[Circle C]

Originally Posted by JBandRio

lmao! Talk about sneak attach hijack LOLOL!!

I seem to be quite good at hi******* lately LOL

I'm wondering if any of the exercises I do with my barrel horses helps out topline. Topline is somehting that I have never been good with.

I lope a lot of circles. Keeping the shoulders up, nose tipped to the inside with light contact with a bit of poll flexion. Does that do anything for topline?

I also do a lot of rollbacks on the fence to encourage hind end use.

When I am working my horses, I always have light contact with poll flexion and I'm always asking for forward movement and roundness... but how do you really tell (while you're on them) if they are inface rounded out and using themselves properly?

[Circle C]

And please comment on this topline:



Versus

This topline:



And yes...this is the same horse. 1st pic is after 3 months of WP based training (which I do will all my barrel horses)

2nd is after basically being on pasture board for 4 months.

[glideride]

Originally Posted by JBandRio

lmao! Talk about sneak attach hijack LOLOL!!

I listed many exercises already - transitions (between and within gaits), patterns (serpentines, figure 8's, anything), hillwork, reinbacks, lateral work, all those things play an important role in building a good topline. But, each of them can be worthless, or worse, if not done properly. "Properly" means the horse is accepting contact, will seek to "chase the bit", is engaged behind and moving off your leg, is lifting his back and withers to the degree his fitness allows.

If you let the horse run around on his forehand, or back hollow, or putzing along, or his shoulder popped out, you can do those exercises 'til you're blue in the face and the topline won't develop.

Thank you for all of these ideas, I am also working on building my horse's topline and these seem perfect. My horse accepts and does well with contact and he is driving from behind...Question on "hillwork" though...I don't really have any good size hills around would a good sized incline be good going both up and down?

[AllAroundRdr]

I like doing long and low work also for a topline --- all topline exercises are helpful IF your horse is in the proper frame and using himself, otherwise, it's fairly useless.

Any degree of hill work is better than none -- flat work only does 'so much' even if it's a minimal incline, backing your horse up the hill can be benificial

[taliacristianna]

Can we see some photos of him tacked up? Looking at that photo it appears that he may not be getting saddled correctly. The sweat marks make it appear as if the saddle was sitting right on top of his withers.

He also appears to have the tell-tale "white spots" that go along with a saddle putting too much pressure on wither area.

It would be very hard for him to build up his topline if his tack is not fitted correctly or put on correctly.

In addition to the saddle issue and the feeding issue, a great way to help this horse would be to take him outside and work him on a gently sloping hill if you can. Hill work, even at a walk, is great for building up a horse's overall strength.

Lunge work is also wonderful. I second working long and low but you need to make sure you have someone that is experienced in using side reins there to help you. Side reins are a wonderful tool in the right hands but they can also be very damaging when they fall into inexperienced hands.

[taliacristianna]

Here's a great article on correct saddle placement.

http://www.saddlefittingnz.com/saddl...xidc47663.html

[LateralFlexion]

I could describe it, but I'm lazy, and Clinton Anderson already did it.

http://www.downunderhorsemanship.com...teralflex.html

http://www.downunderhorsemanship.com...eralflex2.html

http://www.downunderhorsemanship.com...lsoftness.html

http://www.downunderhorsemanship.com...ppinghead.html

[FutureVetGirl]

I was incorrect on the amount of feed. He actually gets around 6-8 kilos. I wasn't thinking quite "right" when I said the other amount. The buckets are quite large.

Thanks so much JB! I'm going to look up those books, and see if my Grandma could either find them at a half-price books or I could order them off of ebay/amazon.

AllAround... I saw an article in an old Horse Illustrated magazine on "long and low". I'll take another look at that. Thanks!!


Thanks so much for that Talia! Every time I WATCH him being tacked up... I see something that they did wrong (I learned how to properly tack up at my last barn), but since I'm just a rider right now, and I supposedly don't know much compared to this guy who has been riding and training for thirty years, I'm not allowed to say anything. But yes... I do believe that the major problem at the moment has to do with saddle fit. *urgh*

And LateralFlexion... thanks so much for those links! They're very helpful!

[Fancy That]

FVG - good for you to try and do the right thing for this horse. Great questions you are asking.

However, with everything going against him....I agree with the others. You can't expect him to use his back and engage his HQ properly to build his topline because:

1. He is severly underweight
2. He is in pain from terrible saddle fit (you can see the white hairs from pressure points!?)
3. From a training perspective, regardless of 1-2, he needs to learn how to carry himself properly, with a lifted, relaxed and swinging back (and that means, he needs to feel good, have good nutrition and have a pain free ride (well-fitting tack)

I'd ride a horse with a bareback pad, rather than ride them in a saddle that causes those white scars....

[JBandRio]

www.classicaldressage.com - really worth reading.

So are these:
http://search.freefind.com/find.html...temap=Site+Map
http://nicholnl.wcp.muohio.edu/Dingo...deContent.html