Horse slides while going downhill

[shirerosie]

We have an 8yrs old cob and every time you go down a hill mainly in fields he tends to flick his front feet out and round in front of each foot and slides as he walks. When he slides it’s not small is a good 1/2 metre to 1 metre in length. I just wanted to know whether it’s just his way of going down a hill or whether it was something else and is there anyway of stopping this

 

[Pinkvboots]

That is quite a long way to slide it may be that his just weak and needs to build up his strength I think people underestimate downhill and how hard it can be for a young unbalanced horse, I think sometimes it's just as hard work as uphill, it could also be that it's slippery underfoot it's been wet here so any sort of hill work on wet ground will be tricky for any horse, if you have access to a school maybe do some raised pole work to help build his strength .

 

[Lintel]

My boy was the same he was young I put it down to lack of muscle and laziness the we got around it was half halt continually down a hill to prevent the slipping and build up muscle up the hills and down. That seemed to solve the issue. I'm sure others will have better suggestions though

 

[Shay]

Sounds just like an immaturity / lack of tone. He's coming done the slope like a baby. This is fine if you have a young horse. As he grows and muscles it will improve. But if he is actually quite mature then you might want to be thinking about problems with the back or hocks?

 

[mandyroberts]

I posted a similar question a while ago re my 4yr old WB but it was mainly his back unshod feet slipping. I have found if I make sure I have unloaded his shoulders (feels like I'm leaning back but apparently I'm not), he seems to manage very well. You have an older horse and its front feet so may be different.