Re: RC: Up Hill or Down

[CMKSAGEHIL@aol.com]

In a message dated 1/9/00 5:52:48 PM Pacific Standard Time, laneyh@mbay.net 
writes:

<<   Do you trot downhill, or canter, or gallop?  I had a real blast of a 
ride the
 other day on my shortbacked CMK/WitezII who slithered down a muddy hill at a
 medium trot just as happy as could be.  You're very right about needing to
 train/condition a horse to be comfortable going downhill at speed.  I have
 another who'se always known how to do it but my third is going to have to be
 taught. >>

I prefer to trot--at the canter or gallop, the weight transfers from rear to 
front and then the rear must come back underneath again--much more difficult 
maneuver than the diagonal nature of the trot where there is always one rear 
leg engaged on which to keep the weight shifted.  Also, a horse that can trot 
well downhill can often do it faster than he can gallop down.  However, I've 
galloped down a few that were not extremely steep.  And actually, when 
teaching a green horse to go downhill, I put him into a very slow jog instead 
of a walk because he DOES tend to use his rear better that way.

Heidi


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