I did that once on a friends horse. We were riding together, and when we got to the back of my property her horse started trying to turn around and go back. This horse was very very spoiled. I kept telling her to at least keep the horse facing in the direction we were wanting to go and she couldn't do it. She was a very timid rider.
I could tell the horse wasn't going to do anything all that awful, so I asked her if she would let me get on. So we switched horses, I was on Rusty. It was actually a lot of fun. This poor horse tried everything, but she never got turned around. Then she tried just going sidewise off the trail. One side was trees and brush the other side there was piles of rocks that we had dumped back there when we cleared some land. She got in those piles and was jumping around, over, and on them. I could hear Suzanne going Oh, Oh, OH, I don't know if it was for me or the horse:)
She finally decided the trail was better, and we had to go thru another battle wtih her trying to turn. I finally just nailed her with the spurs, and finally up the trial she went. The funny thing is, about 10 more minutes into the ride, Suzanne started having trouble with Rusty....He wasn't trying to turn on her but he'd just stop, and stand there. I told her just kick the crap out of him, and she'd flap her feet....I tried to tactfully point out to her where the problem was, but I don't think she got it.
She finally sold that horse and got an older mare. She's moved away now so I don't know how she is doing. But it was fun making that horse go down the trail.
Becky
Horses seem to be very good at drama and they can figure out who they can get away with what very quickly. There's 2 kinds of horse people...people who have horses, and horsemen(in the generic sense), and there's a BIG difference. It sounds like your friend fits into the former category and you in the latter.
Bay threw a balky fit once last year early on, one of the first rides with Cyn. He didn't want to go in the little creek he's crossed a million times, the one we've got all the pictures in. At first I chuckled at him and kicked him forward, not letting him turn around, and danged if he didn't keep it up and danced and jittered and wanted to spin and refuse. He started making me mad, and I take a little different approach I've used before, going back to my stallion, who had the potential to rear up in those kinds of situations.
When a horse is balking and you force it is when there is a risk, when faced with the point of 'go/no go' that the horse will rear up or otherwise blow. While I didn't think that would happen with Bay, not over this creek expecially, I did this:
Walk them up to the point where they balk and encourage, if they refuse and spin, let them turn around, but when they are facing away from the 'challenge' smack them. I didn't have a crop, only the leftover ends of my reins, which I slapped back and forth several times on his shoulders. This was punishment, not encouragement, for him turning around. Then turn him back and encourage.... but don't punish. If he turns again, and Bay did, he got smacked several more times. When I turned him back to face the challenge again, he went.
It's the same idea as letting the horse go sideways but not turn, give them limited choices where the trail starts seeming like the easiest choice because the other choices are increasingly unpleasant. But turning and only punishing him when he was turned the wrong way takes the heat out of the moment for the horse... and decreased the chance that they'll panic and blow up.
Just another approach... A little safer for either a fractious horse or an inexperienced (or timid) rider.