# Galloping Uphill



## DCS (Jul 19, 2015)

It depends on how fit she is, how steep the hill is, and how long you gallop her for. In normal circumstances, it's good to do hill work.


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## StormWolf68 (May 7, 2015)

DCS said:


> It depends on how fit she is, how steep the hill is, and how long you gallop her for. In normal circumstances, it's good to do hill work.


I started galloping her uphill before I started trotting her uphill, and it seemed like the trotting actually made her sore the next day, while the galloping didn't!


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## Smilie (Oct 4, 2010)

Depends on what your final goals are.
If you only wish to gallop up hills, to condition a horse, that is fine, done correctly
If you are trying to train a serious trail horse, where you might be climbing mountains,or any tricky climbs, with drop offs, not just hills, you never let that horse get in the habit of charging up slopes


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## DCS (Jul 19, 2015)

Smilie has some very good points.

All the hill work I've don't is to improve fitness. I do not have many "serious trails" here. :/

If you let a horse gallop up a hill, you are teaching her to rush, which is done without balance.



StormWolf68, a horse should not be sore from trotting uphill. I trot uphill often and it has never made my horse sore...


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## StormWolf68 (May 7, 2015)

DCS said:


> Smilie has some very good points.
> 
> All the hill work I've don't is to improve fitness. I do not have many "serious trails" here. :/
> 
> If you let a horse gallop up a hill, you are teaching her to rush, which is done without balance.


I see how that would work. We don't have any trails at our barn, so that's not an issue for us.

Also, about 90% of uphill work is still walking and trotting. So, she still understands that just because we're going this way, does NOT mean I get to run. I also try to switch up which method I use to get up onto the hill/gallop so she doesn't get into the habit of thinking "Ok, we're going to gallop now" and take off without the aids to


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## DCS (Jul 19, 2015)

Rushing hills is a very easy vice to teach. Mix up the pace of going on the hills, both up and down. I like to do small (walk to trot to walk to halt - no cantering) when going uphill.

When we are going down hill, I do not let my horse trot.


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## phantomhorse13 (Feb 18, 2011)

Running up hills is fine as long as your horse is under control, which it sounds like yours is. As you have found, its easier for a horse to gallop up a hill than it is to trot, so that is often their preference. Personally, I use trotting up hills to put base fitness on a horse and cantering or galloping as a cardio workout (and h*ll, its just fun sometimes too!).

I train up hills at a variety of speeds, including the gallop, and have never had an issue with any of the horses trying to charge off up hills, because they never know from one climb to the next what speed is going to be asked of them. And just because your horse is going faster should not mean s/he is out of balance..


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## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

I agree that working a horse uphill can be good for them. How much/speed depends on fitness, steepness and distance. 

Agreed on never letting a horse decide the pace, and, slower paces are harder work.

What is interesting is how people are happy to race up a hill but never down one!


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## greenhaven (Jun 7, 2014)

I am open to correction but hill work is pretty tough on hocks and I would want to approach conditioning at an even slower rate than flat work.

But hill work IS awesome for making some serious junk in their trunks, lol!


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## Smilie (Oct 4, 2010)

I agree that if galloping up hills works for where you ride, then it would help with conditioning or cross country training
However, where I trail ride, I want my horses to climb up and down those trails on a loose rein, as I ride in mountains. Sometimes we climb to above the treeline, on steep trails with sheer drop offs, and where a horse really has to dig in and climb, and where lunging up , can cause him to power out a a critical spot, go over the edge or even flip. Some climbs can take an hour or more, and you want a horse that is sure footed, stopping for air, when that climb levels out just a bit, etc
Same going down, I pitch my horse slack, sit deep, off of his front end, and let him pick his way down. No intention of riding like the Man From Snowy River!


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## StormWolf68 (May 7, 2015)

I've trotted her downhill often. However, I've never tried to canter or gallop her downhill because I'm not sure if I could keep her collected and balanced enough to do it safely.

And she also goes up the hills on a loose reign. She never gallops unless I go into half seat and kiss. No kiss, no gallop.


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## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

Smilie said:


> . No intention of riding like the Man From Snowy River!


One of the hardest things to get on a movie camera is the steepness of a hill. 

The Descent from Snowy River captures the steepness well and is a great heart pounder. I remember watching it for the first time and thinking great shot but doesn't seem right. 

