I just bought a new mare. She's 12 years old and has been competing in
endurance since the age of 7. She is Abu-Farwa bred and she is stubborn. I
did an LD on her last month. She was alright. I just had to smack her on the
butt with the reins and she went right out very nicely. Did a 25 mile CTR last
week with her. There was a bunch going on at the outside of the bottom of the
trot out area. In the morning there was a generator and there were banners
staked in the ground. She would go halfway down. And I had to trot way ahead of
her to get her to trot.
What are the best ways to improve this? I'm used to all our other horses to
move off without me going 5 feet in front of them. They are all taught from day
one to move off when I am at their shoulder. They are taught using clucks and
verbally. I'm not sure where to start with her to be better with this. She's
already sort of set in her ways and she does have a stubborn streak which I'm
not quite used to.
Should I just start using a crop to teach her to walk forward when I'm at
the shoulder instead of having to be in front of her to move with me? Of course
I would be very gentle because she is stubborn and would quite easily "freak"
out.
