I would just start as high up on his neck as he is comfortable with, and just scratch/pet him repeatedly, going a little further and then quickly retreating lower. Make it no big deal. Just to push the boundaries of what he is comfortable with until he is desensitized.

My filly was great until the farrier decided it was a good idea to twist her ears in order to make her stand still x.x Took me a little while to get her used to my hand inside her ear again without her freaking out, but I started at the side of her neck and casually stroked her closer and further then even closer. Took about three days. The weanling will probably take longer, but be patient and go slow and steady.

 

I know this has been said many times in different situations, but has a vet had a look at the horse - particularly the head? Is it possible there was damage from the head banging incident that has left areas painful to the touch?

 

^ Agreed with both posters above me.

 

Since this is real fear and not misbehavior, just ignore the freaking out while you are working. Keep your energy like he was standing eating hay. Do as stated above, just go slow, dont make a big deal about it, don't get in a war and take what you can get. He is a weanling. You have plenty of time.
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^^What they all say Take it really easy & gradually & try not to go so far as to cause him to be more than nervous, let alone actually panicked. Earning his trust & building a good relationship otherwise will also help & rub off on his reactions.

 

I really ditto "get the vet" to look at the weanling and I would pay particular attention to the eyes.

It's possible, with all the thrashing in the incident, it may have damaged its eye sight in some way.

I would also have a qualified equine chiropractor look at the weanling. All that thrashing might also have caused some bones to go out of place anywhere but, particularly in the head.

When the Atlas bone goes out of place (doesn't seem to take much for that to happen), I was told by the chiropractor that horses can indeed get head pain.

Some horses deal with it, others don't.

 

Thanks for the replies.

We have discussed the vet, but then we will be forced to force the issue with him to endure the exam.. so catch 22. Still very much on the table.

He "appears" normal sighted, acting like a normal colt, happy, carefree, curious, hungry, other than that issue. He also doesn't "appear" to have pain, the halter doesn't bother him, other he rubs and scratches like normal, other horses can come around, just no human hands to the face... but the vet is still a very real possibility.

She will be happy to hear the "slow and steady" advise. She's a slow and steady person, but just feeling a little frustrated.

I'm more of the "you need to get a handle on him now" type .. lol.

Probably why I don't have weanlings.. lol.

 

I agree with the slow and steady. I got a yearling in June and he was pretty hot, jumpy, and scared of everything. I just take baby steps with him. He will now pick up all 4 feet, let me brush him all over, comes to the gate to greet me, lets me fly spray him and even put the fly mask on. He is still a little "oh, don't touch me there" on his lower legs, especially the back and his ears but I take the stick and rub his legs while he is eating and we are getting there slowly. I figure I have another 2 years before he can be broke to ride, so we just play at learning new things and working on manners. He'll get there for you, just don't push him too quickly.

 

This is a trauma case with a baby. They are just learning everything. His experience with his head has been PAIN. Every horse knows his head and his feet are his most important things. His head contains pretty much his whole world. He hears, sees, smells, eats, thinks, and feels from there. He HAS to protect it.

He is just learning to trust. Just learning how to learn. Going too quickly is like pushing the kid who is petrified of water into the pool. A kid who is truly scared might learn to swim out of survival, but there is a very good chance of making the fear worse.

Since this isn't a pushy, dominant, disrespectful type of avoidance, squashing him and making him get over it can have the opposite effect. Essentially, if you correct a horse that is really truly fearful, if you discipline him, or are aggressive, you confirm to him that there IS something to be scared of. If you basically ignore it and keep your energy(don't get mad, fretful, nervous, etc) low and act like nothing is happening, and just go easy, he will soon believe that nothing is wrong. Horses, most especially babies, feed off your feelings.

Keep the lessons short and give lots of praise. I always say a baby's attention span is only as big as he is and grows with him. Don't try to do too much.

Good luck!
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hi glad to hear your friend is slow and steady, this is good for all young things. i had a rescue appy gelding that the people" breaking" him had tied his head to a ring in their barn floor to teach him to lower his head!! needless to say this horse was terrified of having his head ( and just about every other part of himself) touched but with calm slow actions and by building trust -in 6 mos. i touched between his eyes for first time. Just be patient-- when a baby trusts u -- u can teach them anything!! Good luck, will be watching for your posts.

 

My friend thanks ya'll for the advice. She feels more confident now that she is doing the right thing. I know it breaks her heart to not be able to "play" with the colt and lead him etc, but she knows that, in the end, slow and steady is best.