Watch it on YouTube and you will see that the way the horse is galloping, supposedly down a steep slope, is not the way a horse would gallop down a steep hill. It would be sat back on its hocks more. 

The slope used was not very steep but to make it look more so,my they felled and angled the trees to make it look better.


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## Saskia (Aug 26, 2009)

Foxhunter said:


> One of the hardest things to get on a movie camera is the steepness of a hill. T
> 
> The Descent from Snowy River captures the steepness well and is a great heart pounder. I remember watching it for the first time and thinking great shot but doesn't seem right.
> 
> ...


People have speculated over the years that the scene was faked however from everything I've read it seems there is a fair bit of evidence that the scene was real, including many statements from crew. There is even a place that will take you on a trail ride to see that exact incline.


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## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

Cannot agree with the scene being real. 

I have galloped up and down some pretty steep hills over the years, 

http://youtu.be/if9p1TnDvRY

See how the horse has weight forward, down a steep hill they will sit back as seen in the second video. The horses have their heads up front legs more braced and weight on the back end.

http://youtu.be/aSPoPL8o04M


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## Cherie (Dec 16, 2010)

Back in the 70s I did quite a bit of endurance racing -- to the point that I won several and won several 'Best condition' awards. I found that it was a lot better to trot up hill and gallop down hill. When you have to do it over a sustained period of time, the galloping up hill (particularly at the high elevations I rode at in the Colorado Rockies) took way more out of a horse than trotting a well-conditioned horse up hill. But then, that is also true on the flat and is why most endurance riders trot as much as possible.

I found that trotting down hill really 'jammed' a horse's front end -- knees and shoulders and got them sore. When you teach a horse to go very collectedly down a steep incline at the canter / gallop, they shift their weight back to their hinds and just kind of 'skip' down the slope. They ride really smoothly and just barely touch the ground in the front. I leaned way forward with my feet even further forward and passed a lot of horses on those steep downhill sections. 

I found this so effective, that to this day, if I am having trouble getting a horse collected and off of its front end, I lope down hills in the pasture. This is how I have 'fixed' every horse brought to me because they had started '4-beating' the lope -- usually caused by a novice 'pleasure' rider trying to slow them down by pulling on them without using their legs.


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## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

All the horses and ponies grazed on Downland, not steep by mountain standards but still good inclines. They had made tracks which traversed in a zig zagged pattern. When they were in a hurry to get down they would come straight down, dodging ant hills as they did so. 

Of course the dares were to ride either the one most likely to buck or the fastest from the top to the bottom, bareback without a halter.

I usually won because I reasoned that as long as I could sit still they wouldn't fall. 
Chunk of mane in one hand, other bracing against the withers and sit relaxed to go with the swerves! 

One horse I had was notoriously strong when following hounds, I never wasted a hill and would gallop him to the top. 
We then point to pointed him and the first races he ran well but it wasn't until he ran on a course with a steep hill finish did he win! The jockey said he saw the hill and seemed to think "Hill, I gallop up these!" found top gear and overtook all the others.


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## Smilie (Oct 4, 2010)

Foxhunter said:


> One of the hardest things to get on a movie camera is the steepness of a hill.
> 
> The Descent from Snowy River captures the steepness well and is a great heart pounder. I remember watching it for the first time and thinking great shot but doesn't seem right.
> 
> ...


Yes, I thought it was fake also, first time I watched it, but I googled and came up with supposed credible sources that claimed it was not manipulated footage
Guess I should watch it again!


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## Smilie (Oct 4, 2010)

Well, there you have it!
Different training goals, that define how you view galloping up 'hills' !
Cross country, or fox hunting, is an entirely different end goal then producing a safe trail horse
Thus, I never allow a horse to try and charge up a hill, and in fact,, most places we ride, you are lucky to find places that are safe to trot, let alone gallop, thus you work at horses learning to pick there way up and down steep hills, trusting them, by throwing them slack and staying out of their way
Once had ahorse fall with me on such a trail, late fall. The ground was frozen and the horses were sharp shod. The trail was about two feet wide, with a mountain slope on one side,and a sheer drop of on the other. It wound up in a series of very steep switchbacks. My horse fell to his knees. Had he panicked, and tried to jump back up, we would have been over that edge, with enough time for me to say most of the 'Lord's Prayer' on the way down"
Instead, he knelt there, took in the danger, allowing me to step up on the up side, and then he carefully rocked back onto his hind legs, and got up, being careful to make no other movement that that straight ahead getting up
I actually hate heights, and thus there are many times, riidng some of those trails, where I remind myself that the horse does not want to fall anymore than I do, but of course, if a horse gets 'high', his thinking part of the brain seems to shut down, and he no longer cares where he puts those feet
Rode a few of those in my younger days in the mountains, and survived!


