Could someone please explain tracking up to me?

[checkmate1]

This may seem a little dim, but when ever the word 'tracking up' is used I seem to switch off, so never really understood. Am I aiming for my horse ideally to track up and for the back foot to fit into print of front foot in walk and trot? Undertracking is obviously not goot, but what if over tracking and hoof goes over the front hoof print is this bad?
Thanks

 

[kerilli]

no, overtracking is good! i think 'tracking up' is the minimum you should aim for, really. not tracking up at all = horse's back end not working enough, stiffness in the back, not coming through from behind, etc.
it depends hugely on the length of the horse's back, and the length and angle of the horse's hindleg, too... not just on the horse's athleticism. some of it is down to pure physics.
for instance, tania01's horse who i had to back recently, a lovely gypsy-cob (with a good bit of shire in, i think!) has a very very short back, and easily overtracked about a foot, just while ambling along in walk on the lunge... he wouldn't be the most athletic horse on the planet, bless him, but he has a naturally huge overtrack. whereas my tb mare, much more of an athlete, who has a long back and also a long hindleg, only overtracks a little.

 

[checkmate1]

Thanks for that Kirilli, I'm not sure why I never grasped this concept! Overtracking is good, did not think it was Lol!!!!!

 

[trendybraincell]

Perhaps you were thinking of overtracking in the sense of forging etc.

 

[Nari]

I struggle to get my ID to track up in walk (I'd kill for an overtrack!) although trot is far less of an issue. His problem is his conformation - he's longer in the back than he appears but has short legs so to get any track up he has to be quite lifted & short through his frame while staying very active behind. The slightly embarrassing thing is I'd never really realised how his conformation affected his tracking up until my back lady pointed it out & said she was impressed he tracked up at all but he's so wide that you tend not to notice his length - I'd always thought of him as being short-coupled despite the fact that he's a 16.2 in 7' rugs