Feisty (previously abused) filly - need help

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Rebels

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A year ago I took on a yearling TB filly, she didn't make the height to go into prep so was for the hunt/Potters. I took her to make an eventer either pony or small horse, I'm not fussed how big she gets. I was warned she was awful to trim and handle but she seemed a timid gentle thing. Later found out that the reason she went beserk is that having a double ear twitch, neck twitch and tail held up very high plus bridle on tended to make her struggle to which the farriers response was to beat her. This included with a metal rasp over her head. I know this through my friend who works for this place, everything else seems normal but they went to town with this tough nut (she was 13hands...) so I have no proof to strike the farrier off.
Anyhow, lots of work later she stands loose for farrier and can have her ears handled. However she is now very confident in herself and pushing boundaries. Normally I would use a sharp word, jab in the chest etc is enough to sort my youngsters but she takes no notice of any of this. If you pressure her such as making her stand to have a wound clean she goes up, barges or strikes out. If you shout, growl, make any threat to her she shuts down completely, her eyes go dead and she prepares to be beaten by which she flattens you and legs it. So far I have been very calm, patient and tried to explain everything until she gets it but this is proving a bit harder.
My question is ; how do you prove to a horse you won't hurt it and get it to learn when it won't even pause to let you get near and if you do it has shut down into a place where it can't learn? There is a limit to my bribery, so far it has proved very useful but this horse will be broken next year and can't respond to pressure so negatively.
Thank you for reading
 
Firstly, well done for taking her on and getting her this far, not an easy task at all.
I can't actually offer much in the way of useful advice as I have never had anything that had been so abused although I did have a mare who would regularly go into shut down emotionally which we solved with time, love and a horse whisperer. Not something I had done before or since but did seem to work for the mare at that time.
Having dealt with a lot of youngsters I find that they benefit enormously for time out with other youngsters where they can be horses and live as a herd and learn the rules. It might be that your filly is now confident enough to cope with this environment and needs it to understand some of the more basic rule in life. She probably won't feel under pressure from her own kind in the same way she does with humans. Might sound totally mad but possibly worth a try if all else fails.
Good luck and I hope you get it sorted.
 
Thanks, she lives out with my 7yr old TB mare, 4yr old TB gelding and 19yr old New Forest (who also raised the 4yr old from 14months) and she does genuinely think she is a New Forest pony! Funny thing is that she had never met a boy before, had only ever been single sex herds and after weaning had no older role model, that can't be great long term for them.
 
Hello, I have a little experience with abused horses, not so much with TB's, but there does come a time when discipline has to be used. Because we all feel so sorry for what they've been through it is hard to aproach that point, but you can't train horses with just praise - there has to be "no" in there too. TB's are very reactive and quick, so distracting her when she shuts down may work (I have Spanish stallion that goes into a "zone" when he's stressed, I have to get his attention or he'll just explode).
 
Time, & trust. Daughters pony was very fear aggressive as a yearling, having spent 9months prior to that completely alone. I suppose even now at 5 she still has no flight instinct & all fight. Although she is a friendly little thing now, she will still attack anything she perceives as a threat. However now its only stuff like dogs etc in the field if my mares not around. With her it has just been time & staying calm, without going too far the other way & reassuring/ praising bad behavior. Just praising the good. If she had a tantrum over something like picking her foot up, the only thing that worked was putting it down & asking again until she did, without me reacting in any way. It did help that my mare adopted her like her own foal, & because she's the calm sort pony copied her lead. Plus pony took a shine to daughter who was then 3, I assume because she was too small to be a threat. That wasn't that much help at first as I wouldn't let daughter near. But for the last two years it has. It did take time, & a lot of ignoring fearful reactions but she is fine for normal stuff now.
 
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