The Eventer Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain

My sister was in town this past weekend and we took a hack out on the back of the property on Sunday afternoon. When we came back, I dismounted to open the gate to the front field of the farm and I decided to just walk Eddie back to untack him. In order to get to the tack room, I had to walk up a huge hill where my arena sits on the flat clearing at the top. As we walked up the hill, I thought, "This is some good hillwork, for both me and Eddie!" I've decided to incorporate hillwork into my daily routine by hand-walking Eddie up and down the hill at least 5 times each day (increasing as much as is comfortable each week). I think I'm banking on the fact that Eddie might love me and appreciate me more by working him on hills without me sitting like a big lump in the saddle. We'll be in this together! I'm hoping that this'll get Eddie those nice definition lines in his flanks that means he's on his way to being hill conditioned by the end of spring. It would be nice if I also gained some definition lines in my flanks, too, by the time summer is here!

The hill in my pasture, looking up towards my riding arena at the top.