Can you introduce a couple of feral cats to the property? A lot of places have TNR programs and try to find barn homes for some of the tamer ones. That might take care of the mouse/rat problem, which will in turn take care of the weasels. Or maybe if you just make up your mind that all she’s scared of is a silly little weasel, you can then ride her accordingly, with confidence and authority. And talk to her while she’s being looky - “C’mon girl, it’s just a weasel, they won’t hurt us, they’re our friends! You’re fine, I’m fine…” etc. Or sing the same, it will help you breathe…
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OP, please ask the barn owner before you do something like this. No one wants to suddenly be responsible for animals they did not ask for.
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Unfortunately the trainer i got before isn’t able to come out - I asked and she’s just too busy.
And no, I wouldn’t want to introduce barn cats. Seeing as it’s not my property I wouldn’t want to expect/ ask the BO to take on the care of more animals.
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I’ve certainly thought about that maybe I’m adding to the problem, but I don’t think so. Her spooks are never bad, and she’s actually quite easy to sit. Even as a 5yr old, I’d label her as one of the safest horses I’ve ridden.
When I’m on the ground and just leading her/ doing ground work before I get on her, she’s still looky/ balky. There are shadows in the arena that I think could make the stuff appear scarier than it actually is, but I know that there are horses who would be ok with it, and I’d like to develop that confidence in my mare (although, I also think about how freaked out my coach’s hot FEI horses would be in that arena, and then I wonder if it isn’t all that important).
So if you’re trying to teach her that the scary end is a good place to be, why is that the end that you’re lunging her in?
If you asked me 5 years ago what I would do, it would probably be exactly what you’re doing. Old school thinking is to work, work, work, and desensitize them to the scary end until they don’t care about it. That strategy works ok for some horses but doesn’t for others. Here’s why I don’t like it, if I go take my horse to the scary end and lunge her so that she’s too tired to spook, what’s going to happen when I get on the next day after my horse had a full nights sleep and a healthy breakfast? She’s going to have just as much energy to be spooky and every single day I “lunge” that spookyness out of her she just gets more and more in shape and it takes longer and longer. This is because with “desensitizing” or “flooding” you are not teaching the horse to be unafraid, you are teaching the horse to not react and those are different things.
The other day it was freezing out and the BO had just trimmed some shrubs at the “spooky” end of our arena and I rode at the same time as another boarder. Now, her horse is 20 and mine is 4 but both of our horses were spooking and snorting at this end. My horse did not want to go in that corner so I just didn’t ride her in that corner. She said no, I said ok, and we continued on our ride and had a lovely ride. I did however, take my walk breaks near that corner, allow her to walk or even stop if she really wanted to look at something over in the corner, and after about 10 minutes, she was no longer spooking. I didn’t make her go there, she just relaxed enough that she was no longer anxious enough about it so we were riding into the corner just fine.
While this was all happening, a fellow boarder was dead set on MAKING her horse go in that corner. She even got off, lead the horse into the corner, got back on tried to go back to the corner, got off again, even blindfolded her horse to “make the horse trust her” and led her into the corner. Got back on, started trotting and cantering by the corner, and this has been going on for days now. Every ride this boarder does is all about this corner and the horse still hates that corner.
Meanwhile my 4 year old, doesn’t care. Both horses started off just as terrified of it but that other rider and I have totally different philosophies on training. I also really recommend Warwick Schiller. “It’s not a method, it’s a mindset”.
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In addition to many of the suggestions on this thread, I would just get to work and do what you can do, and do it to a gold standard. There is no end to what can be accomplished in the space of a 20 m circle.
You have an indoor, and you have it all to yourself! You’re killin’ me!
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I was thinking more of the invisible type of cats, that you never really see but know are there. I have gotten several ferals that were like that. But yeah, maybe not the best advice after all.
I adopted three TNR cats for my barn. They have never been invisible.
And call me silly, them being feral has never made me feel like they are not my responsibility. I feed them, I provide them with an unfrozen water bowl, I provide them with a heated place to sleep in the winter.
Edit to add - since I seemed to have not mentioned it before - I also feed them.
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In case anyone was wondering what happened with the whole scary arena situation, we did end up moving. The difference in my mare is incredible. She’s back to her old relaxed self and we can use every inch of the arena in the new barn without issues (and there are even some jumps/ cones stacked in the corners of this arena, but they aren’t a problem).
The situation at the barn we were at just wasn’t getting better, for whatever reason. I think it might have been her way of telling me she wasn’t happy at that barn or comfortable enough to go to work. It just isn’t like her to not overcome a fear or figure out what I’m asking of her, so we changed the situation, and I’m so happy we did. Now we can continue to work on improving her confidence in me in a place where she is comfortable in
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Great update!
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Does she have a good back-up? if so…how about trying reverse gear toward the spooky corner. You could even maybe set up three or four cones and weave her backwards through them and maybe she’s be into the project of weave and not think much about where she was going. I’d work on getting her rear and her side (cause side of a horse is a vulnerable place too) facing the spooky place.
I might even have a bucket of feed or rehydrated alfalfa and back her up to that corner. Only letting her take bites when her butt is where you want it to be. Recondition her to thinking that place, with her rear toward it means something good befalls her.
The OP updated and has moved the horse and the horse is doing great in their new barn.
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I would secretly go dump some moth balls down there before I got ferral cats.
And… a whole new world of cringe opens up unto my consciousness… 
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