Horse Problem - Horse Stops - Horse stops dead/refuses when asked to trot or canter

The trick there is to make the right thing easy, the wrong thing hard to change her attitude there. When you ask her to move forward there and she refuses, giving a "I don't want to, I don't have to" freeze response like you described, instantly make the right thing easy, the wrong thing hard: start turning her in circles. Bump her hind quarters over with your inside foot, while you take slack in with the inside rein and have her turn a few circles. Then do this on the opposite side. Get animated, have her do them fast, make it in the category of: hard work. Horses don't like going in circles very much, that's hard work! After a few minutes of doing this, ask her to go forward again. If she complies, instantly let slack in the rein and leave her alone (feet off her too). That's the release for right answer. Given a choice of going forward or going in circles, a horse will always choose: going forward, that's easier. Give her a rest there, all pressure off, just let her walk quietly, to show her: right answer. Stroke the neck, "good girl!" (never pat a horse for reward; only stroke, rub or scratch)

Once she's going forward well at every ask and you now want increased speed (the trot), have a pre-cue sequence for that, but starting low on the pressure scale and climbing higher only as needed. Use this sequence consistently and she should get the hang of it (but stop asking/pressure off, the second you get what you want):

1) Cluck or kiss to her while you lean forward with your body, like you are already going into the trot (or canter), without her at first (means: I want more/faster here, come on, let's go!)

2) Squeeze your seat (your butt/upper thighs)

3) Squeeze your knees

4) Bump with your heels

5) Raise your arm back toward the rump

6) If still no compliance by this point, tap or "spank" the rump with something like my training string (I use for this sometimes and for many other training purposes -- you can get one here: Training String - Not aggressive, but assertive, there's a difference. It doesn't hurt the horse; it just reminds the hind quarters (where all forward impulsion in a horse comes from) that you want them engaged more now.
 

See...I have no doubt I could get your horse to go there, because not to would not be an option with her. The second she complies, goes into the trot (or canter if you're asking for that), instantly release all pressure, slack in reins, feet off the horse -- real important to put slack in the reins there, not be pulling back, or you're sending mixed signals (saying "stop" and "go" all at the same time!). I see a great many riders doing that, pulling back on the reins, taking in the slack, at that moment (or worse, "balancing themselves" with the reins at increased gaits) and then they can't understand why the horse is confused. Release the horse's head (slack in reins!), opening that window in front of them when asking the horse to go or to speed up. When the horse does what we want, remove all pressure instantly (legs off the horse, keep slack in the reins). Remember: they learn from the release of pressure what it is we want/the right answer there, so get your release timing instant there for compliance: slack rein, feet off the horse.

But it's real important to proceed in that above order, sequentially, so the horse has pre-cues that are predictable and consistent. Think of it as "Volume Thinking." Picture a volume switch on a digital radio (as a metaphor for how we communicate to horses in natural horsemanship). We always start low on the volume with our asks (always!), so that:

1) We give the horse the opportunity to comply with the softest request -- lowest on the volume would be: thought. We think what we want and the horse complies;

2) We then have somewhere upwards to go pressure-wise for our ask (higher on the volume switch) and;

3) The horse learns the pre-cue sequence there and starts "connecting the dots" for what is to come next.
 

If you start low on the volume switch every single time, the horse will start complying lower & lower on the volume until we are seemingly riding them with our minds.

I personally would want to fix this problem in a round pen or arena if you have access to that. There's also a two-people approach you can take there for fixing this problem, so the horse can get the cues and pre-cues down better, and I go into that here:

Horse Won't Go - Horse stops after couple of steps into trot - http://www.naturalhorsetraining.com/TrainingTips28.html
 

In that two-person approach, have your husband be the backup ground person there and you in saddle. But even here, follow the Volume-Thinking pre-cue sequence so she learns how to respond lower & lower on the volume scale. Your husband only steps in there when you've reached highest on the volume pressure cue as he flags the horse on with additional ground pressure. And the horse will get it, you'll see.

Incidentally, I myself would want to make sure the horse can do this at liberty (no rider, but saddled/bridled up) in the round pen first. I teach NH round penning psychology here: http://www.naturalhorsetraining.com/RoundPenning.html

And incidentally, when round penning a horse at liberty with bridle/bit/reins, secure the reins so they don't fly over the horse's head and the horse accidentally steps on them (which could injure the teeth as the bit gets jerked out of the mouth) -- here's how to secure those reins: put the reins over the horse's head like you would to ride. Underneath the horse's neck, take the 2 reins and wind them around and around each other until they are fairly snug there. Open the bridle throat latch buckle and secure one rein inside that throat latch and buckle it in there. That will keep the reins securely on the horse and not bouncing around.
 

A whole lot of in saddle problems are simply holes in the training (ground) foundation, so I would want to make sure the horse can do everything on the ground (without rider) before working on that in saddle. Can she change gaits when asked at liberty in the round pen with a kiss pressure? Important to know/work on. If you don't have access to a round pen, then construct a smaller squared area to work on this (roping off an arena perhaps so it's a smaller work area). I'm a huge proponent of ground work, the right ground work, because what they haven't been taught on the ground first can be a struggle for them to do in saddle sometimes.

Which is why I developed my program DVDs, so others can self-learn my program easily. My Whispering Way Round Pen Leadership DVD teaches the art of natural horsemanship round penning visually. To learn more about and order that video: CLICK HERE.  And my follow-up step-by-step program is taught in my Whispering Way 12-Step Total Training System DVD set. Usually it helps to see this natural horsemanship art taught visually, to really understand how it is all done. You can get that DVD set here: CLICK HERE

Play around with what I've passed along here and you should be able to work past this problem once and for all. Let me know how it goes.

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