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Posts: 333
Apr 21 09 8:18 AM
hotternhel wrote: mommastang wrote: hotternhel wrote: mommastang wrote: Lotys of extended trotting will help build her forearms. Backing and uphill work will help build her gaskins. I would take her to shows for the experience any way. Do whatever classes you are comfortable with. Halter, showmanship and rail. With her breeding she should be a nice pleasure prospect. I would love to see a video of her in action. Backing does not create muscle. What it will do is ruin hocks and stifles. This is one of the first things you will learn from any top halter pro. It doesn't matter if the horse is skinny or fat, heavily muscled or lightly muscled; backing a young horse to try to build muscle will ruin hocks and stifles. Of course teaching a horse to back or backing for for a showmanship pattern is fine, but backing up heavily (as in a lap around the pen or more) is too much. You are asking for future hock injections! Audissius, she looks like she will do fine in open competition. Especially here in Texas. If your area is anything like my area the yearling competition is small in the open circuit. As far as dicisplines she looks like she would do well in WP,trail, etc. Just remember, you cannot CREATE muscle where there is no muscle. You can only ENHANCE what the horse genetically has. She is not a heavily muscled horse and no amount of fitting will make her heavily muscled, it will only make what she has appear more defined. Make sense? Keep her well fed and fit up and you will do fine in the open competition. If you would have been at the open show we went to Saturday she would have won the yearling mares class. If backing doesn't build muscle then why does every trainer I speak to tell me to back Lily to build more muscle in her butt and gaskins? Not trying to start a fight just to get that clear. And I know it does cause leg problems. Just wanting to know why they say it does help create more muscle. I quite like what FTF has already said. Just because a trainer tells you that it helps doesn't mean it will and some trainers will do anything to win. After performing and assisting with over 1,000 hock and stifle injections, I can tell you, excessive backing (espcially on a HUGE halter horse) will ruin hocks and stifles. I'm not being rude here, or trying to start a fight, you are 100% perfectly allowed to believe whatever your trainers tell you, but the statistical data on my side, and (just happening to work for some of the largest halter barns in the country) will tell you backing ruins stifles. I've never seen Fred, Gary, Kathy, Ted, or Tim use backing to build gaskins or any other kind of hind end muscle and the veterinarians at equine associates will advise against it. I'm going to repeat it again because you keep referring to building muscle. You cannot build muscle. You can only enhace what the horse naturally has. I can't remember what your horse looks like off the top of my head, but here's an example. If your horse has what I like to refer to as an "egg butt", the only thing you can change about it is the appearance. You are not going to build muscle, only enhance it. You may get the butt to look more round and get some muscle definition in her hindquarters, but you are never going to develop any hip hang and you are not going to develop bulky muscle. Bulky muscle comes gentically. Some horses have it and some don't. Take Gertie for example. When she was a yearling I was one that believed backing could help build muscle. I was wrong. I fit on her for over a year. Backing never built any muscle. When I moved to Texas, I found out the hard way what backing does do. At any rate, Gertie may not be a halter horse and she will never have a lot of bulky muscle, but she can stay halter fit. Idgie on the other hand, has tons of bulky muscle that is natural for her. If I continue to fit on her, her muscle definition will enhance, but not grow. Take a look at the pally mare's gaskin and hind end. NONE of that got there by backing. Edited to add the dang picture:
mommastang wrote: hotternhel wrote: mommastang wrote: Lotys of extended trotting will help build her forearms. Backing and uphill work will help build her gaskins. I would take her to shows for the experience any way. Do whatever classes you are comfortable with. Halter, showmanship and rail. With her breeding she should be a nice pleasure prospect. I would love to see a video of her in action. Backing does not create muscle. What it will do is ruin hocks and stifles. This is one of the first things you will learn from any top halter pro. It doesn't matter if the horse is skinny or fat, heavily muscled or lightly muscled; backing a young horse to try to build muscle will ruin hocks and stifles. Of course teaching a horse to back or backing for for a showmanship pattern is fine, but backing up heavily (as in a lap around the pen or more) is too much. You are asking for future hock injections! Audissius, she looks like she will do fine in open competition. Especially here in Texas. If your area is anything like my area the yearling competition is small in the open circuit. As far as dicisplines she looks like she would do well in WP,trail, etc. Just remember, you cannot CREATE muscle where there is no muscle. You can only ENHANCE what the horse genetically has. She is not a heavily muscled horse and no amount of fitting will make her heavily muscled, it will only make what she has appear more defined. Make sense? Keep her well fed and fit up and you will do fine in the open competition. If you would have been at the open show we went to Saturday she would have won the yearling mares class. If backing doesn't build muscle then why does every trainer I speak to tell me to back Lily to build more muscle in her butt and gaskins? Not trying to start a fight just to get that clear. And I know it does cause leg problems. Just wanting to know why they say it does help create more muscle.
hotternhel wrote: mommastang wrote: Lotys of extended trotting will help build her forearms. Backing and uphill work will help build her gaskins. I would take her to shows for the experience any way. Do whatever classes you are comfortable with. Halter, showmanship and rail. With her breeding she should be a nice pleasure prospect. I would love to see a video of her in action. Backing does not create muscle. What it will do is ruin hocks and stifles. This is one of the first things you will learn from any top halter pro. It doesn't matter if the horse is skinny or fat, heavily muscled or lightly muscled; backing a young horse to try to build muscle will ruin hocks and stifles. Of course teaching a horse to back or backing for for a showmanship pattern is fine, but backing up heavily (as in a lap around the pen or more) is too much. You are asking for future hock injections! Audissius, she looks like she will do fine in open competition. Especially here in Texas. If your area is anything like my area the yearling competition is small in the open circuit. As far as dicisplines she looks like she would do well in WP,trail, etc. Just remember, you cannot CREATE muscle where there is no muscle. You can only ENHANCE what the horse genetically has. She is not a heavily muscled horse and no amount of fitting will make her heavily muscled, it will only make what she has appear more defined. Make sense? Keep her well fed and fit up and you will do fine in the open competition. If you would have been at the open show we went to Saturday she would have won the yearling mares class.
mommastang wrote: Lotys of extended trotting will help build her forearms. Backing and uphill work will help build her gaskins. I would take her to shows for the experience any way. Do whatever classes you are comfortable with. Halter, showmanship and rail. With her breeding she should be a nice pleasure prospect. I would love to see a video of her in action.
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