exercises to get them sitting on their hocks

K

kassieg

Well-Known Member
Joined
25 November 2013
Messages
1,451
Visit site
My mare has quite straight hocks & doesnt really sit on them very much when jumping
Shes only 5 this year & not been jumping properly for long
I do grid work when jumping & some pole work during the week
Just had back done which has made a difference but she needs to strengthen up so any good exercises to help this?
School work is decent for her age does lateral work walk to canters etc
Thanks :)
 
Getting them to take more weight behind is a long, slow process as, as you say, not only do they have to understand what you are asking but gain more and more physical strength to do it. So it is better to look in say six month periods than weekly - ie is he carrying more weight behind than he did six months ago?

School exercises would be transitions between and within the paces, see how many canter gears you can establish (this will help with the jumping too), and decreasing and increasing circle sizes. Also as much hill work as is practical.
 
It sounds as if she is doing plenty of correct work and will take time to really strengthen up, if she is straight in the hocks she will find it difficult to really sit so at her age I would be careful about pushing too much, the power should improve as she builds up so all the normal pole work, grids to encourage her to push and stay straight.
I use counter canter to help engage the back end as well as some leg yielding to get them more flexible, being able to move on into medium then back should be useful as well.
 
When you say decreasing & increasing canter circles do you mean as in leg yeild in & out? We do this in trot didn't think about doing it in canter so that's great thanks. We currently have 2 canter gears, so def do need to work on that :)

This is really good advice thanks it's nice to know im doing the right things :) yeh I know it will take a while to build her up I just want to make sure im doing everything I can to help her out
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top