Working Rosie: feeling a bit defeated

Tonight I had the evening in front of me with plenty of daylight left.  It was 95 degrees, but cooling down.  Sounds perfect for another training session with Rosie.  That is about the most upbeat I may sound about the night.  I'm feeling a bit defeated.

She was easy to halter, and walked willingly out with me.  Then we did some ground work.  Disengage the rear end, check; flex the neck, no problem; lunge either way, you got it.  She did everything with ease for me.  I was getting pretty excited, thinking that we'd maybe come to an understanding.

I had her harnessed without a problem.  Things were going great.

Looking good in the harness

The plan for tonight was simple.  I was going to just ground drive her alone.  If things progressed well, I figured I might try hooking up a single tree and dragging a tire, but overall, I wanted to see her ground drive and acknowledge my commands.  I replaced her bit with one of my liverpool bits, and I put my lines in the furthest hole away from the bit.  If she decided to do her own thing tonight, it was not going to be easy.

We started off okay.  She stepped off just fine.  But when she felt the bit tension in her mouth, she immediately started getting nervous.  I told her woah, and she stopped really well.  I was praising her and letting her know how well she was doing.  Also, tonight I was pretty mild spoken with her.  I was purposely talking with a firm but calm voice to try and help her succeed.

That first drive away from the house was the best driving she did.  After that, she refused to do it again.  She would not step forward, and instead kept trying to spin her butt around to look at me or the other horses.  The liverpool bit did great at helping me keep her head where I wanted it, but she would still throw her body all the way around.  I've never seen a horse do this.  She nearly fell over 2 times from her twisting her body without moving her head.  When she would stop, I would make sure to emphasize the woah command, and then praise her for standing still.

How I have taught to step forward for all 4 of my horses in the past was to give the command, and constantly put pressure on the butt, until they step forward, then I stop the pressure.  Rosie would not learn this.  I was smacking her on the but and instead of going forward away from it, she would twist and keep backing.  There were a few times where she did step forward, just a step.  I quickly let off the pressure, and praised her.  She could not make the connection though.  Sooo frustrating.  She finally refused to move at all.  I sat there tapping her butt constantly for 10 minutes and she refused to budge, even when I got harsher and harsher. 

At this point, I decided that if she wasn't going to even try to drive for me, that she was getting a work out a different way.  I wrapped the lines around the hame balls, and led her with the lead line.  We did tight circles both left and right for 30+ minutes straight with no breaks.  round and round and round we went.  After 30 minutes she was almost walking drunk, so I decided it was break time.  I tied her to the telephone pole at this point, and she was soaked.

A tired sweaty mess

At this point, I gave her a 15 minute break.  I wasn't sure what to do.  Either she is completely stubborn and masks it well (I did not get the vibe from her tonight that she was being head strong, I got the clueless vibe from her), or she is all beauty and no brains.  I called a friend and rattled off the events to see what she thought.  One idea she had was to give her a break, and then try again.  Now that she'd really worked hard, give her the chance to do what I wanted.  I decided that was a good idea.  I first offered her some water, but she declined the offer.

I led her away from the other horses, facing away from them, and stood behind her.  "Rosie, Step Up" I said, and followed it with clicks.  She instantly tried to turn and face me.  I held her head and tapped her butt, but she would not stop backing and turning.  Round and round and round and down she went.  I could not let her back, because my feed shed was nearby, so I tried to keep her head facing the way I wanted.  She kept twisting her rear end around till she fell down.  I was in awe.  I have never ever seen this happen before.  I have never had a horse that could not make the connection that when they step forward, the pressure stops and the praising starts.  She then laid there, not moving.  She looked defeated, and made me feel like I'm abusing her or something.  I pulled out my phone and snapped this picture.

And down she went

At this point, I kind of gave up.  The only thing I can think to help teach her how to step off, is to have me with the lines behind her, and someone else leading her at the same time.  She leads perfect, she lunges perfect, yet she cannot make the connection that the same command I use in lunging and leading means to step off here.  Like I said, either she is really dumb, or she is a stubborn horse that masks it well.

At this point I pulled on the lead line, and she stood up.  I then did 5 minutes of easy leading and tied her.  (wanted to end on some kind of a good note).  I unhitched her, and spend a good 15 minutes brushing her, grooming her, and just loving on her.  She stood perfectly, and seemed to enjoy the attention.

All done, and looking pretty

So here I am.  I don't know what to do now.  I'm feeling very defeated, and am scared that somehow, unbeknown to me, I'm ruining this horse.  I talked to her owners last night, and 2 years ago she was at a TDHMA event and Bob Lewis was praising this horse and her sister as great hitch horses.  2 years later, and I'm seeing this.  I'm really feeling like this horse needs more than I can offer.  I'm really at a loss.  I guess it's just time to talk to others I know and trust and see what more I can do.  I really hate this feeling.