Ridecamp: [RC] Muscling up the back (was: Arab Conformation)

K S SWIGART   katswig@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
You asked:

> My ??, well he has big rear quarters, allot
> thinner in chest, also A very high wither, & I can not seem
> to get his vertebrae fully covered on his back. He is not 
> skinny. We trot all the time , average speed 6 to 7 miles
> per hour. Sometimes much faster trot, hardly walk,or lope at
> all, (maybe once a month in training). I usually ride him
> 2 to 4 hours, about 4 times a week. I have been riding him
> this way for about a year now. How do I get muscle on his
> back & chest??

If I had to guess (although I may be wrong because I haven't 
actually seen the horse or how you ride it), I would say that it 
is, indeed, because of the way that you are riding him.  I 
suspect that the horse is travelling down the trail with his 
back hollowed out and as long as he is doing this, you will have
difficulty building muscle over the top line.

It is much easier to get the horse to round its back up 
underneath the rider at both the walk and at the canter.  At the
trot it is very easy for the horse to get into the habit of
poking its nose out and hollowing out its back under the weight
of the rider.

The lack of chest may be because the horse is just conformationally
speaking, narrow in the chest.  However, it may also be because
the horse while hollowing its back is not raising its forehand
(these things often go hand in hand).

To get the horse to round its back and raise its shoulder I would
do lots of walking up and down steep hills and do more canter
work some of it up inclines.  It is important, however, for this
to build a chest and a top line, that the horse be working from
behind and not be allowed to "tow" itself up the hills or rush
down the hills.

If you are already doing this, then, indeed, it may be a function
of your horse's conformation and you are just going to have to
live with it.

kat
Orange County, Calif.


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