# How to build up/strengthen hind quarters



## sonjafoers (4 July 2010)

Can anyone give me some tips for building up my horses weak(ish) hind quarters please. We have plenty of hills around us so should I can use these but have limited use of a school.

Thank you


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## tinkandlily (4 July 2010)

Defo lots of hill work, but going down hill is just as important as going up, horses uses a different set of muscels when doing down. Also when schooling (or hacking) do lots of transitions and transitions within the gaits i.e lengthing and shortening.


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## Ellies_mum2 (4 July 2010)

Use them hills  


Walk up and down them to start and gradually add in some trot work

Oh and take some 'before' pictures so you have something to compare to 




Good luck


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## sonjafoers (4 July 2010)

She is reasonably fit & I currently trot up the hills but as her back end looks weak compared to the front end I'm guessing just trotting up them isn't really helping! 

So, as she is fit enough to trot up some of the killer hills around us should I 
change the gait whilst going up the hills Tinkandlily or should I only do this on the flat?

Ellies_mum2 should I walk up them sometimes even though she can trot them just to use the different muscles?

I posted a while ago about hacking in an outline & have taken onboard a lot of advice from that, so should I ask for an outline up the hills. I don't currently because they are so steep I'm not sure if it's correct to.


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## rosie fronfelen (4 July 2010)

sonjafoers said:



			She is reasonably fit & I currently trot up the hills but as her back end looks weak compared to the front end I'm guessing just trotting up them isn't really helping! 

So, as she is fit enough to trot up some of the killer hills around us should I 
change the gait whilst going up the hills Tinkandlily or should I only do this on the flat?

Ellies_mum2 should I walk up them sometimes even though she can trot them just to use the different muscles?

I posted a while ago about hacking in an outline & have taken onboard a lot of advice from that, so should I ask for an outline up the hills. I don't currently because they are so steep I'm not sure if it's correct to.
		
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i would make her walk up the hills rather than trot, we have killer hills here and horses soon get fit!


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## tinkandlily (4 July 2010)

sonjafoers said:



			She is reasonably fit & I currently trot up the hills but as her back end looks weak compared to the front end I'm guessing just trotting up them isn't really helping! 

So, as she is fit enough to trot up some of the killer hills around us should I 
change the gait whilst going up the hills Tinkandlily or should I only do this on the flat?

Ellies_mum2 should I walk up them sometimes even though she can trot them just to use the different muscles?

I posted a while ago about hacking in an outline & have taken onboard a lot of advice from that, so should I ask for an outline up the hills. I don't currently because they are so steep I'm not sure if it's correct to.
		
Click to expand...

Start doing it on the flat first to get her used to it, then try on the hills, mabe do some canter work with one or two gallops on them as well. When i was building up my mare i did some schooling on the hills near me, i.e circles and serpentines, so she was working  up and down.  I also took her took her to the beach, they have to work a bit harder in wet sand.


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## tinkandlily (4 July 2010)

Start doing it on the flat first to get her used to it, then try on the hills, mabe do some canter work with one or two gallops on them as well. When i was building up my mare i did some schooling on the hills near me, i.e circles and serpentines, and some lateral work i.e leg yield so she was working  up and down.  I also took her took her to the beach, they have to work a bit harder in wet sand. If this doesn't work then it might just be her conformation, how old is she? she might not have grown into herself yet, my other mare is a super jumper and very fit but she looks a bit scrawny behind as she is only 4 and started filling out behind now. Sorry for the same message, my time ran out to edit.


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## Ellies_mum2 (4 July 2010)

sonjafoers said:



			Ellies_mum2 should I walk up them sometimes even though she can trot them just to use the different muscles?
		
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Yes I would walk her up the hills as she will then have to engage her hindquarters to push herself up the hill if that makes sense?


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## D66 (4 July 2010)

You could try lunging on a slope.  Don't use side reins, just allow your horse to find its own balance. 5min each side with a short break in the middle, building up to 10 min each way.


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## sonjafoers (4 July 2010)

Ok thank you, I will start walking her up some of the hills - that will be a shock for her!

Tinkandlily she is 6 but has always been very immature looking/late developer.


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## Letslip (4 July 2010)

Yep would walk up the hills in an outline, if she goes properly into an outline (working through from behind) and not sitting in a false outline.  But if she is not used to it only do small sections at a time as walking up hill in an outline she will really have to get her legs underneath her to push.  I have found sometimes that horses will pulll themselves up by their shoulders rather than pushing them up from their hindquarters if they are not in an outline ending up with huge shoulders yet smaller hindquarters.


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## YorksG (4 July 2010)

Hill work is excellent for encouraging a horse to use it's back end, BUT this only works if the trot is controled. Try going up at sitting trot, this encourages a slower and more balanced trot. Walking up hill is also good for them The thing that is no use at all is allowing them to pound on in trot, on the forehand


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## Pearlsasinger (4 July 2010)

sonjafoers said:



			She is reasonably fit & I currently trot up the hills but as her back end looks weak compared to the front end I'm guessing just trotting up them isn't really helping! 

This because she is on her forehand.
So, as she is fit enough to trot up some of the killer hills around us should I 
change the gait whilst going up the hills Tinkandlily or should I only do this on the flat?

horses actually find it easier to trot to uphill and prefer to pull, rather than push themselves along

Ellies_mum2 should I walk up them sometimes even though she can trot them just to use the different muscles?
A good strong walk from the hindquarters is much better for fittening

I posted a while ago about hacking in an outline & have taken onboard a lot of advice from that, so should I ask for an outline up the hills. I don't currently because they are so steep I'm not sure if it's correct to.
		
Click to expand...

Forget about the outline until you have got her working from behind, otherwise, you are just pulling her nose in.  You will know that she is working from behind when her hindquarters have developed.


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## sonjafoers (5 July 2010)

Brilliant, thanks for that advice. I do let her pound up in trot and I didn't realise that that was doing her no good at all! 

She does get into a proper outline but it's taken us a long time to get there without any fighting. We haven't done very much of this as she argues about it and I felt it was giving her sore back muscles (yes, pathectic I know!), and I recently used a very loose harbridge to get long & low as she used to fling her head about when she got fed up and nearly knock me out. 

We now practise the outline much more regularly than we used to, in small intermittent amounts whilst hacking, and I will build up the time gradually. For now then I will do lots of transitions and changing gaits within a pace as we can do this hacking and I will walk her on up the hills.

Big muscles here we come


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