Trail Ride!

Cowboy and I joined up with folks for a ride that was a RIDE! 4-5 hours up and down, through woods, fields, streams, mud. Weather wise couldn't have asked for a more perfect day! God know what was going through Cowboy's head, but he was READY to ROCK AND ROLL! We hit a downhill of gravel, and he wanted to run down it. I tried to get him to slolem down like they do in CR, and we ended up walking down BACKWARDS! Uh, NOOOO! Then I heard LeeAnn say, Oh, that's how s0-and-so broke her leg yesterday...*right* All modesty aside, I got off that equine right quick, and we walked down the rest of the way (heart pounding, and feeling quite ashamed..) Great, I'm gonna be the leper of the group today. After stopping for some water, we had to go uphill, and again, arched neck, muscles tense, he's ready to do something stupid and run up the hill. I got him stopped halfway and we both just huffed and puffed. Oh, do I walk back to the trailer and let the group go on??? I didn't want the day to be an all day fight. Luckily, he seemed to calm down (or got tired hauling my heavy butt) and only had a few isolated incidents. What's with running down hill?? At the very end, he ran me through some trees when I tried to turn him sideways down a hill, the little snot...now, facing down hill, he was all chargey, neck flexed and ready to rumble. Hmm, no go, I hopped off and we walked down. After 4 plus hours of riding, I wanted to end on a positive note, not my head. So my to do list: 1. how do I get down hills safely and without running? 2. how do I get him to wind DOWN when he's all chargey so I don't end up on my head. Right now, he's getting me off his back. Not a good pattern.