Riding Downhill?

[colouredcrazy]

Wasn't entirely sure where to put this - so perhaps someone will move it to the correct board!

Anyway. I was at a rally today, and there are some really steep hills at the yard it was held at. Towards the end of our lesson, we had to jump a short course, jump a pole (about 2 foot) and then canter/trot down this hill. I found myself getting quite unbalanced - and Fox slipped a few times - although as soon as we were cantering up the hill again we were both fine, and managed to complete the course fairly balanced.

What is the best way of riding downhill at canter? The hill was fairly steep - though not too slippy - and you had to turn right at the bottom, uphill before carrying on.

Also, what are the benefits of trotting uphill? How much does it stop the horse from falling on the forehand, or using his bum (as opposed to walking or cantering)?

Ellie

 

[notpoodle]

erm not sure cantering down a steep hill is such a great idea most i ever do is trot down very shallow 'hills'. if horses arent used to going fast and downhill with a rider, there is a good chance the horse will loose balance .... could get nasty

julia
x

generally speeaking ive always been told to sit up when going downhill (even lean back a little, depending on how steep it is), because if you lean forward the weight will be off balance

 

[cash327]

I'm not an expert but I have practiced riding up and down hills in my lessons. We would go down the hill, straight to the left, then up it, then to the left again, kind of using a field as our arena except it had a hill in it. I think this was to practice balance, and to help our horses build up the muscles in their back ends (from pushing themselves uphill and digging in downhill?).

We rode at both trot and canter, but the basic principles were the same. Uphill, we rode in 2-point with a light rein contact to get our weight off the horses' backs, to help them push from behind instead of pulling from their front legs, and to encourage them to balance themselves instead of pulling themselves up on our hands. Downhill, we sat back to make sure that we were actually upright (although it felt like we were leaning back a lot), and rode with a stronger contact to keep the horses balanced. In the beginning it was kind of scary going downhill, but if my horse was properly balanced then it didn't feel strange at all.

I don't know if that made any sense

Hope that helped just a tiny bit

Laura

 

[kyanya]

Like notpoodle, I don't think going at any great speed downhill is all that wise.

My philospohy is 'if you don't need to do it, don't!' when it comes to speed and hills, but downhill particularly. Maybe I'm over-cautious, but I always make sure I go at a slow walk downhill, just in case.