Re-training an Ex-race horse

Question
I purchased a 4 year old ex-race horse a little over a year ago fresh off the trace. He's now 6 years old and his retraining was going very smoothly, however we seem to have it a road block. See I do hunter/jumper and the occasional eventing. He's learned to jump and get a few basic things down pat. I've been working with him in a neck stretcher on a lounge line for about 6 months and at first he did great. About 2 months ago I began using draw reins while riding him, at first he didn't mind and he got on the bit well and was moving forward well. But just recently he's started getting very forward whenever I ask him to collect, and he starts pulling very strongly against me and will even some times try to buck. When we lounge he bucks when I ask him to move forward.

So my question would be... what am I doing wrong/ what could i possibly try to get him to listen to me?


Answer
Hi Kayla,
        This sounds like a curly one.
I think the first thing I would try is to contact his previous trainer who may be able to point to a previous problem or behaviour and suggest a remedy.
Failing that I would be inclined to talk with other trainers / riders who use similar training method to yours. Maybe they have had similar problems.
If this is his usual training session, try varying the routine, do some hill work or take him into the sea and do some beach work (depends on availability)
Maybe he is bored and is trying you out!
Maybe he is sore?
There could be a dozen different reasons and I tend to favour identifying the reason for the problem before looking at how to fix it.
Hope this helps,
Regards,
Don Boddie
New Zealand