Before you resort to a 2x4 it might be a real good time to have your horse checked out by a vet or a chiropractor. He really sounds like he is having pain issues. If he was as well trained as you say, fell, had a month off, injured his eye with a loss of vision, it really sounds like his problems stem from one of those two incidents.
I really don't think his having a fit when he is bridleless or when you ask for an advanced move is a result of him deciding to disobey you, rather it sounds like for whatever reason his is either in pain or very very unsure of himself. When you ask him to perform at his former level, I really feel he is telling you something is very wrong with him physically or tactically. Either his vision loss is bugging him or something is hurting.
You say yourself that this has been happening since you brought him back after his month off... so it sounds like the problem began as a result of his accident that lead to the month layoff.
He may need further lay off, he may need to have a good chiropractor make him feel better, he may have some sort of muscle injury that needs addressing.
In my 40 odd years as an adult horse owner/rider/trainer, I personally have only met one horse that I felt set out to make trouble for his rider, and that one horse was a stallion that had been mistreated by one particular person and that horse could be handled by my son when he was ten years old, but he well and truly targeted this one person.
So chances are this animal has a problem and he needs help solving his problem, don't take the proverbial 2x4 to him just yet, lol.
Lee
> He is completely broke and finished out. He knows lead changes, collection and extension (from when we showed dressage), neck reining, roll backs, turns, stops, the whole nine yards. Well last fall we were supposed to do a bridleless/bareback reining demo and the day before he got his eye pretty bad. He lost some sight in it and ever since then he goes into fits when he is bridleless or even in the bit. He fights ya ever step of the way, he doesnt go faster than a steady trot or he stops and backs up. He sticks his head up in the air and speeds up if you ask him to put it back down. He doesnt do his lead changes and he runs out of the spin and his stops. Before he had the month off, we were planning on going to Congress (and a few other shows) once i got my card for this year but now, im waiting on that as his behaviour has been like this ever since i brought him back from his month off.
> Im looking from anything between old school techniques to modern-day techniques. Ill put it in a list so its easier to read then all in this paragraph.
>
> 1. He leaves his head-set. Mainly when in the lope and in circles (obviously on the rundown, too).
>
> 2. He runs out of the turnaround and if i reprimand him and then put him back into a spin, he refuses to cross his front legs and reach out. (I have tried to counter-arc him and then spin him but then he just "trots" in he spin.
>
> 3.Runs out of stops or bounces to a stop. I have raised my reins high and bumped him in the face and asked him to back up A LOT if he does this, but still seems to do it. He also is starting to slide to a stop sideways! He literally will turn 90-degrees in the stop and slide sideways - in either direction.
>
> 4.Lead Changes - ugh lol - he knows them and will do flying changes every other stride, but now he gets into the point where he changes whenever, wherever he wants, and if i change him to go in a different direction,he will change right back and so forth.
>
> I mean, he neck reins pretty good but its as if he purposefully doing it just to tick me off. I am not one to strike a horse in anger - so i get off the horse and tie them up until i cool off and can handle them - but i am getting to the point where i am ready to take a 2x4 to him lol and dont yall tell me you never had a horse that pushed your buttons before! lol
>
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