How do you fill out a horse hip bone area

My horse who was a "saved" horse is having problems filling out in her hip bones. She looks great in the stomach, legs, etc. but her hip bones/butt area just stick out. How do you get this area to fill out?

First you need to make sure that she is meeting her daily nutritional requirements and is allowed to graze on high quality grass at least two hours a day (the longer the better). Also you need to consider switching her to a higher quality feed. If she is 15 years or older I strongly suggest Purina鈥檚 Senior feed. This feed concentrates on the problem areas that are typical of most older horses (back, point of shoulder and hips). If grass is scarce then you might want to add two flakes of hay that have a higher amount of protein such as alfalfa combined with costal, etc. What you have described to me are called rafter hips. Rafter hips are caused by a lack of muscling. So combined with better nutrition you need to increase the amount daily exercise your horse is getting. It is crucial that you keep increasing the physical demand and also the difficulty of your lessons while still remaining appropriate to age, ability, and skill level. Before and after each exercise you need to record your horses pulse (number of heartbeats in a minute), respiratory (how many breaths your horse takes in a minute) rate, and your horses recovery rate (how long it takes your horses breathing and pulse to return to normal after exercise.) This is important in judging your horses fitness level and knowing how and when to increase the amount of exercise. That being said it is time to focus on the quality of work your horse is getting. For this the best thing will be to ride under a knowledgeable horse person or qualified riding instructor. I say this because you will need to learn how to get your horse to engage his hindquarters and use her muscles correctly, thus, building well-developed muscles in the rear end. Here are the nine steps in which you will need to complete in order to help your horse build muscle through his hindquarters, back, stomach, and neck. For more information on these steps, the difference between correct and incorrect, and how to do it see The Pony Club Manuals D- A. Also be sure to check out Lessons with Lendon by Lendon Gray.