Re~schooling

[LouiseL008]

I have a 13 year old TB (chestnut mare!!) I've had her almost a year but have not done anything with her apart from hacking at a slow pace due to my own confidence issues!! I intend to start schooling her more, but today after nothing but walk & trot for a month I asked her to go into a canter which she did but then immediately put her head down to try & get me off!! I hung on (Miracle!) and gave her a telling off!! I think we'll go down the lots of lunging & long reining route as she does lose her balance & leg at corners then takes several steps to get back into the rhythm! She is an ex racer (all be it a crap one!) & has been schooled properly before & done cross country with a previous owner but between 'proper' owners was mis~treated and underfed!
what I want to know is am I on the right track with the lunging & long reining & is there anything I can do to help her overcome her fear of what she can't see. ie if out on a hack & we hear hooves on the road she will stop & look & because she can't see what it is & then spin round, I know when its coming as I can feel her tense up but need guidance on how to help her relax & go with the flow!
She's in her forever home with me living the life of luxury but she still needs to learn to relax, I call her a stress head as if there's something she's not happy with she will start crossing her jaw!! She is a million times better than when she first arrived as I daren't go near her back end or pick out her feet so I think she's starting to trust me, where do I go from here???
sorry for the life story xxx

 

[horse*21]

I would try TTeam work it helps build trust in a kind way and no real fancy gadgets needed. Work on lunge work and long lining sounds like a great idea and if tension creeps in go back to what is comfortable to you both.

If you feel it may help try a calmer in feed.

I helped my friend school his horse who was very tense and angry from being treated badly and time and patience has helped and reduced his tension.