Lack of Self awareness is something we are all guilty of. My Haflinger gelding will on occasion bolt off on the lunge line and of course I often can not hold on. If I can be present enough to see when he is about to bolt I can stop him. When he does get away I encourage him to keep going and then I put him back on the lunge and proceed with what we were doing. Am I creating a president for him to continue this behavior? Funny thing is he will rarely canter on the lunge, but will race & buck when he gets free.
I train horses and my sister does dogs and long ago we realized some people just do not have the 'presence/energy/authority' in them and the animals know it and ignore or blow them off. this piebald is a lazy chonk, used to not having to exert himself :-)
