90. Barn Sour & Buddy Sour...

This afternoon we decided to hack out and it didn't go well. :( I could tell Spice was going to be difficult even before i 'd finished tacking her up as she was quite irritable. Anyway, as soon as i mounted her (which took three attempts) I asked her to walk forward and she refused so i asked again and she obliged but very reluctantly, in fact she was so reluctant that i was wondering whether she was lame...she wasn't...

After a slow and short walk around the yard i asked her to move forward towards the gate where i was planning on waiting for the others but before i could even point her towards it she was already heading back to the field. Spice had decided that she wasn't going out (at least not on her own.) She was not giving to her right rein at all and the more i pulled the more she pulled. I knew i could not give up and eventually i did manage to turn back towards the gate and walk her out successfully. However, by this time the other horses were already heading out of the gate so it was easier to persuade spice to go this way in view of the fact that she had realized that she wasn't going to be hacking out alone...

So...i really need to start riding her out to get her 'over' this. I feel a bit deflated as if i'm honest i hadn't expected her to be quite so reluctant - especially after all our groundwork but i am going to stay positive as i also have to take into consideration that it has been almost 5 months since i last rode her out alone (so she is bound to be apprehensive).