I had a horse in training who was just like this, and progressed to explosive episodes as training continued. The episodes didn’t connect to anything specific or replicable in the training regimen with the exception of the canter and downward transitions of any type. We did various things within the training to try to sort out the problem, and I finally decided that perhaps we were dealing with PSSM. We had a full lameness workup done by a specialist, and his conclusion was that we were, in fact, facing PSSM. He sent hair to UC Davis for testing for PSSM 1, and that was negative (it was of particular concern given that the horse was an unregistered QH). We then sent blood to Equiseq for testing, and he came back positive for P2 and Px. Neither of us (owner and trainer) have a lot of faith in anything which is not peer-reviewed and independently tested, but the biopsy route was pretty much unavailable to us in Western Canada in the midst of a heat wave, so we tailored his diet and exercise to those recommended for PSSM2 positives, and within a month he was happy, forward, and cantering normally. The Equiseq test only verified what we and the specialist had already concluded, and helped to some degree with the dietary considerations. One of the biggest changes was the inclusion of forced exercise every day, even though he had access to ample turnout. Longeing, hand walking, or riding every day is really helpful.