I don't know much about horses so maybe someone else will know more but to me, if she is normally hyper and never tests you, it seems odd that she would all of a sudden start. I think you definitely should at least get her checked out by the vet or farrier or maybe even the horse dentist. Even if there is nothing wrong, I think she needs to be checked out. Also as for dragging you to the stall and acting that different if she's in pain, I think maybe the actual work is painful but just walking might not necessarily be. If it is arthritis it may not be bad enough to constantly hurt yet. A horse I used to ride developed bad ankles and you had to be careful when you cantered or did tightish circles so you wouldn't hurt him. I messed up a few times but thankfully he wasn't necessarily in pain then but it was just a long term thing. I forget what it was but I think you had to pull his head up on the turns and not let him duck down to far and be on a certain angle. Anyway, he was like 24 and a lesson horse (he might be retired now idk) but he could ride perfectly fine, you just had to be careful in certain situations. That might the case with your girl. Just because SOME situations are painful doesn't mean ALL are painful yet. Not to mention the fact that going back to her stall and near the other horses (if you have any) may have simply been exciting to her and riled her up or that she wanted to check things outm Doesn't necessarily mean she's not in pain. My dog injured his leg a few years ago and we were supposed to limit exercise for a couple weeks or months, we tried he still wanted to run, wanted to play, etc. Animals don't alwaya necessarily know what's best for them so if she wss excited she might drag you even though she's in pain. If it was me I would stop trying to put all these thoughts into her head, automatically assuming she's testing your authority and all that, and just get her checked out. She's clearly trying to tell you something is wrong especially with that drastic change in behavior. Generally with animals when they are acting differently from their normal behavior then you know something is wrong. If it was just one day or something then mayhe she was just not feeling it that day but to consistently act strange for a week, something is wrong. Even if she's not lame, something else might be going on. And even if nothing is going on, the vet can rule it out and be sure.
