From: Melanie McNeil
Hi Jessica,
I have really enjoyed horse-sense over the past few months and also appreciated your answers to prior questions I have sent. Here is another one for you :).
I have had my first horse for about a year and a half now and I am coming to the point where I realize I have to do something about her not using her hindquarters properly and I am wondering what type of groundwork and saddle work would be best for me to do to help her use her hindquarters instead of pulling with her front legs. She is not using her muscles to hold up her back either. We do trail and arena riding but are not working on any particular discipline at this time.
I was thinking of doing hill work with her, but wanted to know what I should be looking for to make sure she is doing it in a way that is suitable. Also, I have heard cavaletti work should be useful, but wondered if just by doing the calvaletti work, would she automatically be using her muscles and hindlegs correctly or do I have to watch for something there too? And if calvaletti work is useful, do you have any suggestions on how to set up the calveletti, and how high they should be, to be of use? Is lateral work like turns on the hindquarter or leg yields useful?
How much of this type of work should I be doing per day for it to be useful?
Are there any books/articles that would be good for a novice to read which addresse this issue?
Thanks in advance,
Melanie
If you know how to longe a horse, some longe work on the largest possible circle will get you off to a reasonable start. Use just a longeing cavesson and longeline -- no bridle or saddle or sidereins.
Longeing will accomplish several things: first, it will let you watch your horse, and see exactly how she moves WITHOUT a rider. Second, it will let you improve the way she uses herself -- still without a rider. And third, it will let you build up her strength and musculature so that she will be able to move more correctly and efficiently WITH a rider. And last, even when you're doing good under-saddle work, you'll be able to go back to longeing periodically, both to warm up your mare and to give you a visual impression of her improvement.
On the longe, walk, trot, and halt will be what you ask her to do -- don't ask her to canter. It won't be helpful until she is strong enough to move comfortably and correctly at walk and trot, making smooth transitions, and halting easily. And by that time, you'll be working under saddle.
Before you ride, check your tack very carefully; a saddle that doesn't fit comfortably can make a horse (understandably) unwilling to use its hindquarters and back. A horse that engages its hindquarters will LIFT its back -- if the saddle hurts, the horse will learn to keep its back flat or drop it away from the saddle, and the hindquarters will never become engaged.
Check your mare's mouth and your bit as well -- a horse with a painful mouth is often very reluctant to move forward, especially at walk, where it will need to use its head and neck to make balancing gestures. If there are no problems there -- ask your vet to help you find out, if you have ANY doubt at all -- then you can start with mounted work.
Once your mare has gained some strength and coordination on the longe line, and when you're sure that she's comfortable with the addition of a saddle and rider, take her out for long walks, incorporating any slopes you can find. Low hills would be ideal -- but you can build her up on the flat if you have to, just by working hard yourself to ensure that she walks actively -- a MARCHING walk -- instead of just slopping along. To strengthen her hindquarters and back, so that she can use them better, you will need to ride her very correctly -- from back to front, not from front to back.
Focus on sending her forward energetically, and don't worry about trying to "set" a particular head or neck position -- that's how horses learn to move incorrectly in the first place. Ride with the longest rein that will allow you to keep a soft, stretched contact with your mare's mouth, and follow her movements so that the contact is always gentle and always there. And remember that the more she uses her hindquarters and back, the more motion there will be for you to follow -- because the other end of her spine will be more active too! The more actively she walks, the more head and neck motion there will be, so you will need to remind yourself to use your arms -- not just your fingers or wrists -- to follow the movements of her head and neck.
When your mare is walking on the longeline, you'll be looking for three things -- when you are in the saddle, you'll be feeling for those same three things. You want her to step up underneath herself with her hind legs. You want that energy and movement to go through her back, which will lift and swing. And you'll want that energy and movement to continue through her neck, so that she reaches forward and down with it at each stride. You'll learn to recognize the look and the feel -- it will give you the impression that she is going somewhere, not just plodding along.
Cavalletti work can be very helpful, because going over cavalletti requires a horse to lift and reach with its legs, but I suggest that for now, you make use of hills instead. Cavalletti need to be adjusted (height and spacing), and the work can be very stressful for a horse that isn't fit or well-muscled. Later on, this exercise might help your mare -- but I'd give her a month of longeing and several months of active walking up and down hills FIRST. She'll be happier and healthier if you're riding outdoors, and you'll both have a better time. It helps psychologically, as well -- it's easier to get a horse thinking "forward" if you are GOING somewhere -- and coming back! The kind of active, purposeful walk your horse offers on the way home (especially at feeding time) is the kind of walk you want her to do ALL the way through your ride.
Lateral work can also help -- and you're right to want to do it. But wait until your mare is stronger and moving better, and until you have a good instructor to help you. Like cavalletti work, lateral work can be of great value if done correctly, and can be counter-productive and damaging if done INcorrectly. Don't take the chance. Do a little leg-yielding on the trail -- from one side of the path to the other -- when your mare is moving forward nicely. But wait until she is ready before you ask for more than that.
Reading recommendations: many books offer information on conditioning, although some are very sport-specific. Since you don't have any particular discipline in mind, I'll suggest a couple of books that are more general, and are easy to read.
You can get good information from the colorful Threshold Picture Guides (any tack shop will have some of these and can order any of them). The ones that would be most useful for you right now are:
CONFORMATION by Pegotty Henriques THE RIDER'S AIDS by Pegotty Henriques FLATWORK EXERCISES by Jane Wallace SOLVING FLATWORK PROBLEMS by Jane Wallace
HORSE GAITS, BALANCE AND MOVEMENT by Susan Harris will explain how horses are constructed, how they balance, how they perform their various gaits, and how riders can help horses balance and perform better.
You might also enjoy Dr. Deb Bennett's three-book series (they're small paperbacks, don't worry!) PRINCIPLES OF CONFORMATION ANALYSIS (volumes 1-3). These books are well-illustrated, and will help you analyze your mare's conformation and evaluate her suitability for various exercises and sports. It's always best to find out what a horse is suited for and then do that!
One more thought: you are going to be asking your mare to use muscles she isn't in the habit of using, and you're going to be asking her to use other muscles differently. Don't push her too hard or too long -- and don't ask for a lot every day.
Think of how you feel if you suddenly start circuit-training at the gym, especially if you are using different machines or changing your form -- your muscles get very stiff and sore from the unaccustomed use. This hold true for horses as well as humans.
Spend a lot of time grooming -- it's a nice massage and will help improve your mare's circulation. Turn her out as much as possible -- ALL the time, if you can, so that she can get gentle exercise walking around. Warm her up before you work her -- either walking and trotting on the longe, without a rider, or walking for fifteen or twenty minutes under saddle.
And remember that any big effort she makes on Monday will make her stiff, sore, and perhaps a little unwilling on Tuesday or Wednesday, so don't be annoyed with her if her progress isn't perfectly linear. Any exercise progress chart, for human or horse, should show an overall upward trend -- but if you look closely at the day-to-day details, you'll see peaks and valleys, not a straight line slanting upward! If you're working correctly, the overall trend will be UP, but it won't be "better every single day", it will be "two steps forward, one step back." Help her by alternating your days of hillwork with days of long relaxing rides on the flat.
Jessica
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