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Echo the votes for putting her in a program.
Every “nervous” type that I have had has benefitted from knowing exactly what is expected of them every day of the week.
In my experience, much easier to accomplish in a professional program than at home/self-managed.
And, as previously mentioned, judiciously-used draw reins. Teach her and train her the way you want her to go. Help her build the correct muscles and muscle memory.

I would definitely check for ulcers. If she has them, treat them. If not, then you’ve ruled that out, and I’d do a basic lameness exam to check for any other obvious pain issues. Pain can make them hypervigilant and spooky, and no amount of training will unravel it all unless you address the pain.

Next, are you using ear plugs? I think they can really help with focus for these types. Easy and harmless enough to try.

And finally, this is not an at the show problem. You can’t possibly fix this at shows until you fix it at home. Are there any other horses at home? Anyone else ride with you? Maybe some company from a relaxed steady eddie type will help her not always be on the lookout for stuff to spook at. After all of that, then you have to work on general rideability. This might take stronger tools than you are using now, because blowing through the aids is not acceptable. You need whatever it takes to get at least SOME response in the right direction that you can reward her for. But whatever it is, it can’t be too harsh in that it makes her anxious. Without jumping, she needs to be able to hack around the ring relaxed and focused and not about to spin you off at any moment. She needs to be able to connect with you on the ground and in the saddle. She has some baggage apparently from a previous owner and does not trust her rider.

There are various methods for teaching relaxation, but she also sounds like a candidate for a period of full training from someone who can fix the basic rideability part. Apart from that, doing obstacles and some controlled desensitization work may help with your communication and connection. Because if she is brave to the jumps, she can be brave to other weird objects in the ring as a starting point. It’s not that unusual for these WBs to be looky outside the ring but fine with all the jumps and filler and whatnot in the ring, but it’s a focus and connection problem more than a real fear problem. It’s dis-associative type behavior that’s a manifestation of underlying stress and anxiety (which is why you check for pain as the first step).

OP, based on your updated information:

1. Get a thorough vet exam including eyes. although I suspect ulcers. You can either scope for ulcers or just start treating w/Omeprozol.

2. Check saddle fit

3. Get into a program with regular pro rides at home and at shows. If it was my horse and I wanted to move up, I’d have a pro ride weekly as well as riding/showing at every show until this is done.

4. Consider adding in dressage lessons to help improve rideability.

Good luck, I hope you find a solution that works for both of you!

I would run titers for EPM and Lyme also
Both of those things can make a horse seem nutty, and not necessarily classically ataxic, or lame
Ulcergard is great. So is Equicalm. It has bismuth in it for the gut. It was the difference maker for a horse we had a few years ago; either bucked the kid off without it, or was a winner in big classes

OP, I feel your pain!
My WB mare “gawked” and spooked at EVERYTHING.
What worked for me:

1. I did a round of ulcerguard: I saw results in 3-4 days.
2. Hormone implants: Synovex. My vet recommended them. They have made a world of difference. Did not completely eliminate heat cycles, but boy did it help get rid of most of them. $100, every 6 months.
3. Lots of Warwick Schiller training. It’s an eye-opener for a long-time rider like me. My mare is lots more confident about herself and about me being a good steward of her.
4. And still, there are a lot of “gawk” moments! I’ve learned that I need to just keep riding, and hope that she is learning that she can look, but needs to keep going forward. Can’t stop and check everything out! It’s amusing to see what she gawks at and what she does not: it’s like “Mom, that?That’s no big deal.”

I haven’t read through all of the comments, but of course assuming there is no pain causing this behavior…will she jump jumper jumps?

I’d try some little (.80) jumpers. My hot and somewhat spooky mare thrives on a soundproof bonnet at shows. Of course I also do the ulcergard routine prior to and during every show.

That way, it’s not stressful for you to make it perfect, and you can go as slow as you want, really take your time, and still practice in a show ring setting.

Best of luck!

Your vet did what?!? There is no way it is legal to put a cattle implant in a mare and then compete.

