My horse wont canter anymore he goes straight to a gallop HELPP

So we bought this morab gelding about three weeks ago. He is a amazing horse. Wonderful. Hes a bit spooky but otherwise great.

When i ride him in the arena (we have a huge arena) he doesnt canter, he goes straight to a gallop and its pissing me off because im trying to practice for fair and he wont even get a simple canter down. He cant be galloping around into other horses in my pleasure class. We have a indoor arena, so i cantered him in there. Normally he canters. This time he galloped. Its driving me insane. I dont know what it is but he loves running. Yet were working on leads because he is on his way to being a game horse. Though a barrel clincian said its good to do slow things like pleasure too. How can i get him to canter instead of gallop? smooch is canter now he just gallops. Instead should i use light preasure behind the girl and no verbal comands?

It sounds like he's confused - you wanted speed so he's giving speed and now you're not happy. Return to CONTROL. Teach flexibility and watch your cues. If you're telling him to slow down but squeezing with your legs - he can't go fast and slow at the same time. it sounds like he's on the way to being "speed crazy" - slow things are needed but more cut the speed work and work on control. Teach collection - the difference between canter and gallop. When he starts speeding up circle him. BREATHE. He's probably not deliberately disobeying he's trying to figure out what you want. In three weeks you're still getting used to each other. When he starts speeding up and you're relaxed circle him. Use a quarter or half the arena but keep circling until he slows...and is relaxed. Praise him when he does what you want. You might even consider using a totally different bit for slow work than speed events...it does work. It gives him a signal of what to expect. But even with using that - teach control. Trot the patterns. Do it backwards. Break up the pattern - if you normally go to the right barrel first go to the left one, go all the way around circling the barrel then go to the third one. Get him THINKING about listening to you rather than just rushing to what he THINKS you want. Work on figure 8 and serpentines for those lead changes.