Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Some horses are good down hill horses hitting the ground. Some 
conformations help the horse be a good downhill horse. What I look for 
is a horse with a natural long walk with some easy natural overstride of 
his hind feet over his front at the walk. That means the horse can flex 
his back more naturally and will naturally and use his hind end better 
downhill.

I start to work on down hill by lengthening the horse at the walk. I 
start out on a down hill that is not steep. I want him to drop his head, 
round his back up under me and stretch his hind legs under him with more 
impulsion. This will teach him to drop his weight back and use his hind 
end on the down hills. After that has been mastered start with a few 
trot steps making sure he keeps the impulsion in place. Then add more 
trot steps. Once he is comfortable at the trot at a few canter steps. 
After he has mastered that find a slightly steeper hill and repeat.

Some horses are a natural. I've been lucky to have two of them. Some are 
not and have to be taught. However, a horse that goes with a hollow back 
and heavy on his forehand on the flat can not be expected to learn to go 
balanced downhill until he learns to go balanced on the flat. Sometimes 
you may need to start from scratch in the ring working on balance.

Truman

April wrote:

> Does anybody else have any tips on how to teach a horse to go down 
> hill using his hindquarters correctly? I love Barbara's post, but 
> unless you have a horse that is goosey, it doesn't help much! :-)
>
> Thanks,
> April
> Nashville, TN
> http://www.tracetribute.com
> "Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please." - 
> Mark Twain
>
>
> On 12/23/05, *Barbara McCrary* <bigcreekranch@xxxxxxxxxx 
> <mailto:bigcreekranch@xxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
>
>     This particular horse was very
>     goosey when we first got him and would tuck his butt under himself
>     if we so
>     much as started to brush him or even reach out to touch him.  I
>     started
>     using this habit to train him to get under himself going
>     downhill.  I would
>     reach back and either tap him on the hip with my fingers or just
>     rest my
>     hand on him.  He tucked!  Gradually, he figured it out and became
>     one of our
>     best downhill horses.  He also got over being goosey.


--

"A mathematician is a device for turning coffee into theorems."

- Paul Erdos (1913-1996)




=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp
Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp

Ride Long and Ride Safe!!

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=