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> Well Kat, I disagree with you. Engaging the hind quarters and getting
> the horse to step well under itself with it's hind legs will lighten
> the forehand. And asking a horse to reach forward and down (not peanut
> pushing just a decent training level frame) does not drop a horse
> horse on it's forehand if the hind end is engaged.
Law of physics: the lower your horse has its neck (and head) the more
weight it will carry on its forehand (that's the way a lever works). If
you watch a horse walk (and it is even more pronounced at the canter) you
will see the head go up and down as it raises and lowers its hindquarters.
He is using his head as a counter balance: head goes down, HQ goes up, HQ
go down, head goes up.
If you want to get your horse to engage its hindquarters well underneath
itself, you will have to allow (note I do not say pull) its head to come
up. The further he steps underneath himself (bending at the sacro iliac
joint) the more he pulls on the dorsal/nucal ligament and "hey presto" the
head and neck come UP.
> It will encourage a
> stretching and lifting of the back but it must be combined with
> engaging the hind legs.
Ahhh, but this is a completely different exercise. If you want the horse
to stretch the ligaments of his back, he must be engaged already. That
ligament is very resistant to being strecthed and requires the huge
muscles of the hindquarter and underline so that he can stretch it while
lifting his back rather than by lowering (hollowing) the back (BTW:
hollowing the back also stretches the ligaments of the back, so if you
start strecthing the back ligaments before you have developed the muscles
to support it you will just end up with a swaybacked horse).
But strechting a horse's back is a suppling exercise not a strengthing
exercise. If he strecthes his back by lowering his head, it is a way for
the horse to relax the hindquarter (by shifthing the weight to the
forehand). If you get out a pencil and paper and draw the mechanical
drawing (with all the weights, springs, and pullys), you can get a good
idea of how this works (if you are mechanically inclined).
If you let your horse drop its head and heck while going uphill, the
forehand will fatigue (unless what you are trying to do is build up chest
muscles, in which case this is a great exercise) and the horse will start
turning sideways to avoid the effort---and, you guessed it, you'll end up
doing "serpentines" up the hill.
> Yes, your horse needs to be on contact but
> that's from the back to the front not just from shortening the reins.
Exactly, you use your seat (to keep your center of gravity off the horse's
forehand) and legs (just behind the girth) to stimulate the muscles of the
underline to contract--which will pull the hindquarter underneath the
horse and the horse's head will automatically "come into your hands" and
THEN you shorten the reins in order to maintain contact.
And if you do this going downhill too (i.e. have the head and neck up) you
don't need a crupper to keep the saddle from slipping forward--the horse's
neck keeps the saddle from slipping forward (actually, if the horse is
really well engaged going down hill, the saddle doesn't slip because the
horse's back is virtually level).
I wrote a couple of articles for _Trail Blazer_ magazine (May and July
issues of this year) that address exactly this topic. The article
includes accompanying photos which show pictures of horses on steep hills
with their neck down...it is blatently apparent in these photos that a
lowered neck (no I am not talking about pea rolling either) causes the
hindquarter to "pop up" and for the horse to "short stride" behind.
In my book, a short-strided, popped up hindquarter can in no way be
described as "engaged."
If I can con my cameraman into schlepping the video camera up in the hills
(and con Sonny into doing another photo session--she can kinda throw fits
about this), them maybe I can do a video of just the way this works.
Hmmm...
kat
Orange County, Calif
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