anxious on the down hill

My mare gets anxious going down hills.
Which is exhausting because we live in the mountains..so a lot of up and down.
I'm not sure if she's in pain, and if so, where??
I've been getting off to walk her down, just in case it is pain.

I have the chiro coming out to check her~ just wondering if anyone has had this issue come up in their riding.

Not sure if this plays a factor, but she's post-founder, barefoot, but in hoof boots.

I don't know how fit she is, but if she's not properly muscled, she will have trouble coming straight down hills. Let her zig zag down if you can. I would check and make sure the hoof boots have sufficient traction. Her reaction migh be to her feeling like she is slipping.

I agree. Especially this time of year, with the wet ground. And if their is grass on the slope, even worse.

Mine is the exact same way and is post founder. She hates comming down hills and constantly fights with me when I try to make her go down hill. But even if I watch her walk down hill when she is loose on the property she goes very slow and constantly zig zags.

We trained horses here with a good friend of mine a couple years ago, alot of horses want to race down the hills and will get anxious about it. We taught them vertical (LOL I mix the two up, might be lateral....up/down, not side to side) flexing, so when going down a hill you pull them in a bit, gently pull/release......I know it helped my mare and now she goes down so nicely any steep hill!

I would bet it's discomfort from the founder, but there's also the saddle to consider. It could be the way it fits, when she goes downhill it digs into her somewhere.

I'm going to say it's the fitness of the horse. When I first started really riding ST she'd throw a fit at the slightest down slope and then try to fly down when she figured out she was going to go where I pointed her. Just recently she hasn't thrown any fits and willingly goes down. She starts getting a little faster when she starts to slip, but I pull up on the reins and she'll slow down and move onto her butt a little better. Eventually she should figure out to sit her butt down without my guidance, but she needs a reminder for now.
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Balance of the rider, fitness of the horse, fit of the saddle, comfort of the feet, etc all play a part in going down hill. Do you have a crupper on the saddle so it does not slide forward?

Thanks everyone!

Mare is in great shape. We ride 4-5 days a week.
Saddle fit isn't the problem. It is treeless, so it does wander down her neck.
I've been curious about a crooper. She does this when we don't have a saddle on too.
Hoof boots are fairly new.
I'm a balanced rider as I ride bareback frequently.

She'll get going on a pretty fast walk going down, which turns into a trot and I don't want to trot down hills.
As soon as the hill is done, she's totally fine.

I'll look into the vertical/lateral that was mentioned.

Does anyone think it could be spinal pain? Hip out?

Thanks for all the advice~ I really appreciate it.
We live in such mountainous area, I really don't want to have to get off and walk her down these canyons.

Could she have kissing spines?