this doesn’t always help. Calm focus will give true mental softness and body softness. We have to draw our horses focus to us and reward when it comes.
So, if I want to assess if a horse just didn't understand or if it was avoiding the task, the first thing I want to know is if my horse is with me.
There are simple ways to tell: Does it walk a straight line on a loose rein? Does it walk a nice circle if you pick up one rein or is there a fair amount of resistance on one side? Does the horse stay with the circle or push out? Does it look for ways out? More often than not, if you give them space – riding them in a paddock for an example, they are quick to zone out and become oblivious to the fact that you are up there. If they are loose in a round yard and you walk off, watch what they do – do they quickly switch off and look elsewhere or do they keep their attention on you? When they trot a circle around you, are they consistently focussing to the outside or to you? These are all signs which indicate that the horse has focus on something else - not the task, and not me. Quite commonly, I drop the reins to see what direction the horse takes me and to find out where they are thinking.
If this horse was treating me like this on these simple things, then under pressure, I would be pretty sure that this evasiveness would be stronger.
If however, my horse switches on to me in these simple situations; if it comes with me when I pick up a rein; if it focuses with me on a circle, etc.; if it can do all of these 100% then I can make an assessment that my horse switches onto me fairly quickly and focuses with me. If this horse then showed evasion at a task that evasion is more likely to be due to a lack of understanding or nervousness rather than avoidance.
This photo shows a horse happily & softly focussed into this basic circle that I am riding. A lot of inconsistency in lateral bend is usually due to the horse being focussed elsewhere.
At one of my clinics, this horse was giving her owner trouble due to her strong magnetic urge to be with her friend. Once she gained focus, I was able to demonstrate the mare being with my rhythm & direction.