riding hills

[mmmcrae@juno.com (Marie M McRae)]

>>I've been taught to sit in the saddle, but to lean forward to help the
>>horse go uphill and lean backwards, to go downhill.
>>Simone

On  the hills as well as on the flat,  the goal is to get your horse to
engage the hind end as much as possible.  The front legs will soon show
the strain if they are used to pull the horse up hill or brake the weight
going down hill.  In order to engage the hind legs effectively the horse
needs to be able to  bring her back up (remember those good dressage
exercises!).
Good riders always strive for balance.  Uphill this means bringing your
upper body forward, putting the weight on the inner thigh, and bringing
your  knee and leg forward so that your ankle remains under your center
of balance.  Basicly,  you remain perpendicular to theoretical level
ground.  You remove your weight from the middle of your horse's back,
thus allowing her a better chance of  reaching under and thrusting with
her hind legs.  
Downhill a balanced rider will feel as if s/he is leaning forward but in
fact s/he should stay perpendicular to the horse.  Again, the weight
comes onto the inner thigh and off of the middle of the horse's back. 
Hopefully the horse will, or has learned to, put on the brakes with the
hind legs, thus saving a lot of strain on the front.    
( I remember seeing an old photograph of a German Olympic rider whose
horse was sliding down a sand slope so steep the entire tail was flat out
on the hill behind the horse.  The rider's position was so impeccable
that if you took the picture and tipped it such that the horse's back was
horizontal, the rider appeared in perfect balance, not a hair out of
place.)

Marie McRae
ridin' the hills in upstate NY



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