I promise to return and post pictures as soon as I get down there with a camera..

He's a little hunk!

 

Poor little fellow. He sounds terrified. As everyone else said - slow and steady.

Biscuit was EXTREMELY head shy when I got him. Former owner's trainer had obviously beat the hell out of him (tied him all day to a post with his forehead into the post head full of blood - my cousin saw him called his owner and said you need to go get your horse!) and the result is head shy horse.

When I got Biscuit he would let you put his halter and bridle on but his head was up on the moon and he was shaking and trembling. FORGET brushing his head or ears, forget spraying his with water anywhere NEAR his head.

This is what I did - I would touch him softly on his neck and as soon as he got that panicked look on his face I would take my hand away. I would give him treats on a regular basis. He would gladly take a treat and a bucket of treats helped Biscuit to see I wasn't going to beat the snot out of him. Lots of buckets of treats have gone into getting Biscuit where I can take his halter/bridle off with no problem. He drops his nose when i put his bridle on. I can spray his neck and lower jowls with water and he will stand to have water spray in the air and fall on his head - he isn't happy about it but he is coming around. I have owned him almost 22 months so this hasn't been something that happened quickly. He still doesn't like fast movements near his head. I always remember to go slow tacking him up so he isn't upset. Lots of hugs (he would stiffen up when I first got him if I hugged him up!) lots of pats, lots of grooming softly, loads and loads of handling him to now I can pick up his feet (OMG that was a NIGHTMARE when I got him) brush his face, lift up his lip to look at his teeth, wash his sheath. This horse was terrified at first now he is a pretty laid back guy as long as you don't manhandle him.

I normally wouldn't say give treats but in this case it might help the little fellow form a bond with her and when the bond comes so does the trust.

Rule out pain from whatever injury may have occurred. Good luck and let us hear how he is doing.

 

He will eat grass out of her hand. He whinnies at her and will trot and canter around her in circles when she enters the paddock... like she's his mamma. She feeds him several times a day. He acts genuinely happy to see her. So he WANTS to trust her.

He wants to hide his "freeze branded" side from her when she starts to pet and scratch on him. She finally got him to present that side to her yesterday .. and he took grass out of her hand from that side yesterday .. so there IS progress.

He's never offered to kick. He can touch all four legs to the ground and pick up both back feet.

So he IS coming along.

 

As his trust grows, if she really has to, when the time comes she will be able to be firm and say "this is what we are doing now". You will know when that is when his reaction is not just blind panic, but simply fear. There is nothing you can do with blind panic but step back and regroup. When he is saying "I am really scared" and not "escape-escape-escape!" is when you can work with him and teach him it will be okay. She just needs to find that spot in between comfort zone and panic and try to not push him over the edge into panic. It sounds like he might be figuring it out. Babies soak up every little thing. It is why I love babies so much. Good luck!
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Pics from today ..

He's coming along ... slowly.

 

Appreciate the update. Keep them coming.

 

Haha! I love how they grow! Won't it be nice when his front end catches up to his hind end. LOL! He's a very pretty horse. I love the color.
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I love working with the babies. I have 3 that were all born within 2 weeks, so the same age. The 2 girls will come up and touch your hand with their noses. The boy.......not on YOUR life or HIS. They still have to be put into a stall to be caught, but once in the stall you can walk up and just catch the 2 girls halters and hook the lead rope up and walk off with them. The colt? UH UH! He still runs around in circles, presents his butt to you and in general is just silly. After a few minutes of "Catch me if you can" he goes to his "happy corner" and stands and you can walk up to him, pet him and catch his halter and put a lead on him and walk him out.

The other night he was being naughty and giving me his hind end and bunching like he was thinking of kicking. I swatted his behind and said, "NO" firmly but quietly about 3 times. He stood all clenched up but didn't try to kick and I caught him and loved on him and told him he as a good boy. Next morning, only took a couple of minutes to catch him. Last night, he was still the last one to be caught, but he stopped dead in his tracks and I walked right up to pet him on his side, then he walked to his "happy corner" and stood and I walked up and caught him, no problem. So, he's making progress, just have to time it right and get a feel when to kind of push and when to back off. With this colt, I always leave him an 'out', never totally push him into a corner, he's just that much more timid than the 2 fillies. As long as he feels he can leave, he will work with me, once we work past the "I'm so scared, I'm so scared, I can't think" phase. With this little fella I've decided that as soon as we get a break from the 100+ degree weather, I'm going to make him my puppy dog. I'm going to just go out in the morning and hook him up and he can follow me around all day while I do chores. I'll eventually end up ponying him off the riding lawnmower to help him get used to strange things and build his confidence. Just spending several hours a day with his lead rope in my hand and having to follow me around while I pick stalls, drag the arena, clean the chicken coop, check mail, etc etc will get him more handleable and will pay off later when he's a big guy. He also isn't fond of having me handle his head, I just hold him steady and run my hand up his neck to his poll, rub and move away quickly. He's getting better every day on that.

