Dressage Warm Up Tips: How to Ride With Focus and Stay Present in the Warm-Up Arena (Video 3 of 4)

Welcome back, riders!

I’m Danielle Pooles from Dressage Plus, and this is the third video (episode 87) in our four-part Dressage warm up tips series.

In Video 1, we explored the 3 Types of Competition Warm Up Riders you often see in a busy warm-up arena. In Video 2, we looked at how to ride your warm-up with calm leadership and clear direction.

Today, in Video 3, we are diving into one of the most powerful Dressage warm up tips of all: learning how to ride with focus and stay present in the warm-up arena.

When I talk about focus, I mean that ability to ride in the moment, ride in the stride, and keep your mind with your horse instead of spiralling into “what if” thoughts. It is about creating a focused bubble around you and your horse, even when the warm-up is busy, noisy, or unpredictable.

Table of Contents

Why Focus in the Warm-Up Arena Matters

The warm-up arena is often where nerves, comparison, and doubt are at their highest. There are horses going in every direction, riders schooling different movements, loudspeakers, judges nearby, and sometimes unexpected behaviour from horses around you.

In that environment, it is easy for your attention to get pulled everywhere except where it needs to be: on the partnership between you and your horse.

Without focus, riders often find themselves:

Thinking ahead to the test and worrying about forgetting movements
Watching other combinations and deciding they look “better” or more capable
Imagining what might go wrong instead of noticing what is actually happening
Riding reactively rather than calmly making decisions

All of this creates tension in your body, confusion in your aids, and a loss of confidence for your horse. The way you ride in the warm-up sets the tone for the entire test, so learning to create focus is essential.

Here is the good news: focus is a skill. Just like transitions or lateral work, it can be trained. When you strengthen your focus, you naturally feel calmer and more confident, because your mind is anchored in what you can control in each moment.

What Riding With Focus Actually Looks Like

Riding with focus does not mean riding harder, faster, or being stricter with yourself. Instead, it looks and feels like this:

You are aware of your breathing and body, not just your horse
You feel each stride underneath you and notice how your horse is travelling
You make small, clear decisions instead of waiting and hoping it will all feel better
Your attention keeps coming back to “What does my horse need from me right now?”
You give your horse a clear job to do, rather than letting them make all the decisions

When you ride with focus, your horse feels guided and supported. You become the calm, consistent partner they can trust. This is the heart of performance mindset work: focus is the gateway to riding at your best, and confidence becomes the by-product of that focus.

Common Focus Challenges for Dressage Riders

If you find it hard to stay focused in the warm-up, you are certainly not alone. Some of the most common challenges riders share with me include:

What-if thinking: “What if my horse shies?” “What if I forget my test?” “What if I let my coach or horse down?”
Comparison: Constantly watching other riders and deciding they look more talented, more prepared, or more “worthy” of being there
Overwhelm: Feeling like everything is happening too fast and struggling to keep up mentally
Self-doubt: Questioning whether you belong at that level or at that competition at all

These thoughts are very normal and often simply mean that you care deeply about your riding and your horse. The goal is not to eliminate nerves or negative thoughts completely, but to develop focus tools that allow you to notice them, then gently bring your attention back to the present moment.

Simple Ways to Train Your Focus (On and Off the Horse)

Because our everyday lives are so busy and distracting, focus rarely happens by accident. We need to intentionally train it, just like we intentionally train our horses.

Here are some simple focus strategies you can start using in your warm-up:

Create a pre-warm-up breathing routine. Before you get on, or in your first few laps of walk, take a few slow breaths. Feel your seat bones, soften your shoulders, and let your body arrive in the saddle.
Choose one clear focus sentence. For example, “Ride in the stride” or “Breathe and feel.” When your mind wanders, quietly repeat your sentence and bring your attention back to your horse.
Give your horse a simple job. Decide on one or two priorities, such as “forward rhythm” and “soft bend.” Return to these whenever you feel distracted or tense.
Use a reset exercise. If you feel yourself tightening or panicking, ride a 10m circle, a transition, or a line that helps you re-establish balance and connection.
Practise focus at home. Do not wait for competition day to try these tools for the first time. Build them into your regular training rides so they feel familiar when you are under pressure.

In my Ride Confidence Warm Ups online course, we dive deeper into practical mindset strategies and warm-up plans to help you create a personal “focus zone” that you can rely on in any competition environment.

This Dressage Warm Up Tips Series Helps You Build Confidence Step-by-Step

This blog is part of my Dressage warm up tips series designed to help you:

Stay grounded and focused in busy warm-up arenas
Understand your mindset patterns under pressure
Support your horse with calm leadership
Enter the arena already riding at your best

Make sure to watch the full video above for more examples and stories about how I have personally worked through focus challenges in my own riding, and how I help riders do the same.

If you have not yet watched the earlier videos in the series, you can catch up here:

More Resources

For more practical mindset tools to support your competition days, you can download my free guide:

The Dressage Rider’s Competition Preparation Toolkit

This free toolkit includes ten simple, effective tools to help you prepare mentally and emotionally for a more relaxed, focused, and successful competition day.

You might also enjoy this helpful external article on warm-up strategies:

Competition warm up – a survival guide!

These Dressage warm up tips, combined with consistent mindset work, will help you build the focus, clarity, and connection you and your horse deserve every time you ride into the warm-up arena.