Has he had his teeth floated? Has he been checked for a retained wolf tooth?
I think this is a pretty common issue for a new partnership to have and often the result of more rein contact than the horse is ready for.
This is an interesting thread for me, as a seller. I have a lovely TB gelding that I had in training for about 9 months. He was doing nice flatwork, had XC schooled, was very forward-thinking, and loved jumping. I showed him to several customers, and one gal got on, was a tiny bit handsy, and he said, NO THANK YOU. Stopped, head straight up in the air, ears back and would NOT move. I foolishly put him back in the barn - other horses to show them, and quite honestly I was a bit embarrassed as they had flown to see the horse, with their trainer.
Unfortunately, the horse seems to have learned that this is a great idea. I have had him thoroughly checked for all the usual issues - back, ulcers, teeth, general soundness, etc. All clear.
So, now, I am stuck with a horse that has learned to balk. This summer, I literally restarted him from absolute scratch, from very basic groundwork on up. I, personally, can ride him, mostly without issue. However, he is a resale horse, and needs to be sold. Very frustrating situation as he is incredibly difficult to show to customers. I adore this horse but he is maddening. Keeping him for myself is unfortunately not an option.
I guess my point is, not to hijack this thread completely, that trials are a big liability for both parties… I’d be pretty upset if I were the seller of this horse and got him back in this condition.
This is what I was coming here to say, but BFNE said it better than I could.
I think you should send him back as he doesn’t sound like a fit for you or your trainer’s program.
As other people have said on this thread, the first thing I do with young horses is go forward. They get pushed forward into the connection, I always focus on keeping their feet moving. My personal horse who I restarted myself had a couple instances of balking (hacking by himself, walking away from the barn, walking away from the ingate etc) and I very swiftly corrected that behavior as it is one of my least favorite evasions. In my experience, it’s a behavior you have to catch very quickly and you have to be sure you aren’t sending mixed signals. As you’ve already stated, teaching this horse to halt without throwing its head probably wasn’t the best idea. If it were me, I would send him back. There’s a lot of nice horses out there and if you’re already hitting some snags with this one you may have better luck elsewhere.