It can be really frustrating when they seem to hit a plateau and not progress for awhile. If you can remind yourself that a/he's a baby, how much would you expect from a 4 or 5 month old human baby? and b/you're on HIS time for learning, not human time. When I start to get impatient I kind of mutter under my breath, "Your on horsey time, horsey time, horsey time.", until I calm down and relax.

 

LadyDreamer ... yes, and I have baby pics where the biggest thing on him was his shoulder! He's def all butt and legs right now!

 

She could try desensitizing the air above his head with her hand & arm or stick until he relaxes. If it were me I'd start at a point where he is just being slightly uncomfortable then wait till relaxes go a little closer until he's relaxed pretty good..If you do do it this way I wouldn't aim to touch the head the first day. But everyday get a little closer to his head until you could touch just one spot even..

 

She could try desensitizing the air above his head with her hand & arm or stick until he relaxes. If it were me I'd start at a point where he is just being slightly uncomfortable then wait till relaxes (Back off and pet him) then go a little closer following the same steps...until he's relaxed pretty good..If you do do it this way I wouldn't aim to touch the head the first day. But everyday get a little closer to his head until you could touch just one spot even..

Have fun!

 

Thought I would update ya'll.

He's still wearing the halter and dragging a rope. His first reaction is to avoid her .. unless he's being ignored.

She can pick up the rope, make her way up to him (he's now giving her two eyes), tie him, pet him all over from top to bottom, she was able to loosen the halter one hole, she can pick up all of his feet, brush him, etc. He still reacts from time to time, but for the most part he's got the routine down.

She's working on leading. He's not fond of any pressure on the halter coming from her .. but he's coming along. She can move him from side to side and he backs like a champ.

I told her to back him from one end of the corral to the other, the turn and slowly walk away with the lead loose ... he followed!

So she used that to get him to "lead" from one end of the corral to the other..

So he's coming along.

As soon as she knows she can walk up and catch him and put a halter on and off him, the halter and rope will come off...

it's been a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG patient road. I'm so proud of her for sticking it out.

 

this is off your topic and i am sorry but only 4 months old? isn't that young to be weaning? sorry i do not have any experience with weaning but that just seems really young
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this is off your topic and i am sorry but only 4 months old? isn't that young to be weaning? sorry i do not have any experience with weaning but that just seems really young
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Four months is pretty typical.

 

I know people who have done it at 3 months.

It is great he is coming along so well! One thing, if there is ever a chance he will be sold, he will need to be exposed to pressure on his head eventually. Poor dearest. Other people may handle him differently, and incorrectly for his needs so it would help him if he knows about it beforehand.

My broodmare, due to an illness and injury as a two year old(she was broke to lead before this so it didn't cause a great problem), if she felt pressure on her head she would panic and throw herself. Simple fix was to just not put pressure on her head(other than light leading pressure). Luckily, she is my special girl and never will be sold.
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boy he is cute!! What's his breeding?

 

AW .. he is Hancock and Driftwood bred.

Baby Daddy:

Baby momma's daddy:

They are just good old working ranch horse types...

 

If more people bred "good old working ranch type horses" there would be sounder horses every where. That colt is a good one.. and I usually won't offer an opinion on a horse this young.

BTW his parents are good ones too.. they just are darn nice horses that are substantial. Like these a LOT.

I had a filly that was weaned late (over 6 months). She was in a stall and to keep her from coming over the door they had to nail up a board (stupid Dutch doors with no top door).

One day they decided she was settled enough to lead her out of the stall. did they remove the board? No.. why bother.. she can easily fit under it.. until she walked under it and raised her head and whacked it. After that she was a terror to lead through any doorway. She would actually REAR as if she was "seeking" the thing to whack her head on. It took a LONG time to work thru this (it was worked thru.. but it took LONG time).

When you do something with a very young horse it seems there are stages they go thru where anything that goes wrong just stays for so long.

Just keep at it. This horse is worth it.