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## Smilie (Oct 4, 2010)

BY Cheri

"I found this so effective, that to this day, if I am having trouble getting a horse collected and off of its front end, I lope down hills in the pasture. This is how I have 'fixed' every horse brought to me because they had started '4-beating' the lope -- usually caused by a novice 'pleasure' rider trying to slow them down by pulling on them without using their leg

Interesting way to fix a four beater! All you really have to do is make them move on, while driving them up, as four beating is man made, occurring when horse is slowed beyond his ability ,or strength, to maintain a true thee beat lope, with that second beat breaking down into two
Very easy to have a true three beat lope while moving on. Asking a horse to move slow and lope true, ups the degree of difficulty, and why 4 beating became the un wanted side effect in many western pl horses, esp when slow was placed above true movement, or horses without the natural ability were tried to be 'made; into please horses
Just kicking a horse up a notch in speed, will have a less talanted horse that four beats, able to lope true

In fact, if you watch some reiners in that slow circle, many of them four beat, but that has not been criticized to any great amount yet,although it is becoming recognized by some

Does not matter if you are galloping on the flat, or down a hill-a horse is not going to four beat at a gallop!


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## christopher (Feb 11, 2011)

Foxhunter said:


> Cannot agree with the scene being real.
> 
> I have galloped up and down some pretty steep hills over the years,
> 
> http://youtu.be/if9p1TnDvRY


the tree stump seen at 52 and 56 seconds does seem a bit dubious with those roots poking up into the air like that.

also smilie a proper gallop is supposed to have 4 beats


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## anndankev (Aug 9, 2010)

Christopher, It seems a while since I have seen a post by you, maybe have missed them though. 

Reminded me of how much I like your avatar, don't ever change it. LOL


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## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

Until the final shots where he has the herd stopped, not a spec of sweat amongst them!

Still a good film though.


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## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

Smilie said:


> Well, there you have it!
> Different training goals, that define how you view galloping up 'hills' !
> Cross country, or fox hunting, is an entirely different end goal then producing a safe trail horse
> Thus, I never allow a horse to try and charge up a hill, and in fact,, most places we ride, you are lucky to find places that are safe to trot, let alone gallop, thus you work at horses learning to pick there way up and down steep hills, trusting them, by throwing them slack and staying out of their way
> ...


I couldn't agree with you more! I know that some of the mountain trails you ride would warrant me needing a laundry change! 

I had a racehorse come for training to be a hunter, he was a kind horse and a trier. Where I was at the time the riding was awful, we more or less only had one place to rode amd most of that was on roads. 
About 2 miles from home, coming up a narrow lane, two cars had had a fender bender, there was minor damage, no injuries and the two were waiting for the police and refused to move cars to let us pass. I turned and rode up a steep bank, only about five feet in height, rode through the trees and undergrowth, which this horse did well. I was leading a good experienced hunter mare. We got past the cars and I went to come down a deer path back onto the road. The horse I was riding hadn't a clue as to how to slide down th bank, he dithered, took one step amd felt no ground so stepped back! 
The old mare got fed up with this and pushed past, paused on the bank and walked slowly down giving him a lead! 

That horse always found going down steeper hills hard.


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## BreezylBeezyl (Mar 25, 2014)

I 'galloped' up a really steep hill this weekend while on a trail ride! The hill must have been at an 80 degree angle... The most difficult hill I've ever ridden.

My mare had to 'lunge' up the hill. It sort of reminded me of a gallop or canter but much more crude. The horse was basically just trying to power up to the top of the hill because of how incredibly steep it was.

I've been on several rides with hills though and never let me horse freely canter or gallop up a hill, especially if it's a decently sized hill. For short but steep hills it's okay, because for safety reasons your horse needs to get to the top as quickly as possible. On a steep hill, you do not want your horse not making it up and getting stuck because they tired out. On the other hand, if you've got a really short but steep hill, I would let your horse lunge up it with all their strength.

Now, getting _down_... That's always fun. :wink:


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## Smilie (Oct 4, 2010)

Well, yes, that disclaimer should be in there, a steep short bank, as coming out of a river, a horse has to have some momentum to get up!


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