Race Horse PTSD

Cupid is so easy going most of the time, people can't believe he's an ex-racehorse.  He's great on trails, my 2.5 year old rides him, etc.  But every so often something can set him off and he reverts to racehorse mode.  It happens so rarely that when it does happen it catches me off guard.  Today was a foggy day, which can make him a bit more looky but usually nothing too bad.  Nevertheless I decided to ride in the covered arena, where he is usually less distracted.  The covered arena is higher then the paddocks and pastures by it, and with the trees and outbuildings around it you can only catch occasional glimpses of the horses outside.  However, we could definitely hear them, and one of the pastures was playing hard.  When Cupid gets excited, 3 things happen:

1) His tail shoots straight up in the air.  This is a dead giveaway something is about to happen!

2) He has to face the excitement, no matter what.  He will pretzel himself if needed to accomplish this.

3) Apparently the ground around us turns to lava, and Cupid must keep his feet off the ground.  He prances like he's on his way to the racetrack.

I'm only slightly embarrassed to admit I decided to hop off.  I know he probably wouldn't do anything that would get me off, but I hate trying to ride out #3!  I tried doing some in hand exercises to get him to refocus, but #2 made it difficult.  

But just as quickly as it began, the horses outside settled down and Cupid did too.  I got back on him, trotted around and he was a perfect gentleman.  We cantered and even jumped a small vertical, mostly just so I can prove to myself that we my original plan for the day included doing some jumping.  Even though it was a bit of a long spot I didn't really feel the need to correct it, but I think it was good we did it.  The rest of the ride was very uneventful.  We did a lot of circling and bending around the jumps at the trot, and did a few walk to canter transitions.  

Today I had the lunge cavesson on, but I did actually get a proper side pull.  It's by thinline, and just all leather (no hard core) with metal rings for the bits.  But I put it on my western headstall with split reins and just didn't want to deal with that extra length while jumping.  But we've had a few good rides with it, and have been practicing our neck reining which is actually going well.  We've gone through most of our training level dressage tests, I think it helps to have something familiar because even if Cupid isn't totally certain about the cue he can fall back on following a familiar pattern! 

Thinline Side Pull, on my old western headstall

We have an appointment with a western saddle fitter coming up.  I don't mind being the odd man out in an english saddle when I'm cattle sorting or doing trail trials, but I also wouldn't mind having a western saddle that fits both Cupid and I because why not.  If we find one that fits, we may even try a little showing of some variety.  I was a little disappointed to see that for western dressage, while you can use certain bitless bridles if I understand correctly the side pull isn't allowed.