Trotting down hill - advice please

[BabyBear]

Our small XC field and one of the larger grazing fields at my yard have just been rolled and we are now allowed to ride in them.

I took Mr C into the XC for some jumpies on Saturday and obviously it's not the perfect flat surface that I'm used to but does slope slightly.

When i started hacking Mr C he would constantly rush down hills - always trying to trot or canter down them but I've pretty much stopped that and we only have one very steep hill that he trys to trot down.

He obviously finds it easier to trot down rather than walk so I assume that he still needs to build his muscles and learn to carry himself correctly down hill but does this mean I shouldn't trot or canter him down the slope in the field?

We did some trotting down hill on Saturday and he immediately rushes, fall onto the forehand and quite often trips.

I just wanted to see what peoples thoughts were on this - should I avoid any downhill trotting or should I keep working on this as he obviously has a problem with it and does anyone have any tips for this?

k x

[BabyBear]

Bump! Anyone?

K x

[colettybetty]

He is probably rushing down hill because he is unbalanced with a rider on his back. Trotting and cantering downhill, particularly on an unfit horse places a great strain on them, so try to engage his back end and ask him to walk. If you lean back slightly this will help, without leaning too far back with your upper body. If the angle is very steep, ride at an angle, although riding in a straight line is better if you can prevent him rushing.Don't look down as this will place his weight further forwards, keep a light contact and think 'calm and unrushed'. (this is something I've been working on as riding down steep banks is something I hate :o )

[carrimclaren]

Ditto Lou, i loathe steep hills, think it comes from having an unbalanced gawky mare who also tried to rush down them. I'm getting better now but i still get this odd "urgh" moment at the top :D Esp. when wet.
But agree with Lou, concentrate on getting a good strong walk down the hill, steady him up and bring him to walk when he tries to jog and just keep him calm. Maybe you could introduce more trotting uphill to his work to help strengthen his back end? Once his strength is there he will find it a lot easier to cope with the downhill. My mare was the same. She had no muscle tone to begin with and it took a good two years to build her up (she was pretty badly conditioned though to be fair). Plenty of hill work and a stronger back end resulted in her being happier with downhill work. Wouldn't say she'd ever make mountain goat standard though but she found it easier :)

[BabyBear]

Ditto Lou, i loathe steep hills, think it comes from having an unbalanced gawky mare who also tried to rush down them. I'm getting better now but i still get this odd "urgh" moment at the top :D Esp. when wet.
But agree with Lou, concentrate on getting a good strong walk down the hill, steady him up and bring him to walk when he tries to jog and just keep him calm. Maybe you could introduce more trotting uphill to his work to help strengthen his back end? Once his strength is there he will find it a lot easier to cope with the downhill. My mare was the same. She had no muscle tone to begin with and it took a good two years to build her up (she was pretty badly conditioned though to be fair). Plenty of hill work and a stronger back end resulted in her being happier with downhill work. Wouldn't say she'd ever make mountain goat standard though but she found it easier :)

Thanks! I try to do lots of uphill w/t/c and I'm lucky to have some really steep hills in the forest at our yard. He does often try to walk down sideways as he obviously doesn't have the strength to walk down properly - he is getting better so I'll just keep up what I'm doing and leave the downhill trotting for now.:)

[pineapple]

how old is your horse and how well is he schooled.....

my horse used to do this badly but over the last 6months he has got much better and now.

he has been lunging in side reins and doing a lot of work on working on upward transitions, as well as working up and down alot of hills.

he is now turned out in a sloping field which as also helped him, as he can move up and down hills fast but with out a rider.

[BabyBear]

how old is your horse and how well is he schooled.....

my horse used to do this badly but over the last 6months he has got much better and now.

he has been lunging in side reins and doing a lot of work on working on upward transitions, as well as working up and down alot of hills.

he is now turned out in a sloping field which as also helped him, as he can move up and down hills fast but with out a rider.

He's a 6 year old HW cob. I've had him for 7 months now - his previous owner used him as a happy hacker and she only cantered him twice in the 3 years she owned him. He was very overweight when I bought him and prone to falling over when cantering but that seems to have stopped now.:)

[Iron Maiden]

Going downhill is a rider frightener, I don't think horses are bothered by it & they sometimes just freefall & let gravity do the hard work - which can be a bit :eek: when you are sat on top, especially if the horse is a bit unbalanced. If you can use your seat to steady the horse it helps a lot, sometimes hauling on the reins can unbalance them even more.

[carrimclaren]

I think by the sounds of it you're both coming along really well together then since you've only had him 7 months :)