From: Alesa
Hello! Thanks for offering such a useful forum!
My question concerns my 9 year old quarter horse and his ability to walk down a hill with some degree of collection and coordination.
The hills where we ride are neither steep nor long, (our section of Vermont has smaller mountains) However, his gait while descending is quite awkward. He feels as though he cannot hold himself back and that his muscles are actually gelatin! When I say "slow" or "walk" he will, but he feels sloppy.
His conformation is extremely good and he is neither overweight nor underweight. We ride 4-5 times a week for 1-2 hours each. He is well muscled. His feet are trimmed and shod every 7 weeks. His rear feet, however, are slightly more long than round and sometimes when he walks his two rear feet will strike each other. He receives no special shoeing for either issue since he is utilized as a trail horse for enjoyment.
He has a naturally low head set and I constantly have to work at keeping his head where it belongs. I have found that I have more success with hills when I make him keep his head higher than normal. Also, he is extremely intelligent and a little lazy. He is well trained and responds well to voice, leg and bit. We have owned him since he was a baby and as far as I can tell, there should be no trauma associated with going down a hill. Going up a hill poses no problem.
We just purchased a mare who is also very enjoyable to ride. Riding her down a hill and feeling how she holds herself together has made us realize just how pathetic he is at it! Do you have any suggestions?
(If it matters, we ride english or outback with a snaffle bit)
The first part is overall muscular development, the second is downhill balance.
The first thing that comes to my mind is muscle weakness -- topline and hind leg weakness in particular, especially since this horse has good conformation but still hits hind feet together sometimes. This is quite typical of young horses with undeveloped hindquarter and hindleg muscles. You might do well to put brushing boots on his hind legs until his muscles are sufficiently developed to keep him from brushing. He'll be more willing to use those hind legs if he doesn't have to worry about bumping himself. Don't worry about the shape of his hind feet -- hind feet are normally slightly narrower and more pointed than front feet. If his angles are good, his feet are in good shape, and the farrier sees him every seven weeks, that's excellent.
Your description is very clear, and the combination of naturally low head carriage, slightly lazy demeanour, and "jello-muscles" coming down a hill makes me think that this horse needs to develop his muscles all over! Making him carry his head "higher than normal" isn't exactly the answe, but it points to the right answer -- you need to develop this horse's body so that a higher head carriage will BECOME normal for him.
A more developed topline will allow your horse to carry his back (and his neck, and his head) higher. And the way to work on this topline is to develop the hindquarters that will help promote the development of the rest of the topline. Everything comes back to the hindquarters -- the "motor. "
You say that he is ridden as a trail horse, for enjoyment -- this makes me wonder whether he has ever learned to use his belly, lift his back, and step under himself with his hind legs. Many trail horses do NOT ever learn this, and their backs are always a bit inverted. This makes it difficult for them to move down hills, because they need to tuck their "motor" under themselves to move down the hill properly, and they can't -- they simply don't have the muscles, or the habit, to do it correctly.
Fortunately, this is something that you can fix, and probably fairly quickly on a horse with good conformation. You'll need to do some ring-work with this horse! He needs to learn to step under himself from behind and LIFT his back, and you can teach him to do it by riding him from your leg into your hand. Keep your own position straight and balanced, and ask him to WORK -- these exercises sound simple, but make no mistake, he will be working, and working hard, to do them correctly. And you will be working too. . .
When you have him balanced between your leg and your hand, so that you feel him move forward into your hand and take stronger contact whenever you add a little leg, you can begin working on transitions and figures.
Transitions between gaits: halt to walk, walk to trot, trot to walk, walk to halt; later, add trot to canter and canter to trot; eventually, add halt to trot, trot to halt, walk to canter, canter to walk.
Transitions within gaits: using his best and clearest four-beat walk, two-beat trot, and three-beat-and-pause canter to establish your tempo at each gait, ask for longer strides, then shorter strides, always keeping the same tempo. Six strides of normal walk, six of longer walk, six of normal walk, six of shortened walk; then the same at the trot; eventually the same at the canter.
Figures: straight lines, wide turns, circles, spirals, figure-8s, wide serpentines -- again, whatever you do, keep him moving up into his bridle, with the energy coming from behind, and then keep him balanced and forward and maintaining the same tempo as you change directions and ride the figures.
When you hack him out, don't drop him on the buckle -- ask him to WORK, and do the same transitions (walk transitions are nice when you're hacking). Plan to cut your riding time, though -- forty-five minutes of this will be much harder work for him than two or three hours of wandering around on a loose rein.
When you do your ring-work, remember to give him a chance to stretch down every few minutes -- he can reach down with his nose and put it on the ground as long as he keeps his back up and keeps moving forward with his hind legs coming up underneath him.
After a couple of months, you should see an enormous difference in his muscling -- and in his responsiveness, and in his energy level. And hills -- up or down -- should not be a problem once he has better balance and the strength to maintain it without a large effort.
You will need to monitor your saddle fit, though! If the saddle you're using fits him well right now, it may not fit him once his back is stronger and his muscles are larger. Check the fit regularly. And check it NOW, too see whether it isn't just a bit large for him -- if it is, this will probably take care of itself as his muscles develop, but in the meantime, there is the chance that it may be shifting forward onto his shoulders when he goes down a hill. This would make him uncomfortable and unwilling to take large steps or move forward at all!
Good luck -- let me know how it works out!
Jessica
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