REPLY:  This problem is continuing there because: it's working quite well for the horse, to avoid work! She first discovered its effectiveness when refusing to carry a 300 pound man who was too big for her (a big ouch for her!); now she's added it into her mind of "what works" for her to get out of work in general. Who can blame her for figuring that out so cleverly and it still working effectively for her? :-)

I'm going to direct you to a couple of links on my web site that you can read, but first I wanted to say, with a problem like this, you might want to use a little applied prey animal psychology to start to make the right thing easy, the wrong thing hard.

Horses, by nature, will always steer in the direction of what seems easiest to them. They are designed by nature to be "energy conserving" creatures. You can read starting here on my web site why this is so - a little more about the built-in nature of horses - and how we use that knowledge in natural horsemanship to apply prey animal psychology on the horse when teaching them:

What is Natural Horsemanship and Applied Prey Animal Psychology?

You're going to turn your particular problem around via showing this horse that her refusal decision there suddenly, when she takes over like that and then gets "stuck" (I like to call it "stuck," not stubborn), it actually is a choice she's making that will now bring her more uncomfortable work, not less, so she'll start ruling that out as not effective to her any more. You're going to make it her idea that it's not a good idea to do this anymore.

Here's what you might try to show her that: When she suddenly refuses, and then pivots like that unasked for, very quickly make it your "herd leader" idea to do exactly what she thinks she wants to do there! Instead of fighting against that, go with it. But go with it ad nauseam! Start to assertively turn her in the exact direction she thinks she wants to turn/go/pivot. But then, keep turning her. Use your inside-bend foot to reach back and bump that inside hind quarter to move it away from your foot, at the same time you are drawing in the inside rein (put slack in the outside rein). And ask the horse to turn. But then, keep turning. Horses don't like that much to go in tight circles like that, but keep asking. Keep asking. Keep asking.

Go ahead and set her up to flush out this problem openly and be quickly ready to do this. And be ready to devote as much time as it takes to hone it. Be happy when she does it, so that you stay in the "playful positive training" spot in your head at all times, and are given the wonderful opportunity to work on her confusion there.

Incidentally, if she doesn't respond to the foot cues pressure in saddle there, get off her and work on this on the ground first until you have control of all 4 quarters individually on the ground with your hand or stirrup. I teach all this (and much, much more) in my Whispering Way™ 12-Step Total Training System DVD set, which I actually think will help you a lot there, multi-directions, so think about getting that.

So, as you are turning her (in saddle), going with her there, but at your direction now, your decision, not hers anymore, there's going to come a moment when you are going to stop the turning/circling and open up the reins (slack in the reins), feet off of her, and essentially "opening up the door" for her to exit that circling and opt to go forward. If she refuses, go back to circling and repeat. If she goes forward at that "door opening," instantly remove all pressure, feet off her, keep slack in the reins, for "right answer."

All horses learn from the release of pressure, not from the pressure itself, that they did the right thing. So when she complies and goes forward willingly, quickly release all pressure (feet off of her, throw slack in the reins), stroke her neck, "Good girl!"

And now ask for the walk, trot, then lope again. Be ready for her to try her evasive tactics again, but when she does, repeat this exercise. As many times as it takes. You're showing her there that life actually gets a little harder work there for her (not easier) when she balks/takes over like that.

It takes as long as it takes. Take your watch off and just be in the moment. Switch your mind from being too cantering focused and instead focus on: "Show me that you don't get this, so I can show you why that doesn't work for us anymore. I'm happy to show you this as many times as needed, why your wrong choice there is actually way harder work for you than my choice!"

When you finally get her into the lope without her refusing there (may take dozens of times first of this exercise so she can completely rule out that other option), once she does it right, after only a few steps into the lope, wind her down into a one-rein stop (which I teach here):

One Rein Stop - How to do it and why it's important

And after the stop, bond on her, stroke her face (which should be over to the side until you release), love on her, connect with her emotionally, positively with a warm, "Good girl!" Then release the rein and let her rest at a standstill for a second. Give her a release for this right answer. The ultimate release, when working with a difficult learned-problem like that is: rest. Let the horse rest when they do things right. Take the try. Reward the try with a release and rest. And you can build upward from there.

Next, ask for a little more steps into the lope, then one-rein stop and rest. Start showing her that when she does things right, you are going to reward her with a rest for a while until the correct behavior gets relearned.

Do remember, because this is real important, that when you are asking for the lope, to open up that door for the horse without interference. Put slack in the reins as you ask for the lope, no contact on the bit, because if you have taken the slack out of the reins/drawn them in and are having contact on the bit at that time, you are accidentally asking the horse to go & whoa all at the same time, confusing them, and they will usually choose the whoa if given those two conflicting signals. People often are unaware of their hands there when asking for the lope (or even trot) and not realizing that they sometimes are pulling in the reins at the same time. We want open reins (slack) when asking for the lope. Leave the horse alone when they are doing the right thing.

See, she thinks that when she refuses like she's been doing that she gets a rest when she does that. And she's right! People have accidentally been giving up at that point, giving the release for that "wrong answer" and therefore she's getting the rest. And she therefore learned (right or wrong) that this is the behavior she gets the release for. Again, remember: they learn from the release of pressure that they did the right thing (or that this is what they can get away with), not from the pressure itself. So, you have to get real creative there to make the right thing easy, wrong thing hard, so that she stops getting the release of pressure for the wrong thing.

But don't fight against her, work with her, if you can grasp what I'm showing you here. I don't get in fights with horses. I get creative!

I also wanted to direct you to the following link on my web site in case it helps as well:

Horse stops dead/refuses when asked to trot or canter

And these two, also, because they're kind of related:

Horse Won't Go - Horse refuses to go/balks after being mounted

One-Rein Stop Question - How do you help a horse sort out the one-rein stop from simple bends?

Give all that a try and I think you'll work past this problem before long. Don't get frustrated. Take off your (mental) watch. It takes as long as it takes to work her past this issue. Don't be goal focused; be "in the moment" focused. Again, I think my 12-Step DVD program would help you a lot there in general, to better close up foundation holes, safely on the ground first, and better establish you as leader, and the horse more happily complying to all your requests.

If you feel comfortable, you might share this email with your trainer. We trainers behind the scenes network all the time, to share creative problem solving solutions, which is great, because it builds our repertoire of "tricks of the trade."