Re: Riding Downhill (Long)

[Kirsten Price <kirsten@vermilion.reno.nv.us>]

Almost forgot.  I generally give the horse his head and use my legs and
body position to keep him in line with the steepest slope direction. I
have not heard about contact with the bit to aid in stabilizing the
horse.  While I can see how it might work with some, mine are accustomed
to going on a loose rein and contact is not something they are
accustomed to. They seem to do very well balancing themselves without
contact, so I wouldn't be inclined to change that.

I've never really thought about my rider position much except that I
know I try to position my body weight in about the same place as the
horse's center of gravity.  If you're going down a really steep slope, I
would think that leaning back would actually focus your weight farther
forward, which you wouldn't want to do. In thinking about it now, it
seems like I try to remain in a semi-normal riding position with respect
to the horse (as opposed to with respect to the hill).

Now, keep in mind that as I'm never riding for time, I encourage my
horses to walk down really steep hills rather than trot.  Intuitively,
it seems that if I had the horse trotting, I'd want to maintain
something similar to a hunt-seat position so I could be in synch with
the horse's gait..... leaning back at the trot would seem to me to be
pretty uncomfortable and unbalanced whether going downhill or not. I
know on less steep hills when my horse trots, I am slightly forward.

--
Kirsten Price
Vermilion Desert Ranch
Reno Nevada

http://www.eqwi.com/Ads/V/Vermillion/vermilion.htm