No worries here, nothing unusual. She’s feeling better, more confident and is not keeping her focus on you…and shes trying to change the subject, something she has, apparently, been successful with. Nothing tragic going on here, if she wanted to hurt you, she would not tell you shes not interested in a training ride. No, she’d stand stock still until you were in the air swinging over then bolt and/or drop the right shoulder with a wicked right spin right out from under you. That’s not her way.
Think you got two things main things going on. Schooling area environment and the female reproductive cycle.
First off, many have found keeping track of daily activities priceless in tracking overall attitude and behavior in new horses. Just a few lines on a calendar/planner can really help. Helps to do it in writing on an actual calendar so you can can lay it out and easily see patterns and trends.
Include time you worked, where you worked, weather, alone or with others and your own mental and physical state- tired, too much caffeine, upset, worried. Horses read us and react accordingly. You likely were frustrated at her 2 steps back behavior…and she read you like she learned to read other riders. Always stay chill. No matter what.
For example, yesterday might be “5pm, hot, bad day at work, busy ring, horse unfocused, uncooperative. Personally would circle the date and watch what she does in 21days. Physically their cycle is not like ours but the effects can be similar, including moodiness and discomfort. IIRC there are stallions on the property? Her attention may have been elsewhere.
You might be interested in journaling, if so do it in addition to the calendar for concise and quick overall look not instead of.
OK, back to yesterday. You learned she is not yet confirmed at the mounting block and you, inadvertently, asked too much of her too soon, make a note, learn from it, try to read the signs earlier and avoid a repeat. Thats how IRL horse training works. She learned too, you ended on a positive.
Couple of things to keep in mind here…pay attention to your barns feeding schedule and her mealtimes. Right now she’s pretty food motivated, might try to avoid adding new challenges, like the busy ring, at a meal time. For now, until she masters each lesson. Stick to what shes good at.
Likewise working around more distractions like more horses, heavy equipment, spooky weather, if she’ obviously having a bad day or You are having a bad day. Pick something you are both good at and keep it short.
In other words set yourself and the horse up for success. Don’t set yourself up to fail, KISS.
All this said, you cannot avoid progress by never challenging her (that’s where many NH programs fail), but slow, consistent progress over time is the way to go. Do not hesitate to involve your trainer, thats their job. You have another job that restricts the time you can put in.
Remember, horses don’t know when they are officially being “trained”, don’t care either. So EVERY time you touch them, they are learning from you-whether you want them to or not. .Older horses learn a ton of things from us we did not intend to teach them. In Honeys case, its that if rider does not get on or gets scared/ frustrated in the process? Shes in control. She learned that. So make sure to set her up to succeed at the mounting block so she can unlearn it…
Finally, like here on COTH, everybody in your barn has an opinion. Learn to sift through the BS and stuck to experienced based opinions. Don’t let the railbirds and barn gossip mongers derail you. Stay on track, you will get there.
ETA…thinking about all this, was fooling with saddle fit with barn mates before taking a horse with known mounting issues into a busy ring setting up for success? Think about it.
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