Desensitizing the "Quirky" Horse

Q    I own a Quarter Horse mare Ive bred and raised with the intent of developing a good show horse. Shes a beautiful mover and so far has placed very successfully in hunter flat classes when shes behaved. My goal is to show in other AQHA events such as equitation patterns and even Western pattern classes horsemanship and trail. The problem is she can be quirky quick to anticipate easily surprised by a sudden movement of my leg or hand even spray bottles can set her off. I cant leave her tied because shes been known to pull back when surprised. She takes some time to settle in with lunging and riding before she feels relaxed enough for the class. My instructor says I should just stick to the rail classes or else find a different horse. Am I wasting my time?

A    You need to ask yourself how much time or training money youre prepared to devote to turning your mare into an allaround horse. Im big on being realistic about these things. We may hope for the War Horse story of taming and bonding with the volatile horse through perseverance but in reality such a horse is the product of both nature and nurture and it takes a lot of work and skill to change that.
Ive had several horses in my program that despite their talent were extremely frustrating in their early competitive years similar to the mare youre describing. After investing many years of consistent training they eventually desensitized to the situations that would formerly set them off. Now as mature horses they are successful versatile competitors.
Changing behaviour is like creating a new pathway in place of a welltrodden one. Its hard work and things often get worse before they get better. A competitive rider might elect to