Advice needed! Cornering and standing still.

[LBStar]

Advice needed!
Our 7yo TB gelding was bred for racing and was backed but never raced when we got him. We’ve hunted him this last year or so and he’s pretty sensible (for a full TB), but he’s got this awful habit of going backwards instead of standing still when he gets worked up. It’s only happened a couple of times and it’s very hard to stop (20+minutes). He only tends to do it when overwhelmed on the hunting field and his ears are never back but he will back into horses, trees, and even (lightly) bumped a car! He completely stops listening to his rider.
The other problem is that he leans into corners like a motorcyclist! When we first got him his outline was woeful with his neck constantly a mile out to the left, and he moved into all leg aids to hold him out on the corners. While his outline and straightness/bending has massively improved, and he has started listening to leg aids, as soon as the speed increases (fast trot or canter) he goes back to leaning (so far he nearly slips and falls.)
I’ve never had these problems with any of our other horses and I feel like our progress has completely plateaued. He’s 17.2hh so his trouble cornering also makes working on anything else in the paddock difficult.
Not entirely sure where to go from here, please help xx

 

[j1ffy]

He sounds like a big boy who's probably not balanced yet. On the schooling front, do you have a good instructor to work with? Nothing beats eyes on the ground. I'd avoid doing any fast work in the school (not sure why you'd want to do a fast trot in the school anyway) and work on his balance in walk and a steady trot, building up to short burst of canter so he has time to balance himself and build his strength and suppleness. Some basic in-hand exercises are really helpful too as they teach the horse how to carry himself - have a google for some videos or I know @sbloom often offers to share some exercises with forum users.

On the going backwards issue, my youngster went through a nappy phase in the arena last autumn and would go backwards. He'd happily keep going for laps of the school so the usual "keep them going backwards until they're bored" didn't work, and he'd block out any forward aids. What works for him is immediately spinning in a small circle (his nose almost to my knee) - do one circle, try to go forwards, then keep spinning if he's still sticky. Maybe worth a go if there's space on the hunting field?

 

[LEC]

The TB is designed as the ultimate flight animal so it’s usually when the brain has overloaded they either run backwards or run forwards. You probably need to get better at switching off the adrenaline which is what is short fusing then brain. Walking around is helpful then asking to stand. Small circles bending the neck and getting the hind leg to disengage, then standing still. Basically you need to get the brain working again and the adrenaline down. Standing still and expecting it just to be ok might be a step too far at the moment. I tend to go autumn hunting a lot for this reason as learn to switch off the adrenaline and smaller fields.