Groundwork to strengthen the bond

Try a reverse round-pen. You set up a barrier, for example with poles and small filler blocks, in the shape of a circle.

The horse goes round the outside of the barrier and you stay on the inside. You are better protected on the inside while you work the horse loose this way, and it also makes it clear for the horse to follow and travel on a circle.

From here you can see whether the horse wants to follow you as you walk and halt around the circle. If you do clicker training, you can click when the horse follows you a few steps, for example, and click when it halts.

You can then build on this by practising transitions, by walking further away from the horse so it goes round the circle on its own, and, beyond that, by starting to take the barrier away, for example 😊