muscle building exercises

Question
i have a 7yr old quarb mare and i am not happy with her butt. she sat in a field with a goat for 4 yrs with no exercise and she lost muscle mass. i lunge her with her head tied down to work her butt and back and it seams to be working. i was wondering if you had any other techniques that could build butt muscle. by the way, she will back at the most 10 steps but gets mad after a while. please help.

Answer
Hi Hannah!

I completely understand your desire to build the muscle in your mare's hindquarters.

I recommend hill work.  I know you may be stuck in an indoor arena until the weather gets better.  But, once spring hits and the ground is decent...go up hills with her.  Nothing will build her butt area better, because she will be using it to push herself upwards.

Solid cantering where she will bend around you in the corners (both ways) will improve it too.  

Consider giving her a top-off on her feed to give her extra fat...not protein.  A rice bran based supplement will make her fat and shiny without giving her TOO much  energy.

As for making her back up....stop at 3 steps.  No horse should be forced to do more.  In Dressage, where willing compliance is the true test for the horse, they never make it back more than 4 steps.  More than that, is a "trick" horse and you probably do not have the patience or knowledge to teach her to become that!  LOL!

You cannot make this magically happen through force.  Muscles build on the body at their own speed.  You can help it along, of course.  But, you do not want to sour your mare while you are doing it!!  Right?  Take your time to do it properly and kindly and while you are waiting for the muscles, you will be building something even better...a partnership with your mare!

Good luck and remember to always wear an ASTM/SEI approved helmet!

Solange