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Daisy,
  It's hard to give advise without knowing you and your horse,
but I'll take a stab at it anyway.  
  First, I'd try leading the mare around the cross-country
course.  Notice what sets her off or concerns her: is the the
obstacles?  The open space?  Where does she seem the least
upset?  You are trying to determne the boundaries of her
comfort-zone, so you can work within it.  Do ground-work in the
cc-course: lunging, ground-driving etc, until she settles down,
before riding her there.  If you can borrow a horse to pony her
from, even better.  As with any training exercise, start off
with short easy sessions, and GRADUALLY increase the
time/intensity, and praise her to the skies as long as she isn't
blowing up.  Your goal is to keep her within her comfort zone
while SLOWLY, incrementally pushing the envelope and expanding
it.  The next step, ideally, is to ride her in the cc-course
with a calmer companion under saddle, assuming you have a friend
with a quiet horse who will ride with you. Again, start of with
brief sessions, within her comfort zone.   Now notice how YOU
react to her:  are you tensing up?  Holding your breath? 
Gripping with the legs or hanging on her mouth?  Horses are very
sensitive to the rider and get nervous if the rider seems
nervous.  When my Idiot Boy gets wierded out by things, I say,
matter-of-factly, "Cyclone, don't be an idiot".  I try to convey
that I am in control and I don't care about the monster, so he
shouldn't either.  I do my best to stay physically relaxed, not
gripping my legs or getting into his mouth too much.  If I can
relax, he usually does too.  It usually works.

Of course, if you are not confident in your ability to keep her
under control, you might work on your rdining skills as well. 
dressage lessons, riding bare-back (in the ring of course),
whatever you think will help improve your ability to stay on and
handle her.

Good luck.

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Hi,
I have been having some problems conditioning my horse, because
I don't want to ride her on the trail alone, because she has a
tendency to go nuts. I can pretty much handle the spooks, but I
don't think it's a good idea to go on long rides alone on a
unpredictable horse. The ranch I am at has a cross-country
course, which I would like to use, but my mare blows up so often
in the big open fields, that it seems even more dangerous than
riding farther away. Does anybody have any advice? Thanks!
Daisy 

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