Well in our ride today we hit a new challenge that I am calling "dominance thresholds". Everything was going well and we where working on trotting figures of eight when bella got in a strop and decided to buck so I shut her down quickly. So she then decided not to move and buck if I suggested otherwise! When this got her nowhere she started backup up, so i said "let me help you" and asked her to back up faster and in a large circle. When she decided that wasn't getting her anywhere she stopped and bucked/cow kicked again, so I politely, passively and persistently asked her to walk forwards and ignored all her attempts to kick, swish her tail, toss her head, and kept my focus till she took a step forward then I released. All the time thinking 'what would James do?' After two or three times of this she gave up and walked fine and I ended the session by stopping at the pedestal.
I have since talked to some friends and got some more strategies to 'fix' this if it happens again so I almost want her to .... is that wrong?? Oh well :)
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