Problems With New New Horse

Question
QUESTION: Hi,
I have a new horse.  I am a first time horse owner and a relatively novice rider.  She has been home for 6 weeks now and she is a dream to deal with on the ground.  She has good manners, is gentle and is friendly in the stable, in hand and also to catch in the field.  She has settled very well into her new surroundings.
There are 2 issues I have.
The first is that she does not want me riding her when she is alone.  I can ride out in company and she behaves very well but when we get back to the yard, I need to go right and the others go left.  She does not want to leave the others and will plant, put her head down and start reversing backwards to get around to follow the others.
She behaves the same in the school and also totally ignores all aids natural or artificial.  At first I could not get on her without someone holding her head or another horse being in the school, but I can get on now, however as soon as I am on board she is heading out the school to go round to the others, again ignoring aids as best she can.
The second is lunging.  I figured I would try to get to know her and she me so we tried lunging.  I am new to lunging too!  She was taking the mickey in there too (she also played up with someone who has good experience).  It was clear she knows how to lunge and also knew the diversion tactics.
Do you think these are settling in issues, trust issues or just plain misbehaving and pushing the boundaries to see what she can get away with?  My girl is 8 years old and appears well schooled.
I noticed a previous post re lunging on this site, but it was geared to round pen work and I am in the UK and do not have round pen facilities, only a general rectangular school which I think is too big for round pen activities.
Thanks in advance for your time.
Kind Regards

ANSWER: Hello Vicki,

I will answer this in parts. I will deal with the lungeing issue first. I have an article on my web site, www.MitziSummers.com about lungeing.

A round pen is not at all necessary. There are raslly not that many advantages to a round pen unless you are dealing with a very aggressive horse or sometimes a very frightened one. it has gotten to be a bit of a marketing tool plus "one size fits all' training method.

Horses do not GENERALLY "see what they can get away with". They do not think like that.
If they do not do what we want it is usually because we are not explaining it well anough or they are not physically or mentally ready for whatever you are asking.

You need to explain what you mean by "playing up". I have taught hundreds of horses to lunge, and it is a skill and a "science" to do it correctly.Have you heard of Linda Tellington Jones, the "TTouch?" Many of her methods would be helpful to you....she has books and DVDS.

I can go into much more detail if you tell me exactly what she was doing.

About leaving other horses, as you know they are herd animals and she wants to be with her "buds". With horses it can be a matter of survival in their heads. "Safety in numbers".

You need to school her more in a ring.....making sure that you are both comfortable together, teach her lateral work, etc.

Write back and give me more details so I can be more soecific.

Mitzi
www.MitziSummers.com
Summersdressage@aol.com

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi,

Thanks for getting back so quickly.  Basically she will start to walk out and then she gets so far perhaps 8-10 feet then turns in and comes back towards me.  When I try to send her out again, she just turns back in again.  She does this on both reins.  To start off with, she went out and was going in the circle very nicely in walk.  She did that for a few circles then started coming in.  When I tried to correct her back out, she comes straight back in and further attempts to correct her find me going round in circles trying to send her out and get back to her shoulder.  When she stops to come in, she puts her head up although I would not say in a theatening manner.
She also remained quite distracted throughout watching what was going on outside the school.  She is not a nervy or spooky girl and so was not displaying signs of stress or nerves.
One of the girls who is very experienced at lunging tried her and she was fine with her for a minute or two then started the same with her.
I am going to arrange some lunging lessons with her to ensure I am lunging correctly.  When she went into the school and we started it was clear she has done lunging before, but she very quickly became a little bit unco-operative.

As far as schooling in the ring, she cannot wait to get out of it and ignores the aids.  Tomorrow I am going to try schooling her with another horse in the school to see if that helps. I will also be booking someone to come give me lessons to try to resolve this issue, but had hoped I could at least get her going round at least in walk obeying the aids beforehand.

Any advise you can give is appreciated.  
Many Thanks

Answer
Vicki,
Do you have a SKYPE account?

I could verbally explain what you need to do to get your horse lungeing easier then explaining  it.

I will write it down gladly, but if we could talk....?

My SKYPE is Mitzi.Summers.
Also, what is your regular email?

Mine is Summersdressage@aol.com