Seriously, this. OP, when I bought my horse she was an older well-mannered calm mare who'd been a lesson horse for years. Every BO has loved her because she has sterling ground manners.
Well, even this good mannerly horse got my number pretty quickly when I bought her and moved barns. When she didn't want to go somewhere she learned that walking backwards and lowering her butt would make me give up pretty quickly, since I thought she was threatening to rear (she never actually reared, for all I know this horse hasn't reared in her life, but another horse once reared on me and this action was a definite "OMG I will stop trying to make you go forward, just don't kill me" trigger for me).
Get an instructor or more advanced rider on her though, and she'd go where she was pointed without argument. They're not stupid, they know who will let them get away with stuff and who won't.
My horse came well-trained already. My instructor's biggest task was training me not to take that crap from her - and she never even did anything remotely dangerous, she just figured out a nice easy way to avoid work. I'm lucky that her ground manners are so good, because I probably made a lot of mistakes when I first bought her that she could've taken advantage of there as well.
You're not as lucky, and your horse is taking advantage of your lack of experience is spectacularly dangerous ways. Moving into your space isn't a sign of love, it's disrespect; and you mistake the action, let her get away with it, and this leads to greater and more dangerous acts of disrespect. Please, please get that trainer back, and ask her to work on you, on your interactions with the horse on the ground.
And FFS stop with the start packs if it's that or the trainer. My mare is 22 and she doesn't get smart packs; heck, she's only been on regular grain for 2 years. Does your horse need grain?
Well, even this good mannerly horse got my number pretty quickly when I bought her and moved barns. When she didn't want to go somewhere she learned that walking backwards and lowering her butt would make me give up pretty quickly, since I thought she was threatening to rear (she never actually reared, for all I know this horse hasn't reared in her life, but another horse once reared on me and this action was a definite "OMG I will stop trying to make you go forward, just don't kill me" trigger for me).
Get an instructor or more advanced rider on her though, and she'd go where she was pointed without argument. They're not stupid, they know who will let them get away with stuff and who won't.
My horse came well-trained already. My instructor's biggest task was training me not to take that crap from her - and she never even did anything remotely dangerous, she just figured out a nice easy way to avoid work. I'm lucky that her ground manners are so good, because I probably made a lot of mistakes when I first bought her that she could've taken advantage of there as well.
You're not as lucky, and your horse is taking advantage of your lack of experience is spectacularly dangerous ways. Moving into your space isn't a sign of love, it's disrespect; and you mistake the action, let her get away with it, and this leads to greater and more dangerous acts of disrespect. Please, please get that trainer back, and ask her to work on you, on your interactions with the horse on the ground.
And FFS stop with the start packs if it's that or the trainer. My mare is 22 and she doesn't get smart packs; heck, she's only been on regular grain for 2 years. Does your horse need grain?
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