Is there anything medically that can cause it? I am talking the entire ride - every rock, stump, tree, cow, puddle, sign, bag, BARREL... this is a barrel horse that has been hauled for several years now. He is 12 years old. He was a cutting horse until he was 6 so he’s been hauled and exposed his entire life. His previous owner is a good friend of mine who spent years working on desensitizing. You would never know it... he literally spooks at the barrels sometimes while running them. Practice and competition. He’s truly a dog gentle horse and when you kick him forward towards whatever is that spooks him he will go over or on or into it without refusal, but will spook at it the next time you walk near it. 

Any ideas?? We have ridden a lot of horses and never seen anything like it. 

Maybe he's having vision problems? I always wonder if spookiness, espeically in a horse that never used to have that issue, is from poor eyesight? 

He was sold to my friend a few years ago with his spookiness being disclosed. They did a prepurchase on him so checked his basic eye sight. I’m tempted to track down the cutting trainer and see if he was like this when he was younger too. I’ve read little things on EPM and Lymes causing spookiness but I don’t know if they were credible. 

I would have him tested for EPM and it can cause issues of spookiness. I would have EPM ruled out at least. 

Sometimes when a horse has pain/tension, they will get very spooky and not be themselves, or they will get heavy on the bit and lean on a rein.

That's like my white horse.. I can walk by and sneeze and he will jump. Hes always been that way, he actually looks for things to spook at... but, I will say hes pretty much all business in the pen or when actually out moving cows or working .. I know him so well I know hes going to spook before he does lol! Nothing is wrong with him health wise, he's just a big ol chicken $hit! 

I had a Mr. San Peppy bred gelding that was just like yours, You could be brushing him and kinda pitch the brush out of the way after you were finished brushing him off and as soon as the brush hit the ground he would jump and snort, he droved me coo-coo

Hes a big ol goof but hes mine so I deal with his cowardly ways lol! 

Selenium, magnesium, calcium- a deficiency or lack of ratio can cause spooky nerves. 

How does one go about getting this "ratio" back in order??

I've always been told that cutting-bred horses will usually be spooky since they are bred to be REACTIVE in order to do their job (cutting).

I second this. My mare is a totally different animal after being treated for EPM. 

You may want to have him tested for PSSM.  I'm going through this with mine now.  It can cause alot of behavior issues.

I've been reading the PSSM forum on facebook and alot of people report spookiness.

Basic lab work showed my horse being deficient in several things that may point to PSSM.  He is PSSM1 neg so we'll test him for PSSM2.

HIs symptoms and gentetics point to PSSM2.

EPM & Lymes can cause spookiness but if this horse has had the problem pretty much it's whole life, I do doubt that's what you are dealing with.  I second the PSSM1 or PSSM2 possibility.  My one mare was horribly spooky, would bolt, buck, etc when she was symptomatic.  (of course, it's only one of many possible symptoms & they do not have to have ALL of the symptoms that some have experienced.)

We have cutting and cow breds - they are watchy, but not stupid spooky like this sounds.  They may not be the best horse to choose for a relaxing trail ride, because they are looking for work - but they won’t run away from everything either.

i second some of the testing suggested.

I was told by a vet friend that every horse in the state of Texas would test positive for EPM.  The treatment for EPM may be  cheaper than the test.

Ask your vet if s/he will prescribe some fluoxetine (Prozac). I'm not big on drugs but it may help an extremely spooky horse. 

When my vet diagnosed my mare, he did not sent off spinal fluid or blood work - he was positive she had it based on tail pull and the other test they do (what it is called is escaping me at the moment...) She's a little over 30 days into treatment and a completely different horse. 

But that's basically what he said, the testing is expensive, all signs pointed toward EPM, so he suggested we just treat and save myself several hundred in testing.

Just curious, how's he bred? I know there are a few cow horse lines that have repuations for being a little....

Check his eyes, put him on MagRestore and Focus, 10 Day course of toltrazuril. 

When my barrel gelding come up out of the pasture one night, he was walking all drunk and falling, one vet that came out to see him said it was rabies, I didnt think it was rabies myself, he didnt act sick and all this happen overnight, I told him I think he might have ran into a tree and cause head trauma, so that vet left and I called Dr Martin at Retama, brought him in when he could handle a trailer ride over there, had a Spinal Tap done on him, it came back clean, no EPM, did some more tests on him for something else that I cant remember what it was, all clean. And the Spinal Tap was not expensive it was 185.00 at that time, the treaments would have been way more expensive.

If your horse means alot to you and its your heart Horse like mine are to me then a EPM test is worth it to get it ruled out. My gelding did came back and never had any more issues, Dr. Martin agreed that it was trauma to head or neck to cause him to be drunk, we did x rays too, all came back clean.

So my point is if your horse is important get a EPM test if its not EPM then you can move ahead to the next thing to look for. 

My gelding is worked 6 days a week, and pretty looky. No ulcers, etc, and I put him on Oxygen Relax pellets and Oxygen Mag-Select pellets (magnesium pellets) and those two products combined have really helped him focus. He's been on them for about 100 days and I've seen a big difference. I love the Magnum 44 paste 2 hours before an event or trailer ride. And no, I'm not a dealer, just really like their products. 

He is by WR This Cats Smart by High Brow Cat and out of a mare by Smart Mate by Smart Little Lena.

I myself LOVE the WR's. I think they're smart and athletic and bigger than average as far as cutters go. I'm always on the lookout for another one. But they're one of those lines that has a reputation. Not even necessarily as looney, but as big motored and big ego'd and pretty reactive. I'm not saying that it's just his breeding and there's nothing physical going on, but it could very well be a contributing factor.

I bought a Lenas Telesis who's overly reactive and sensitive, and when I took her down to ride with a trainer he told me "Oh all those Lenas Telesis horses are goofier than $#!&.", so I feel your pain a bit!

My gelding is the same way - has been since I got him 4 years ago. Cutting reject gelding with a year of training. He dashboarded me probably 3 dozen times at the puddles when we were warming up in the dark on Friday at a race. Flinches or runs away if you move too fast. He's gotten a ton better with me but is very much a one person horse and will flat fly sideways if someone else comes at him too fast. It's just something I've learned to deal with. MagRestore by Performance Equine has helped a ton. I can tell when he misses a couple doses. I also think he has some gastric issues going on which I'm in the middle of figuring out - he's much more docile when treated for ulcers however I know he didn't have any when I first got him so he's always been like this to an extent. Draw some blood, my guy was Vit E, Vit A and selenium deficient. Cheap test to try. Let us know what you find out!