Horse  All I want to do is C rated shows.
if she is sound, and jumping her is safe, then find out what your trainer’s agenda is or find a new one. i remember riding plenty of downhill (as well as other things…) horses as a child and none of them ever put me in a dangerous situation.
to my eye she doesn’t look catastrophically downhill. maybe there is a reason why your trainer feels the way he does – or maybe he just is upset you are no longer aspiring to “higher levels”. whatever. she’s cute and you like her. find another trainer!
yes, as long as she wants to work with you to get her hind end under her and elevate her front end, it’s fine for the levels you are aiming for (and possibly higher). The most important thing she needs is a good work ethic because you are asking her to work a little harder to achieve what comes naturally to other horses. That’s a long way from being dangerous.
this is all based on not seeing the horse jump, so maybe there is something to be worried about. Maybe a lesson with a hunter trainer just to get an informed second opinion from somebody who does this o/f fences stuff for a living, and then reassess. That may also let you know if your horse has the potential to be competitive as well (hey, for all we know, she may not carry herself downhill, but maybe she is a gasp inducing leg hanging fool). Your trainer may not be correct in why she is dangerous, but he may see something that makes him uncomfortable, and I think it should be checked out either way. People who do not work with horses who jump may not be able to identify the root cause of the problem or if it is a fixable vs not really fixable problem, but they tend to know scary/dangerous when they see it (unless they have another agenda or are truly clueless). The internets do not know which applies here, but you probably need to do further investigation. 
Is it possible that your trainer is telling you is that you/your horse and he are going in different directions?
I have a lot of friends who ride AQHA HUS horses, and those barns/trainers don’t jump. They just don’t. If your trainer is like this, he is likely not interested in helping you and your horse jump. It’s not his specialty, he probably doesn’t know much about it (as evidenced by his “your horse can’t jump because she’s downhill” statement).
It sounds to me like he might be trying to tell you to ride HUS if you train with him. Don’t try to make him into something he’s not, which is an over fences trainer. If you stay, you need to get with his program. If you want to jump, go to a barn that focuses on jumping. Is that possibly what is going on?
Your horse will tell you what it is or isn’t capabale of. Downhill horses can be successful. The key is that they stay sound. Every horse is different. You can do a lot of exercises to make a downhill horse more uphill by strengthening the appropriate hind end, back and neck muscles. Stretching down into the bridle will help with this too…not to be confused with an artificial headset with no contact. When horses go around with their I heads too low while riding on the forehand, that alone can be crippling. Work on a lot of transition work…collecting and lengthening, and stretching. Work with your horse to “chew the reins” out of your hands (google ot)…this gets your horse truly soft and accepting of the bit. Ride on hills and engage the hind end. Trot circles spiraling out and in. Set some grids, cavaletti and gymnastics for your horse. Working on that topline will do worlds of good. And heck, if your hprse stays sound and you really commit (riding style-wise and muscle development), you should have yourself a nice hunter. Sounds to me like your trainer doesn’t want to lose you.
She doesn’t look that bad but IMO I would have a vet and farrier first look at her to make sure. Being downhill I’m nit worried about but from the photo I would just make sure what they say about navicular issues. She looks like a stock build with smaller feet (not tiny but small) with a very straight shoulder. She’s cute though :).
My first hunter horse was an incredibly downhill paint hony mare that I did 2’6" on. Had zero problem, but when you rode her you felt like you might fall over her shoulder and she moved like sewing machine. Somehow we still placed and got pretty good ribbons in the pre-childrens. If I could lay down a round in overfences then I could easily get a champion or reserve despite placing last in the hack.
Guys, is my horse too downhill to jump?? :winkgrin:
http://i.imgur.com/R0tykhQ.jpg *
All joking aside, OP, your horse looks fine! If she is staying sound and you two are enjoying yourselves then keep on keepin’ on!
*Horsey was actually standing on a steep hill. He is a titch downhill, and tends to get heavy on the forehand, but this is him normally, in case anyone thought I was serious with the above picture.
Is she extremely downhill? An inch or two isn’t as much of a problem… But if you’re only jumping a couple times a week, and low heights? Maybe talk to your trainer more, he/she might have a different reason than you think.
