"Retraining" for Pleasure -- Horse and Rider?

[Roheryn]

The horse I ride used to be an eventer before he was retired and came to us. Before that he did western pleasure. When I first knew him I figured he was changed to eventing because of being too nervous to have been good at WP. But as I've come to know him better, I think that maybe he enjoyed WP more than eventing (his eventing owner used to get him all hot and bothered and rattled).

All he and I do is hack around the farm--we're both too old to do much more than that. Trouble is, neither one of us is particularly laid back, take-things-as-they-come, by nature.

I really want to work on getting us both relaxed so we can keep on enjoying just hacking; so I won't keep thinking he's gonna take off and jump the cross country jumps when we're riding in the pasture, and so he can go back to going on a loose rein/light contact like a western pleasure horse and we can both really enjoy ourselves.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated--by him as well as me! :)

[Waikato Valuta]

I would try leading or long reining him. I use this on all my horses that get hot on the trail. I think having someone on the ground centers them until they become braver.

Otherwise try just walking. If he tries to go faster just bring him back to a walk and try again. Only trot when you feel 100% comfortable he is not going to do anything.