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I know you’re sending her to training already so this is just a curiosity question: when she was in training at this place with “weekly” rides, how often was she getting worked otherwise? We’re you really driving 4 hours round trip to get on her daily? Along that line, when she goes to training this time, how many rides are we talking?

I say this because these types often need daily, consistent work. One of the show barns I boarded at did their “training board” at 5 rides a week - owner chose how many of those were lessons and how many were pro rides. Basically the horse was worked at least 5 times a week under pro supervision and it worked great! Consistency, routine, and wet saddle pads really works wonders if there’s no pain involved.

OTOH, if you’re a weekend only rider due to distance, and your trainer is only doing one ride a week, I don’t know if you’d see a difference in MOST horses. That’s assuming the rides even happened, but still. The flighty hotter horses I’ve dealt with did MUCH better when worked with intention 6 or even 7 days a week.

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Yeah that sounds super stressful. Fingers crossed this new training situation works out better!

All of the above, I’ll just add what helped with my guy. He’s super athletic, he retains fitness, he’s perfect 98% of the time. What has helped tremendously- flame suit also zipped- is when I feel his ADHD kick in, and when I see the triggers before he does, or am in a new place- I use an operant conditioning method. I am not a cookie person. He is a cookie person. So I have trained him when I sing (yes sing, the same song over and over and over) I would give him a cookie. Then- when I was on him and he’d start to spiral- sing, give a cookie, he relaxes.

Now- you’ll hear me singing. He associates it with a cookie, he relaxes. It sounds ridiculous, it used to feel ridiculous, but it has deescalated him so.many.times.

It gets his brain back and paying attention to me and my aids.

I went totally outside the box because I can do 10 lessons and nothing (also taught him to stand mounting using cookies). 11 lesson explosion. Scoped- no ulcers. We’re now at the point if I’m hacking around and start the song- he stops and kind of turns his head around - hey mom - you ok up there?

Ok, now we need to know. What song!

And cool way to think outside the box.

Big Bang Theory I know it by heart, the tempo kind of matches and “it all started with a big bang” is satisfying for me because there’s no explosion . I’ve done this in front of some Olympic clinicians and even they notice his demeanor change and say “keep singing”

I event my spooky horse who likes to do something similar. What has helped us is tiny, soft, slow circles by whatever he’s spooking at until he softens and stops spooking. Obviously there is a limit to doing this in the show ring, but the more I apply this at home, the better he is at shows where I can’t do this ad nauseum. I have to take my energy level way down and then just softly, slowly circle until he checks back in. The circle has to be aimed pointing back at what he’s spooking at, never letting him migrate away. I think he’s become way less spooky in general because it just gently takes the wind out of his sails. I’ll do this by a scary object near the dressage arena until they ring the bell for us to go in. If there’s a particularly spooky banner in stadium, I’ll circle near that until the bell is rung, etc etc.

Might be worth heading to some new venues and just doing schooling rounds etc where you can do this so that your mare can start to generalize the results of spooking to the new show rings.

Also my guy has been treated for ulcers, gets regular adjustments, saddle fit checked, etc. Treating ulcers helped him check back in quicker after spooking and has stopped his spiral, but he still spooks and stares. It’s just who he is as a person.

That’s awesome! I actually encourage my more tense riders to sing (quietly) as they ride, as you have a harder time holding your breath while singing. It encourages correct breathing. My sister, who taught music and sang professionally, taught ME this!

Oooh good point! My mare becomes MUCH more looky when she’s in a heat cycle.

My singing would likely cause spooks. Shame I didn’t inherit either one of my parent’s singing voices.

And some of the clinicians (including my jumper trainer) have mentioned this, as well. Typically, I am not a tense rider but when he starts to wind up I get tense, that stresses him out and the cylce continues. Now that we have cookie therapy- life is much easier. I threw away dressage points at a local show. he started to amp up so I started singing in my circle. He’s either going to lose points becasue of behavior/error or I can use it as a “life isn’t that bad even though I don’t talk in dressage” and throw away the points. It worked and though I lost points for using my voice, the judge actually noted “good ride on a tense horse. Good training moment”.