Horse training = detective work

I taught a young girl on a very nice mare, newly purchased.  I rode the horse several times over several lessons and found her a sensitive but very responsive and easy ride.  The girl sat nicely but her experience was via a not-very-good riding school and she wasn't the most educated or thoughtful rider.


As the weeks went by, the combination got gradually worse.  The horse started to show some strange and slightly worrying behaviours, such as becoming hard to catch, pinning her ears back during grooming and tacking up, and an erratic unwillingness to go forward under saddle.  My immediate thought was that there was some physical cause for these behavioural changes - a sore back, perhaps.  The saddle fitter, the masseur and finally the vet were called and the horse was given several weeks off.  When she resumed work, she continued to exhibit some fairly angry behaviours and reactions.  I and the mare's young owner, and her parents, were baffled.  Low-level lameness was suspected but tests were coming back clear and the vet's advice was to work her harder and see if there was any change.


The answer came one day when I arrived for a lesson and the girl was already on and already struggling - the mare was napping to the gate, 'jacking up' and threatening to rear, whipping around unexpectedly and basically being really very difficult.  I decided to lunge the horse to see if there was any lameness or irregularity in the gait evident.  As soon as the rider dismounted, the horse relaxed.  I lunged her in walk, trot and canter on both reins and she went perfectly. Foot-perfect, in fact.  No tension, no nappiness, no cranky faces or unwillingness to go forward.  Smooth, relaxed, supple. 


Then I put the rider back on but continued to lunge the horse.  As before, she went beautifully. 


Finally, I took the lunge off and left the rider in charge... and that's when the lightbulb flashed.  It was the rider.  This perfectly decent young rider was doing *something* that the horse HATED.  I think it was a slightly busy lower leg; I think the rider was trying to manoeuvre/position the relatively green horse with her legs before the horse had any idea of what a lateral leg aid was.  So, from the perspective of the horse, there were lots of arbitrary individual leg aids going on, when all she'd ever been used to was single, soft leg aids that meant, go forward. 


It was so interesting that this rider issue presented so much like an unsoundness issue.  Not long after this the horse started unceremoniously dumping the rider and was sold.  She has since been very successful with her new owner and the previous owner has found a new horse that she clicks very well with.