Building muscle on hind legs

k8te

New Member
Jun 8, 2008
720
0
0
Ringwood, hampshire
I was wondering if anyone had any tips on building muscle on both hind legs?

I know it is a combination of, stiff hinds normally, not being ridden for 3 weeks :cry: and running out of his supplement, but got on Ace for a lesson today first time in months, and he felt 'normal' to me but a friend who is a AI was given me a lesson and wasn't too sure about his hinds, he was tripping a bit also. So we went out on the road and trotted him up and he felt much better his trot was smooth, short but always is until he is really warmed up and his stride lengthens. Anyway back in the school and she got on, and I was like :hot: this aint his normal!!!! His back legs where just not his 'normal' stiff legs.

So have phoned the supplier of supplement and demanded they send it as they forgot last week to bring with my hay, and I want to get some kind of training programme started, as he needs to be in work to help with his stiffness. But it does get a bit boring doing the same :wink:

I used to do a lot of hills work in walk but not that many where we are now, never tried long reining but willing to learn, can lunge albeit not brill. Would pole work help?

Thanks x
 
Poles, poles and more poles, In hand, long rein or ridden.

Once he has the hang of them start to raise one end a little and start all over again. The raise the other end (i am talking inch or 2 max) to get him lifting.
 
My back man prescribed lots of hill work and poles for my lad to build up his muscleless bum last year.
I don't really do poles so lots of transitions helped. I couldn't hack him up hills either, but more so because I wasn't confident enough to ride certain hacks, so I'd quite often take him for a walk Inhand up a hill which helped.

Other than that, I had stretches to do with him - out to the back, and forward and up. Flipo loves these and it really helps.
 
Just beware, if you do work to build up from behind and aren't asking the back legs to come right under then they will drag themselves along on the forehand leading to a powerful front and proportionately weedier rear.
 
That's the beauty of hill work, they have no choice but to take the weight back.

I don't think you're really going to solve an issue like this unless the horse is really comfortable and moving freely.
 
My working on building up all Bens muscles at the moment. He has lost the weight and now I am looking for much more definition in his body.

This involves lots of hard work for both of us!! I have to get him moving forward properly so that he is using his back end, but I also have to contain his energy and work him in an outline so he is building up the correct muscles on his front end as well.

We do lots of canter work and lots of pole work. We both enjoy this and when we acheive the forward flowing, bouncy canter, its really good fun. We also do lots of suppling exercises (lateral work, 10m circles etc.) as he can be quite stiff on his left rein.

The key really is to get him moving forwards, but not flat. I need to contain his energy so he is bouncy rather than fast. It's very easy to get him moving forwards on the forehand with his nose sticking out in front of him, but this does nothing to develop the correct muscles. I find it very difficult to get him collected in trot. We either get a fast trot where he is on the forehand, or a very slow trot where he isn't working properly either. To find a happy medium is a challenge for us at the moment.

Sometimes I find it really hard work to ride 'correctly' and sometimes he objects as well. We have a couple of fun hacks a week where I allow him to have his head and plod on, but in the school I am really trying to get him going properly. I want people to look as his rippling muscles and say 'wow - what a horse!'.
 
Poles, poles and more poles, In hand, long rein or ridden.

Once he has the hang of them start to raise one end a little and start all over again. The raise the other end (i am talking inch or 2 max) to get him lifting.

I an ideal world how many poles and how do you know correct spacing between them?
I am currently doing hill work on most hacks but want to do pole work when schooling.....
 
newrider.com