# Where does he need to gain muscle?



## Aesthetic (Aug 7, 2012)

He actually needs muscle everywhere. topline, rearend, shoulder, and neck and his chest.


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## SketchyHorse (May 14, 2012)

Aesthetic said:


> He actually needs muscle everywhere. topline, rearend, shoulder, and neck and his chest.


Agreed. He definitely needs some bulking up weight wise & muscle wise. His butt actually looks like it has little to no muscle IMO, as a QH (even on lean ones) I like to see a nice full butt. I had a client of mine actively walk/trot his STB mare up and down hills to help gain muscles. He kept her collected, pushing from behind, & she gained beautiful neck, back, and butt muscles. She actually looked better than my mare who I was doing Dressage with >.> But he also rode her far more often than I did my mare. Sorry kinda blanking on other exercises to do - I'm sure someone will come along to help


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## JCnGrace (Apr 28, 2013)

What SketchyHorse said about the hill work. If your in southern IN it shouldn't be hard for you to find a place nearby to get him out on the trails. Henryville & Deam are probably the two best places I know of that really makes them work. Just make sure he's in shape before you ride there. I also recommend shoes because most people that I know who try to take their horses barefoot there end up with footsore horses after the first day. Brown County and Midwest are good places to start his conditioning. It's been so long since I've been to Harrison-Crawford that I really don't remember what those trails are like. Foggy memory says they're relatively easy but beautiful scenery.


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## PaintHorseMares (Apr 19, 2008)

Agree with the above. As a riding horse, you want to do hill work...lots. For non-riding horses, lots of round pen work. Feed high quality hay and high protein feed. 
In the QH/Paint world around here, if you want to show halter, the 'classic' stocky QH look still rules. Here is our halter bred (Impressive) "Mandy" to compare muscling...


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## soenjer55 (Dec 4, 2011)

The hill work is a great idea. On the flat, do long and low work, making him work from back to front.
Transitions are fantastic, too- especially downwards transitions. walk-halt, trot-walk, trot-halt, canter-trot, and, later, when he's ready, canter-walk and canter-halt.
edit- He's a handsome boy, he just needs weight and muscle- I hope you share your progress with us!


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## chelz (Apr 20, 2010)

Thanks for all the advice! It looks like he and I need to hit some hills! lol I have another question. I'm trying to put more weight on him so should I be working on his muscling quite a bit while I'm working on putting weight on him? Or should I try to get him a little fatter before I work with him too much on gaining muscle? Sorry, I've never worked on bulking up a horse before so I'm not sure what method is best for him, health-wise.


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## aforred (May 12, 2010)

Just make sure you provide a higher calorie diet to compensate for the work. I can't wait to see how he turns out.


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## PaintHorseMares (Apr 19, 2008)

^^^ Yes, and I would give all the hay he can eat.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## BigGirlsRideWarmbloods (Mar 28, 2010)

****! DAT A$$! That is a GREAT QH hind end.

I would follow the advice of that horses trainer down to a T. Results speak for themselves.



PaintHorseMares said:


> Agree with the above. As a riding horse, you want to do hill work...lots. For non-riding horses, lots of round pen work. Feed high quality hay and high protein feed.
> In the QH/Paint world around here, if you want to show halter, the 'classic' stocky QH look still rules. Here is our halter bred (Impressive) "Mandy" to compare muscling...


_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## PaintHorseMares (Apr 19, 2008)

BigGirlsRideWarmbloods said:


> ****! DAT A$$! That is a GREAT QH hind end.
> 
> I would follow the advice of that horses trainer down to a T. Results speak for themselves.
> 
> ...


Thanks. BTW, lest anyone think that halter is just a young horse's discipline, in that picture, "Mandy" is 16 years old, and she still looks just as good today at 18 years.


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## chelz (Apr 20, 2010)

*Updates*

Okay so those last photos I posted were taken at the end of May. These new photos were taken yesterday (June 24). What do you guys think of his improvement in the past few weeks? I have been feeding him a different diet and doing more walk/trot/canter work with him. Slowly but surely we are getting there. 



Sorry for the angle here, but I wanted to include a shot of his other side and this was about the most level shot I got facing that way. lol


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## PaintHorseMares (Apr 19, 2008)

He definately looks better and I like the way his chest/ shoulder is looking. Can you do hill work?
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Casey02 (Sep 20, 2011)

He looks way better! His butt is filling out more too, good job!


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## chelz (Apr 20, 2010)

Thank you. PaintHorseMares, there aren't too many hills available right now because most of the places I ride have been planted with corn for the year. lol But I have a few smaller hills I can work with him on.


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## JCnGrace (Apr 28, 2013)

Keep up the good work, he's looking a lot better!


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## PaintHorseMares (Apr 19, 2008)

chelz said:


> Thank you. PaintHorseMares, there aren't too many hills available right now because most of the places I ride have been planted with corn for the year. lol But I have a few smaller hills I can work with him on.


Good. Whatever W/T you can do on even small hills is great. You can canter/lope as a change of pace or for fun, but the trot s the gait you really want to focus on for building muscle.
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## Dreamcatcher Arabians (Nov 14, 2010)

Doing W/T on hills of any size will help him a lot. He still needs some weight over all but especially his butt and flanks. He's improving immensely though, keep up the good work! He's going to be gorgeous once you get him all filled out and fitted up.


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## GotaDunQH (Feb 13, 2011)

PaintHorseMares said:


> Thanks. BTW, lest anyone think that halter is just a young horse's discipline, in that picture, "Mandy" is 16 years old, and she still looks just as good today at 18 years.


Here's my 18 YO AQHA Gelding I retired last year from AQHA competition....he had a Halter ROM and over 100 points in WP (pts in other events too). This shot was from a huge AQHA show in NY, Aged Geldings, 16 horses in the class, he was 16 here....and he pinned 3rd under both judges:











To the OP....you need to look at your feed program. Your horse should have flesh over his bones and spine, and because he doesn't...he's lacking both weight and muscle. The lastest pics....the 3 you posted, the middle pic I see a difference, the other I don't. But it takes time. He needs good quality hay and a lot of it. Because he's in work, there is no worry about a hay belly. To build more more muscle in the hind end....hills work, but lots of long trotting with him bringing his back up and hocks underneath will help. Also backing him up in-hand and then walking off works as well (lots of backing).


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## PaintHorseMares (Apr 19, 2008)

^^^ very nice and I agree about the hay. All our horses have free choice hay available even when there is plenty of pasture and none are fat.
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