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Veteran
Posts: 160
 
| How do yall in flatter areas condition your horses and strengthen their hocks/stifles/toplines without hills to climb? I've moved my horse from a facility with HUGE hills to one that is mostly flat and I don't know how to adjust. Hill work was the foundation for all of our workouts and now we have none!  |
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Married to a Louie Lover
Posts: 3303
 
| I like different ground pole work, even though I have some pretty good hills I'll probably incorporate more ground poles into my arena work this year. It'll help get them stepping up under themselves and using themselves better. Lots of setup options too in order to keep it interesting |
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 Saint Stacey
 
| Pull tires, cavalette work. Hills can actually do more harm than good in many cases. |
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  Neat Freak
Posts: 11216
Location: Wonderful Wyoming | Another person that is not a fan of hills. Long trotting can do wonders for so many things, and really gets a horse loosened up and in shape. |
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 Expert
Posts: 2258
| wyoming barrel racer - 2017-01-15 6:05 PM
Another person that is not a fan of hills. Long trotting can do wonders for so many things, and really gets a horse loosened up and in shape.
I long trot lots and lots! It does wonders for them |
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 Expert
Posts: 1523
Location: Illinois | I only have hills to use when I haul to trail ride maybe twice a month. Long trotting is the base of my conditioning. I ride according to my playlist. When I'm in full swing of the season I'm usually built up to 5 songs of long trotting each direction and 3 songs of various lope speeds. I think changing you lope speed helps a lot with lung function, or at least it does for my bleeder. I occasionally trot some ground poles. If I want to do some hind end work I go out to the road and have him back up the little bit of a ditch we have. It's not much but if you back up it 5 times 2/3 days a week it works well. Idk if there's a road ditch near you, but that helps mine |
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 Expert
Posts: 3815
Location: The best kept secret in TX | Long trotting is a miracle worker! |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 725
| I live in the flats, and long trot in the fields, I do alot of backing in the arena, every time I stop I back about 10-12 steps and I've noticed better top lines. |
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 The best bad guy on the internet
Posts: 3519
Location: Arizona | Climbing hills is a great work out for your horses. Maybe you can try setting up some logs in the arena and trot over them, it will make your horse step up and over which helps strengthen the stifles. Do you have access to a sandy wash perhaps? I have never heard that hill climbing is bad for your horse..good grief. I was a long distance competitor, that can't be farther from the truth...incorporating hills is great for your horse. |
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 Fact Checker
Posts: 16575
Location: Displaced Iowegian | I have never had any hills......long trotting and sprints is what I used! |
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 Owner of a ratting catting machine
Posts: 2258
| Aquatread. |
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Saint Stacey
| LIVE2RUN - 2017-01-16 3:19 PM
Climbing hills is a great work out for your horses. Maybe you can try setting up some logs in the arena and trot over them, it will make your horse step up and over which helps strengthen the stifles. Do you have access to a sandy wash perhaps? I have never heard that hill climbing is bad for your horse..good grief. I was a long distance competitor, that can't be farther from the truth...incorporating hills is great for your horse.
I lived in the mountains. Hills can trash stifles. I've had numerous vets say the same thing. You can believe what you want. But I've seen it plenty of times. I'm not going to dis your belief in that hills are fine and dandy. But maybe you shouldn't have such a strong opinion that they are great for your horse...good grief. |
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Owner of a ratting catting machine
Posts: 2258
| SKM - 2017-01-16 6:10 PM
LIVE2RUN - 2017-01-16 3:19 PM
Climbing hills is a great work out for your horses. Maybe you can try setting up some logs in the arena and trot over them, it will make your horse step up and over which helps strengthen the stifles. Do you have access to a sandy wash perhaps? I have never heard that hill climbing is bad for your horse..good grief. I was a long distance competitor, that can't be farther from the truth...incorporating hills is great for your horse.
I lived in the mountains. Hills can trash stifles. I've had numerous vets say the same thing. You can believe what you want. But I've seen it plenty of times. I'm not going to dis your belief in that hills are fine and dandy. But maybe you shouldn't have such a strong opinion that they are great for your horse...good grief.
This is totally news to me, and I grew up in a ranching family in Bondurant, Wyoming. |
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Saint Stacey
| Maybe my idea of hills are a lot bigger than what everyone else feels qualifies as a hill. |
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