ring sour horse

Question
I have an awesome 14 year old QH gelding. When I got him, he was a retired rope horse, reining horse, gaming horse and cow horse, and I  have put about 7 months of western pleasure training in him. He is trained to the max and we are always in the top ribbons in our classes. We only have 2 issues...after taking him to a few shows, he has decided that every time the announcer says something, it means to go faster or go the other way. At first, I was able to correct him quickly, but every show we go to it has gotten worse. It used to be that if the announcer said "jog", he would jog. Not much of a problem, right? Now, when the announcer says, "first call class 73" or "there is a red pickup outside with its lights on", he will pick up the lope.

Our second problem is patterns for equitation classes. He is a retired gaming horse, so when we have cones set up for the pattern, and we have to go in one at a time or stand in a line with our horses, he gets his gaming mode on, and starts jigging and breaks into a sweat and our pattern comes out as "halt, rear and crowhop a few times while acknowledging the judge, prance to cone 1, attempt to make a large circle at the jog while horse is trying desperately to make a small turn and make the cones into a pole bending pattern, then pick up a lope that turns into a hand gallop, attempt a lead change, try to lope a large circle while horse is trying to "run home", then on top of all that, make a balanced stop, back 6 steps, and perform a 360 degree haunch turn, that turns into a reining spin."

How in the world can I fix these problems? I have never gamed him in my life, and I practice at home with cones for patterns and he is fine, but as soon as we hit the show ring, he gets this way. I have also had my trainer say in a loud voice while outside the arena "walk your horses or jog, etc" and he does fine.

I don't get nervous before going into the show ring, so I know it can't be my nerves that are setting him off, so how can I fix this "ring sour" horse? Thanks!

Answer
Hi Haley,

Thanks for the great email, sounds like you have a very fun and smart horse. Okay, I'll do this in sections:

Anticpation:

As far as anticipating the announcer, most of the good ones, get there at some time or another, the best thing to do is go to some schooling shows and school. At some shows they ask you to turn your number upside down, others have classes labeled, schooling. And when the announcer says something, not only do the opposite, but make it hard. For instance if the announcer says jog and your horse starts to lope, take him off the rail (away from other horses) and ask him sidepass or two track, something to get his feet moving and engage the thinking side of his brain.  You are also making doing the wrong thing, much harder work, than if he'd just waited for your cue. If you are at a larger boarding facility, with a PA system, you can even set this senerio up at home and do even more schooling. But you'll need a PA system and a dozen or so horses to re-create this and to be honest, sometimes, they still know the difference and lack of "horse show" atmosphere. That's where schooling shows, will help a great deal.

patterns:

I assume the announcer has no bearing on his reaction here, so this one will be easier to duplicate. I'd again suggest hauling to another arena, getting some friends to come with you, set yourself up, just like a show, all lined up and when he starts getting jiggy, do the same exercise as I described above, make him back figure eights, sidepass in a square, do this until he decides, that standing or walking sounds much better and easier. Due to his gaming and reining experience, the pattern is going to probably be more challenging to re-train than the rail work. All the events he's done, in a patter, all were performed at gallop, so in some way's he is thinking, he's doing the right thing, it's just conditioning, that said, he can certainly be re-programmed, it's just going to take some patience and creative riding on your part. The good thing is, you sound not only experienced, but patient enough to get him through this.

Best Wishes,

Jen