Sharing Responsibility

His overreactions would get quite big as he was genuinely afraid. This then lead to anticipating that every time he would circle next to the door something would come out of nowhere and scare him. His riders werent sure why their correction of getting his attention back was not working. In fact it seemed to be making things worse.
I have known this horse for several years and he went through a similar phase two years ago. Part of what was happening at that time was that his training had been pushed from first to second level. The increased expectation in performance was difficult for him because work that he had been good at was now more that he could comfortably do. He is a talented horse and physically should have no difficulty with the work but mentally it was hard for him.
When I rode the horse he was behaving very well there was a little confusion due to my lack of talent riding a horse schooled to his level but he felt very solid. When I approached the door at one end he balked very slightly and then continued. As I circled back to the door he felt apprehensive but did not balk. Then it dawned on me that he was waiting to get corrected as we approached the door. When I just kept riding him without offering him any correction he just kept going. As I approached the other door the same sense of apprehension was there. He did nothing wrong except stiffen slightly but he remained obedient.
The second time around as he tensed I put my hand on his neck to let him know that he was not in trouble and I told him it was up to him whether he wanted to spook or not. He did