Hi Horizon, I too have a rescue horse who "gently "challenges me sn is easily bored. At present I am reading the Tao of Eqqus and sm gaining some insight ss to the mirrors these horses can be for us. He may well be waiting for you to catch up so to speak. You may find this book helpful, I know I am. Stay with it and good luck. We all get there in our own time, even horses.

Rescue horses are often challenging as this is often why they find themselves in this "rescue" predicaments. Often they have been previously abused or just neglected by humans. You sound as it you are doing all the right things, horizon, and I agree that over time you will learn more from this horse than any of the others you have owned. If you have already done several join ups then he is joined up with you but it does sound that he thinks he has the upper hand. Is he respectful during the join-up sessions, does he show you all the signs and does he follow you nicely afterwards in follow up? If not then do try to achieve these with join up. If he already does all this then I would now be concentrating on ground work with the dually. Stick with him even if the other horses are easier as he needs your time and attention more than they do. Lunge him or long line him with the dually plus plenty of ground work where you are demonstrating your leadership. Make sure you are the one in charge of his hooves. Walking and trotting at the sweet spot and stopping on command, backing up turning etc. always with your hand close to the discipline ring on the dually ready for a good elbow locked correction if he steps out of line. You may introduce some poles to work with too. Be imaginative and change the poles around to keep it challenging for him. Have him walk and back over and through the poles, stop while straddling the poles, walk sidewards along the poles etc. Work with him as often as you can and continue to use the dually until he is perfect. Once you have him really responsive then introduce him to the saddle and try it all with the saddle on. It will take time but you will find it so rewarding and he will teach you so much. My Pie was a rescue horse and she was incredibly challenging as she was so terrified of people - especially men - and she had learnt to fight back. She was already broken down by cruel retraining when I got her. I learnt so much from her and over the years she grew to trust me. I believed most of her problems were environmental and caused by cruelty so in her older age I allowed her to give me a foal, Tricka. Now I realise that genetics played a part too. Tricka, has been handled with love and care ever since I pulled her out of Pie as a foal but she is a challenging, asssertive horse and needs constant attention. She can be so docile and loving when handled regularly but as soon as she has a week or so without being handled she challenges my leadership - little things such as attempting to barge through me at a gate, or putting her ears back when I walk by while she is eating. Only takes a couple of ground work sessions with the dually until she is an angel again but I now know that she will never be suitable for children as she would soon revert to cheekiness and attempted dominance which they would fail to correct quickly enough in the right manner - Monty's way!. I am pleased that I have been able to break her in and train her as like her mother she would never give in to traditional training methods as given her strong will she would have fought back and probably be broken down in the process as her mother was. When I handle her frequently she is amazing and so well behaved so go for it!