Pinning her ears at me?

So today Lacey did something she's never ever done before. She pinned her ears at me. >.<
We were riding alone on the road, not very far from home becuase she's not ready yet, and I kept making her walk forward even though she wanted to turn around and go home. I'd have her turn around once she stopped fighting with me about going forward (I had the crop so she didn't dare try stopping and backing up) and walk a few steps towards home then turn back around and keep going. She kept pinning her ears when I had her turn back around and keep going away from home. She also threw her head around a bit but that was mostly frustration (I was riding her in her bitless bridle so no bit issues).

She didn't follow through with anything worse than ear pinning and she kept walking forwards with encouragement, no rearing or bucking or any of her usual tricks but the ear pinning concerned me.

Should I be worried that she doesn't respect me? She never pins her ears at anything...And she was perfectly happy to see me this morning, walked right up to me in the pasture. She was also good when I free lunged her.. She even went from a trot to a halt, totally free, when I told her. She's very responsive and generally behaves herself quite well...

Help?

It just freaked me out because she never pins her ears at anything...

Maybe because I have a horse who pins his ears all of the time at me, I wouldn't worry too much about the ear pinning....she was simply saying "I REALLY don't like you right now" and in my opinion, I'd rather have a horse who expresses itself (within range) and maybe shows signs of escalation rather than a horse who just all of the sudden freaks out.

Coupled with the head tossing, I'd say it was all around frustration that she wanted to go home, and you didn't.

Vida pins her ears at me once in awhile. Don't pay any attention, she is just letting you know she is not wanting to do what you want her to do. Just go on and make her do it
If your standing behind her or in the kick zone and she does it, of course move out of harms way. :lol

Ok... I'll try not to be hurt that my little girl is mad at me. I made her do it anyway but she's never been all 13 year old-esque on me. =P

If she was telling you she wasn't comfortable going forward, or didn't want to go forward and you made her anyway, honestly I'd be upset as well. If a horse doesn't want to go forward out of unconfidece the worst thing you could do is push them. If the horse is arguing with you and it's not a confidence issue, the worst thing you can do is push them ;) It's true though. If the horse is confident and is just saying "No" then you have to figure out WHY the horse is saying no......and it's not because "it's just how he is." If you try to force the horse then how can he ever trust and respect the rider?

So you are saying you should let the horse do what it wants? It sounds to me like Lucy wanted to go home and was mad you were not letting her. Not so much pinning her ears at *you* but at the fact you were making her work

She was perfectly confident. There is a part of that road that really freaks her out but I don't take her there, yet, because I know if she's having issues on the non scary road it's not going to get any better when she is scared. =) I'm really not sure why she was being all angry about it, she's never been like that before (perhaps it's becuase her favorite way of saying she doesn't want to go is stopping, backing and rearing and since I had the crop she knew she wouldn't get away with those?) I kinda posted this in hopes that someone might give me some insight. At the same time, I'm perfectly willing to just appreciate that she's conversing with me instead of blowing up and move on.
She has issues and I'm not going to blame everything on someone else but I don't think she will ever be completely trusting of her rider just because of the treatment she received over the last 23 of her 24 years of life. She has no issues trusting me on the ground but when I mount up she basically lives for the moment I get off and as soon as I do she backs up so her head is at my chest and she basically goes all gooey on me. I can see what you're saying but I think that the most I can hope for with her is to have her tolerate/get marginal enjoyment from being ridden like she does now. I don't think I can hope for her to love being ridden.

1dog3cats17rodents- I agree that she may have just been pinning her ears at not wanting to leave her buddies. =) And her name is Lacey. ;)

Well know I feel bad Please tell Lacey I am very sorry, I'm not sure why I called her Lucy

Oh that's totally fine. I figured you knew. No worries. =) I've called her Shorty, after my favorite little pony, more than once on accident. Haha And I own her! =P

I wouldn't worry much. Very well may be you spoiled her too much, so she's trying to be in charge. My paint pins ears on everyone including my mom who feeds her. She does it on me too when I ride her and make her to do something she's not happy about (like going faster he-he). But I just ignore that for most parts.