Hollow below hip - how to build up

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Hi there - I wondered if you could help me! My WB seems to have developed really prominent hips and a hollow below them so his back end looks really poor. When I got him 9 months a go he was not ridden a huge amount but nicely covered and was SJing most weekends. As I have upped his work he looks poor over his hind and its really worrying me as it must be something I am doing! He is very on the forehand - in canter her likes to put his nose on the floor and pull with his front end - the same when trotting up hills often. He is lazy i might add! I do lots of walk to canter, leg yield, circles spiralling in and out when i school but either its not enough or Im doing it wrong! I feel rubbish that I'm ruining him -he is supposed to be a SJ-er and this isnt going to help!!

Feed wise he is on 3 mugs of power and performance and scoop alfa oil for breakfast and a scoop of P&P plus a scoop alfa oil in the pm.

Thanks xxx
 
hi :)
my horse got like this last year ,we did our 1st season eventing so he was working really hard 6 days a week including fast work.
i found it was more to do with his weight than the muscle buildup as he was always fine before he was worked this hard and since he has put weight back on over his winter holiday he looks fine again

he is starting to loose weight again now and it is coming straight off the same place making him look hippy dispite him still having love handles over his shoulders
mine has been on top line cubes and lots of hacking long and low through the winter and this did seem to help

i'm sure you will get better advice ,but thought i'd share my experience as sounds the same
everyone was having a go at me saying my horse was too thin :( because his hips stick out but this year i won't be taking any notice as he has plenty weight elswhere

good luck :)
 
I agree with angelish that it could be weight. My boy was very hollow in the same area as he was underweight. He is now a fab weight and isn't hollow there any more but still needs a bit more muscling up on his bum.

Is he ribby at all?
 
hmmm If you hadn't said you could see his hip bones so much I would not have said it was weight as my old lad was WELL covered but still had dips just above the stifle. With him it was that he had hind issues and didn't work correctly. Also some horses take a lot of collection to build it there (so instructor said)
 
Kokopelli said:
I agree with angelish that it could be weight. My boy was very hollow in the same area as he was underweight. He is now a fab weight and isn't hollow there any more but still needs a bit more muscling up on his bum.

Is he ribby at all?
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no - he isnt at all ribby and his shoulders are well muscled. Do you think blue chip or topspec or something might help?
 
Blue Chip and Topspec are both very good feeds. I've always used Blue Chip even in the summer just for that bit of condition it gives them and all the goodness from it.

It might be worth a try. Lots of lunging over poles, hill work and the correct feeding he will look fab in no time.
 
No need to beat yourself up, he can't be that thin if not ribby and you've caught it soon enough before it becomes a problem, with all the nice weather now all the grass is coming through which will help immensly. :)
 
My ID x gets very poor in her backside (she has incredibly straight hocks and I don't think it's physically possible for her to actually bend them and sit behind properly) and gets really "dippy" round her flank and behind her ribs, yet she always always has a big belly (probably a broodmare in the past). I've usually found that it's a loss of condition - it's hard to see it looking at her overall, because people tell me she's horrifically fat when she only has a big bloaty broodmare belly. She's recently got quite bad, and I can tell it's condition as the TB pony she lives with who is naturally neurotic and skinny has got a bit too ribby for my liking. I usually just up the conditioning feed - she's on HiFi Lite when she's fat but will be on AlfaA Lite if work doesn't improve her (she's currently being brought back into work so will leave it a little while longer and see what happens). If she still doesn't improve, she goes on Alfa Oil, or some kind of conditioning feed at small quantities.

I've always found her incredibly difficult to manage though, as she's either fat and big bellied or poor and big bellied, nothing in between! So it's very interesting to hear opinions on how to tackle it :)
 
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