HELP with horse running down hills

[Walkawhat]

New horse bought right before hard dreadful winter, she has developed a habit of running down hills like a bowling ball. Starts at walk for a short bit then it’s like her big ass pushes her and she books it down. I have tried a one rein turn around and start again… turn around, start again. She doesn’t back well but we’ve tried that too. Does it in open fields, woods trails even with horses in front of her she will push through or go to side. It started in English saddle, but even switched to full western and one time it was better, but second time its worse now. Other than the down hills she is fine on the trails. She will pass horses and wait at bottom.

She doesn’t do this if you are leading her.

I sit back, sit deep, and if I try to hold her back on reins she will fling and shake her head and continue with a bent neck, unless I fully turn her around.

Any ideas? I am trying different bits as well.

Tired of circling down hill.

[Appsolute]

On level ground work on rating her speed. She should be “adjustable” - you should be able to ask her to march out and come back and do a nice slow, small step walk.

One issue is probably strength - its hard to go slow down a hill, uses their but and backs - so more condition may be in order.

Work on walk, halt, walk, halt on the flat. When you get to a hill, the moment she thinks about rushing (you have to be two steps ahead of her), ask her to halt. Once she halts, ask her to take a few steps, then halt again.

If she walks nicely, she gets to walk. The moment she tries to rush - halt. Do praise her when she halts, praise her profusely when she walks slowly, and ask her to halt as soon as she rushes.

Circling up and down the hill is not how I would address this. She doesn’t understand that means you are asking her to walk slowly. You need to be more proactive. Stop the rushing before it starts, and do not let her barge past other horses etc - be an active rider, not a passenger.

[ehwaz]

Any chance of hock problems? A friends horse used to groan and refuse to walk(would try to gait fast) down hills. Hocks injected, horse was ok going down hills at a walk .

Are you using a crupper? Does the saddle slip forward and bug her? Saddle fit ok?

Could also be a training issue- if so I would start off walking(mounted) down hill. Minute she tries to take off stop. Have her stand still calmly for a while, then ask her to walk down hill. Repeat.

[wildlifer]

Sounds like she is yelling that she has back/hock/stifle/saddle fit/hind end pain/discomfort or lack of strength. Have you carefully and systematically conditioned her for hill work and had a vet check her out?

[Emilia]

If you rule out the health problems, you could try let her go sideways little (similar to how some people walk down the hill, leading with one shoulder and one leg instead of straight down).

When our horse was still young and weak, he would throw himself down the hill like a freight train with no brakes. It felt awful.

Of course, long term, the answer was the strengthening and getting used to balance the load (rider).

However, at the beginning, I would bend him and let him go down with one shoulder leading and it helped him tremendously and he stopped trying to just throw himself down.

I rarely, if ever, have to use it now. He has learnt to sit nicely, even on very steep hills.

[Walkawhat]

On the flat she is fine, will walk, trot, whoa when asked. She even has a great extended trot… Downhill is another story, she won’t even whoa when she gets started, hence the one rein turn around. One step yes, one step yes, one step OMG rush no whoa, hence the one rein turn around and try with one step, yes one step whoa here we go again…

I am working on her muscle strength, yes I believe that may be an issue. She was left out to pasture for two years and beyond that I don’t know. We are working together and I want to curb this and would like input on how to get her to understand rushing is not the answer. I had a mare before that preferred to go down diagonal or super slow on straight hills which is fine with me.

If it’s a muscle strength thing, what can we work on to build that muscle and also not create the habit of rushing down.

[Emilia]

[QUOTE=Walkawhat?;7598254]

If it’s a muscle strength thing, what can we work on to build that muscle and also not create the habit of rushing down.[/QUOTE]

Riding, transitions, walking uphill, and backing (on flat and uphill- not for long, it is hard).

You mentioned, she was not very good at backing. That is telling. You want to get backing up as smooth and soft as a butter.

Teach her to back quietly one step at a time with her head lower and tucked in. To help her, you can tip her nose to the diagonal, she is going to back on (eg. her right front foot is forward, so you tip her nose towards her right front foot a little to help her and then hold and wait for her to start shifting, then release, and build up on that).

See “True Horsemanship Through Feel” for a good explanation, how to teach backing well (yes, it is me again promoting the book).

Transitions, backing, turn on the haunches and such will help her to learn to shift her weight back and “sit.”

Also, with my guy, I used to practice on very short and not too steep hills first, so the temptation to just throw himself down was diminished.

We would go literally one step at a time and I praised lavishly for “waiting for me” (including giving treats).

Btw., he was not very good at backing in the beginning also.

Good luck!

[Simbalism]

I was going to suggest lack of condition as well. Lots of walking with purpose on the flat and uphills to build up back end. If it still continues, I would then check out possible problems with back end.

[wildlifer]

Remember that as well as strength (critical), many loading forces change when going downhill. The saddle particularly can pinch down on the withers hard if not fit correctly, which is very very painful for the horse. The balance of the rider also changes (or not, depending on rider…) and the forces on both the front and hind joints of the horse as well as his spine.

Lots of variables there. I still strongly recommend getting a good vet to check for saddle and hind end issues. If either of these are present, just continuing to ride without adjusting management for this will only make the problem worse for a horse who sounds like a good trier.

[DancingArabian]

I think you should have a vet check her out. Some horses start having trouble walking downhill as an early symptom of another problem.

Will she walk downhill if you zigzag her a little bit? A friend’s horse has slight navicular changes and that was how we figured out to get him checked - he wouldn’t walk downhill, but he could zigzag.