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Hello Michelle,

It can also be that the saddle is jabbing the shoulder blades, the 
cinch can be chaffing the elbows, the crupper (if using one) can 
cause problems, sometimes it's not what you think so check everything 
you can. Getting off and walking is always a good idea anyway and 
often my horse walks faster downhill when my fat ass is not pounding 
his back and I certainly need the exercise. :-[

Don Huston


At 06:07 PM 6/16/2009 Tuesday, you wrote:
> Part of me is afraid of what impression people have of me on this 
> board, lol.  All the questions I ask, ha ha.  Anyway...
>
> On conditioning rides my horse has always been great about walking 
> down hills, even when those in front of us are trotting down, and 
> once we get to the bottom, we catch up.  I have found on endurance 
> rides (well, limited distance at this point), however, she gets 
> frustrated and won't just walk down the hill.  She starts turning 
> sideways, won't move forward at a slow pace.  At the OD I ended up 
> getting off her and hand walking her down, because she was getting 
> too ridiculous.  Any training suggestions?  Or exercises I could do 
> with her to hopefully improve on this for future rides?
>
> One thing I just thought of, I wonder if at Foxcatcher (our first 
> ride of the season) she DID behave in the beginning, but since it's 
> a ride and not a conditioning ride, we weren't riding WITH the 
> people trotting down the hill, and thus we didn't catch up, kind of 
> negating her assumptions before. I don't know if this happened or 
> not, but was just a thought.  Anyway, same problem.  I want her to 
> listen to me if I ask her to walk down the hill (still limiting the 
> trotting down hills with her).
>
> I have considered lessons, but I don't think this (or any of my 
> questions/problems) could be solved in just one, and they cost a lot 
> of money...
>
> Thanks!
> -Michelle
>
> --
> "Don't breed or buy while shelter animals die"


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