Cantering/ Loping

Question
I'm 14 years old but I have a horse that is 18.  He is a Quarter Horse and does not act his age.  He has been a show horse in his earlier years and then changed to a trail horse for 9 years before I got him.  He does not want to act serious in trainging.  He doesn't want to learn things that have to do with showing.  He is very bad at cantering.  Last year we were in walk/trot division and won chanpionship so this year we moved up to cantering with the older kids.  I dont know how to calm him down at his canter and keep his head down, to stay collective.  I dont know how to teach him to calm down in a pattern and to teach him how to pivot.  He doesn't listen to my leg pressure either.  When we do a pattern he dances around like an arabian.  He doesn't calm down like he is waiting for me to just let him go to run.  I think he used to do barrels or maybe reinging.  He can canter in very tight circles and do flying lead changes.  He can spin very fast and almost do a sliding stop.  I want him to forget about that and start him in western pleasure and english riding.  I hope you can give me some exercises or something to help him not push through a pattern.  Thank you so much for your time.

Answer
This helped me with my x-racehorse, since all he wanted to do was evade contact and canter unbalanced. Establish 2 20 meter circles around the arena. Canter them and change the speeds from to collected to extended and back. This will help balance and engage your horse. Be sure to keep both reins an even length. Does your horse have trouble with leads? What you may want to do is counter-bend him when you ask for your canter and as you are doing that scoot your inside seat-bone forward BUT DO NOT LEAN FORWARD. This will just make the transition messy. Also, if you CAN, ride bareback and try these excersises. This will help you feel his back better. If you think he always wants to go on one lead, you might want to have a vet check him. He may be a little sore on that leg. If you know the patterns before you go into the ring, make sure to practice the more problematic excersises so you kind of know what to expect when you go into the ring. Practice a lot of transitions and to engage your horse even more, leg yeild at a trot and when you reach the corner, scoot him right into a canter. This will generate energy during the leg yield to pop him right up into it. Good luck! Hope this helped!