I have a 6 year old Rocky Mountain Mare who is having issues going down hill. She is not crazy about thick sand either. She is NOT lame. When I pony her, she wants to ride the other horse down the hill. She is gaited, and seems only able to do a running walk, the faster paced gait. She can lope, but does not like to do it on a circle. Straight is O.k, along with hard flat ground. I have taken her to a vet that knows gaited horses, and he said that he could see nothing wrong with her, of course she was being tested on hard flat ground. I was thinking that she had a stifle issue. He said that she had plenty of flextion. I know it is common to cut the stifle to fix stifle problems in gaited horses, but he said that he didn't think that he could fix her. He said that he would have passed her for a vet check. I know of an arab that has a similar problem going down hill, and she too has been vetted, checking more than I did, and this horse too has shown nothing concreat. Her owner won't take her horse on unknow trails because she is afraid of an accident from her horse acting up going down some hilly cliff. I too don't have any confidence in my horse. I have tried a 3 week bute and hill treatment, that is supposed to help with stretching the stifle, but it didn't seem to show any change.

Has anyone successfully fixed a similar issue?

Stifle problems are due to a lack of strength in the stifle, not saying that the horse is out of shape just that that particular area is under developed. If it is a stifle problem then the coarse of exercise that the vet I worked with recommends is lots of trotting and walking collected in deep sand (avoid cantering/loping as it does not help), collected backing, backing up hills and if the horse will allow having them pull a tire or log. You will want to do these exercises for 20 minutes 3-4 days a week minimum, for a month. Along with the exercise you could also try estrogen injections. This will tighten the tendons and ligaments up. There are other things that people do they have been known to blister the stifles but she is a young horse and I don't recommend that.

She is also at the age if you use her alot that she could start fusing her hocks. Does she give the farrier any problems when he does her hind legs. IF this is the case the cheapest way to fuse the hocks is bute her and ride her. A faster way is to have them injected with a steroid.

The only other thing I can suggest (and we tell our clients this) is get the horse sore and then see if you can take her into the vet that day. So they can see what you see. OR have someone video tape you riding her when she is doing it. Some horses don't show things when you are doing a lameness exam in hand. But as soon as you get on their back they show the problem.

Hope this helps.