the horse, make the horse supple, make the horse
more reactive to the aids and to decrease injury risk (Figure 1).
23% (n=30) of DR and 30% (n=38) of SJ riders used a fixed
warm-up regime, whilst only 39% (n=51) of DR and 21% (n=26)
of SJ riders felt warm-up length should depend on the horse.
Optimum length for the warm-up did not vary between
disciplines (Mann Whitney U: 1917.5, P>0.05; median DR/SJ: 10-20
minutes).
Most riders (98%, n=128 DR, 99%, n=125 SJ) reported they
warmed-up their horse symmetrically (equal time on both reins).
DR riders used the walk as the main warm up gait (65%, n=56)
while SJ riders used the trot (46%, n=41).
DR and SJ riders reported they warm up less (10-20mins) after
competing a previous class at a show (DR 77%, n=66; SJ 71%,
n=65).
CONCLUSIONS
This preliminary study shows that DR and SJ riders use warm-up regimes to prepare the horse physiologically and psychologically for competition to
enhance performance and reduce injury risk. Warm up duration varied depending on whether riders were at home or at a show and if they have
competed in a previous class. These findings were recorded via survey, therefore future work is needed to evaluate if riders’ perception of how they
warm-up is accurate in practice, and if warm-up strategies should be designed for the individual horse, or if 10-20 minute warm-up duration is sufficient.
Figure 1:  Reasons for using a warm up routine in SJ and DR
98
90
85
99100
86
82
99
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Relax the horse Make the horse supple Make the horse more
reactive to the aids
Decrease the risk of
injuries
Dressage Riders % Show jumpers %


What’s in a warm up? A preliminary investigation of how French dressage riders and showjumpers warm up their horses for competition

Douglas, Jenni

Edwards, Thalia

A Preliminary Study Investigating Functional Movement Screen Test Scores in Female Collegiate Age Horse-riders

An investigation into equestrian spur use in the United Kingdom

Lemon, Chloe

Brown, Hieke

Aims: The aims of this study were to describe spur use across equestrian disciplines and identify reported risk factors that are associated with an
increased frequency of skin abrasion.
Equestrian Performance Research & Knowledge Exchange Arena
Hartpury University, Gloucester, UK
Contact author:  Victoria.lewis@hartpury.ac.uk
Method: An online survey was administered via social media 
platforms, industry connections and national online media sources. 
It included questions on rider demographics, spur design, injury 
rates and perception of current competition regulations. Inclusion 
criteria required that participants were aged at least 18 years old, a 
horse owner/loaner/sharer and resided in the United Kingdom. 
Eight hundred and fifty-eight participants responded resulting in 
628 complete responses for further analysis, 597 from females 
(95%) and 31 from males (5%). The majority were aged between 18 
and 29 years (47%), with 41 participants (7%) reporting their age at 
58 years or over. 19 types of equestrian activities were reported 
and categorised into FEI competitive disciplines, non-FEI 
competitive disciplines and recreational disciplines. Descriptive 
statistics, Odds ratios [OR] and Chi-squared tests were utilized (IBM 
SPSS v24.0) with an alpha value set at p<0.05 (confidence interval 
95%) unless otherwise stated. 47% of all participants used spurs. 
An investigation into equestrian spur use in 
the United Kingdom
Results: 47% of all participants used spurs. Relationships were
found between spur use and gender and duration of years riding.
Males were 2.88 times more likely to use spurs than females
(p=0.005). Riders within competitive non-FEI disciplines were 1.53
times more likely to use spurs than recreational riders and 1.48
times more likely to use spurs than those competing in FEI
disciplines. Longer spur shanks (>32 mm) significantly increased
the risk of skin abrasions or hair loss related to spur use
(p<0.0001). Rotating spur designs were 1.5 times more likely to be
associated with injury compared to fixed shank designs.
Discussion and conclusion: Future research should consider motivational factors for equipment selection and how it then affects the horse. This
information may aid policy makers to formulate ethical guidelines for equestrian sport but also extends to inform riders of all levels how their choice of
day-to-day equipment can affect equine welfare.
Figure 1: Online survey responses
[Key: FEI Disciplines = Dressage, Show jumping, Eventing, Reining, Endurance; Non-FEI Disciplines = Showing, Polo, Mounted Games, 
Racing, Horseball; Recreational Disciplines = Riding School, Pony Club, Adult Riding Club, Western, Hacking, Hunting, Natural 
Horsemanship, British Trec, Positive reinforcement training, Riding for the disabled; [OR]=Odds ratio calculated for spur use].
Initial responses =858
FEI Disciplines
= 147 (23%)
Non-FEI Disciplines
= 219 (35%)
Recreational 
Disciplines 
= 262 (42%)  
Partial 
responses 
removed = 
230 
Complete responses 
for analysis = 628
Spur users = 294 (43%)
0.75 [OR]
Non spur users = 334 
(57%)
0 2
9
53
108
115
341
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
<1 1-2yrs 3-5yrs 6-10yrs 11-15yrs 16-20yrs 21+yrs
N
O
. O
F 
R
ES
P
O
N
D
EN
TS
RIDING YEARS
Total Spur user
Figure 2 Spur use distribution across years' riding from the 628 respondents.
SPUR DESIGN (p=0.053)
Spur Type Freq. of use % ABR Indiv.[OR] ABR within category [OR]
Rotating
Vertical Rowel 20 25 0.33
41% [0.69]
Horizontal Rowel 1 100 1.00
Roller plastic 39 44 0.68
Roller metal 45 44 0.69
Fixed
Swan neck 6 17 0.20
31% [0.45]
Prince of Wales 71 31 0.45
Dummy 1 0 -
Rounded/blunt end 101 33 0.49
Comb 3 0 -
-
Other* 7 29 0.92
-
Spursuader 0 0 -
SPUR SHANK (p=0.026)
Length Freq. of use % ABR Indiv.[OR] -
No shank 5 0 - -
< 25 mm (<1") 183 31 0.45 -
25 – 32 mm (1-1.25") 91 40 0.67 -
>32 mm (>1.25 ") 15 60 1.50 -
Table 1: The effect of spur design and shank length on the prevalence 
of spur related abrasion [ABR=abrasions].


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Coming together, the Achievement Success Centre, does the name fit?

Inter-and Intra-installments Reliability of Soft Tissue Palpation Scoring in the Equine Thoracic Epaxial Region

Eccentric Resistance Training in Youth: Perspectives for Long-Term Athletic Development

The prevalence of pain in international female event riders during competition, in the United Kingdom

A preliminary investigation comparing the frequency of grazing and movement behavior between a track paddock system and a conventional paddock system

Visitor-animal interactions in zoos: a framework to help interpret the contradictory data in this field

What’s in a warm up? A preliminary investigation of how French dressage riders and showjumpers warm up their horses for competition

A Preliminary Study Investigating Functional Movement Screen Test Scores in Female Collegiate Age Horse-riders

An investigation into equestrian spur use in the United Kingdom

An investigation into equestrian spur use in the United Kingdom

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