# Downhill Build



## EthanQ (Sep 5, 2011)

I have a gelding who was bred by a backyard breeder, and has huge, great, powerful hips, but his withers are about an inch lower. This causes him to trip often when his feet arent trimmed perfectly, and it prevents him from getting his butt up underneath him and fully collected. I have heard rumors that only showing his front feet will help with this issue......true or false? This isn't a desperate matter or anything, was just wondering.


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## jumanji321 (Dec 1, 2010)

Well, my mare is slightly downhill and shoes only bring them up about half an inch at best. I didn't notice a difference other than my mare's hooves were no longer sore. She also recently had to get shoes all the way around as I wore her back ones out from competing and riding. Until then, she had always had fronts.


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## eclipseranch (May 31, 2012)

nah doesn't make a diff. I have a mare that is downhill. she had shoes all the way around when we 1st got her... back ones were pulled. we still had to have a trainer work with her so she learned to pick up her front end herself...it was tough for a while because the rider had to pick her up are she sometimes stumbled forward and once it was bad enough that rider (my daughter) flipped over her head. she ...we have now had her for 7+ years she never stumbles any more and never leans on the rider. she is barefoot and looks fabulous on jumps!


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## Elana (Jan 28, 2011)

Being built down hill is not the reason a horse trips. the reason a horse trips is because the horse has no idea how to carry himself AND the weight on his back. It is a difficult task for a horse to carry a non static load (person riding) AND move when built lower in front IF they have not been adequately conditioned and trained. 

Any horse is a better horse if they can get their ring of muscles working. This means strengthening the abdominal muscles so the horse can curl his hind quarters under himself and shift weight from the front end to the rear end. A down hill built horse can do this but it is a lot more work and (of course) more difficult to train. Along with strengthening the abdominal muscles, the horse needs to raise his front end, most notably the root of his neck. As the horse becomes more physically adept at this, he will stumble less. 

To work on this with your horse, you need to do a LOT of long trots up hills.. relatively steep hills.. that will get the horse to lower his head, lengthening the back, reaching under himself with his hind feet and (as part of the physics of going up a hill) shorten and contract the abdominal muscles. This may be hard for your horse at first.. so the object is to trot him until he is winded but not so much he is ready to drop! A little of this every day. 

In the ring you can also train him to trot over Cavelletti. This will give him focus on where his feet are and, again, have him lengthen his top line and strengthen his abdominal muscles. Start with 4 poles directly on the ground spaced at his normal trot stride and, over a period of weeks, increase the number of poles (up to 8 and then start to raise them. You can go as high as 10 inches and you will have to space them so he can trot through them. Don't rush this and don't over do it. Takes about 4-6 weeks to get a horse to the point where they can trot through 8 poles at 10 inches high 4-6 times in a training session. 

As you work through this process, learn to ride and be as still as possible while the horse is working either up hills or over cavelletti. Lean forward in a two point position and allow the horse to work. 

From this you can start to teach him to go FORWARD into the bridle and use his hind quarters and lighten his forehand. 

It takes TIME and EFFORT but will help a horse stumble less.


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## eclipseranch (May 31, 2012)

Elana said:


> Being built down hill is not the reason a horse trips. the reason a horse trips is because the horse has no idea how to carry himself AND the weight on his back. It is a difficult task for a horse to carry a non static load (person riding) AND move when built lower in front IF they have not been adequately conditioned and trained.
> 
> Any horse is a better horse if they can get their ring of muscles working. This means strengthening the abdominal muscles so the horse can curl his hind quarters under himself and shift weight from the front end to the rear end. A down hill built horse can do this but it is a lot more work and (of course) more difficult to train. Along with strengthening the abdominal muscles, the horse needs to raise his front end, most notably the root of his neck. As the horse becomes more physically adept at this, he will stumble less.
> 
> ...


well put I didn't know quite how to explain


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## Cintillate (Jan 8, 2012)

Haven't come across many other downhills but one of mine was and he never had any problems I wouldn't say he was graceful but he did well. The other was was really downhill when younger and she also didn't have problems but she grew and evened out more but still bit downhill and has improved and she was pretty sure footed to begin with. This is just from personal experience. I think the horse will learn to use his body in time.


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