​My Tennessee Walker Slides On Trail

By Gaye DeRusso
 
Tennessee Walkers are fun horses to ride. They are smooth with lots of personality. Compared to gaited horses that pick up their feet higher and do not slide their feet as much and do not have such a large overstride, I have found the Tennessee Walking Horse can tend to slide on certain terrain on the trail. Don't get me wrong, they are my favorite breed, but it is something you should be aware of. 
 
I ride lots of different breeds of gaited horses and I ride them on the same trails, so I can really compare how each breed and conformation of the horse handles the terrain. I have found that with the TWH that gaits well or is on the pacey side, they can slide more, when going down a decline with grass, mud, or smooth large flat rocks.  
 
They tend to slide more with their back feet. I have seen this both with ones with shoes and barefoot. I do not see it as much in the shorter strided TWH or the ones on the trotty side.  Compared to the other gaited breeds with shorter strides that lift their legs higher instead of sliding them forward, these other breeds do not tend to slide as much, although all horses can slide when footing is bad. 
 
Due to this if you have one of these horses you may feel at times, unstable.  The horse can do nothing about it, it's just how they move.  When riding it can feel like you're losing their backend, like when you drive a trailer and its starts to fish tail or when your car hydroplanes in the rain. There's just not much to do when it happens, except try not to make it harder for the horse to catch its balance and stay very still.  
 
But you can do a couple things before to help. When I have had horses like this and they tended to slide often, I would put shoes on the back with traction, either a rim shoe that would grab the ground more or add some studs to the shoe or borium. It made a huge difference. 
 
Also, if I knew they were sliding in a certain area, like a specific area of grass, down a hill, then I would try to get off that grass if possible and go down an area that was not slick. I would look for dirt, rocks, or just deeper footing. 
 
As I got to these areas, that I knew they were sliding on, before going down the decline, I would half halt and try to shorten the horse's stride to help him slide less and I would keep him taking smaller steps by half halting each step, until we got by the area. 
 
I always feel bad for the horse, as they are trying to save themselves and you, which is not easy, and they do the best they can.   These horses can still go down difficult terrain; it just seems to be slick rocks like granite, slick mud on a decline and certain times of the year with the grass. 
 
Remember if you do start sliding never turn the horse, like a one rein stop or a sharp turn.   It will not stop the horse as he cannot stop sliding. It will only make the situation worse and can cause your horse to fall over on its side. Just try to stay still and guide him with light contact so he can still use his head and neck to help regain his balance. 
 
If you have noticed this with your horses and have done something different that helped.  Please share below.