head shy horse advice needed

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Tim's Girl

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I need some help with a horse my friend and i have just purchased. he is extremely head shy and we are unable to get his headcollar on. we knew he nervous around people but i didnt realise he was this bad. we have tried to get the headcollar on for the last 4days but we no luck. he lets us rub it along his neck but jumps away if you attempt to put it on. my friend decided to take it off as she doesnt like headcollars on in stables, says its too dangerous (and she has at least 20years more experience than me).

we was told that in his past he had his mother shot in front of him and then larter in life was beaten with a metal pole and left to die. i havent managed to find out if this is true yet.

i do know it is going to take him time to trust us and we go into his stable every day and talk to him and scratch his neck as this is the closest we can get to the head. so if anyone has any advice i'd be interested in hearing it. thanks
 
i think your friend is right, i won't leave headcollars on in the stable either.
i'd keep trying the softly-softly approach... lots of scratching him gently while feeding etc. lots of talking to him, building up his confidence.
if he doesn't settle to it in a week or so i would probably get a vet out to sedate him and then to check his ears and head really thoroughly, and/or a mctimoney chiropractor to check his atlas/axis joint in particular... ime this being sore can make them headshy.
if you have automatic water drinkers, a v good idea i was told for a v headshy horse is to blow up a pair of rubber gloves and tie them above the drinker, so that the 'fingers' touch his ears every time he drinks. worth a try? v best of luck with him.
 
Tim's Girl said:
I need some help with a horse my friend and i have just purchased. he is extremely head shy and we are unable to get his headcollar on.
Click to expand...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3GdPyiFHkA

Have a look at this video which shows me working on 'desensitising' a very nervous horse. When I started, I couldn't touch her lower jaw, mouth, nose, or ears. Bridling her was impossible. She's a work in progress, but you'll get the idea. Just do the headcollar up around the neck - that will be enough 'control' for you to work around her head with what I call my 'limp lettuce stick' (It's actually a bandage felt, rolled up) The limp lettuce stick is better than your hand - as it's softer if the horse throws its head and gets your finger in its eye!
 
thanks will have a look. we do parelli training with our tb's so are trying to get him used to this now. he's pretty similar to my tb in the way he does things but she is having more success than me! he's only 7 so we dont want to give up on him
 
My lad was extremely head shy when we got him, due to abuse. We took everything very slowly, moving up his neck until he objected then quickly moving back down. Kept it up for weeks, then when he was happy with that moved on to side of face, exactly the same. Continued until we could touch anywhere on face, now I can even pull his ears (which he loves) and do anything on his face. But the key word is patience. It took us nearly a year to get him happy about putting his bridle on, but now he lowers his head down into it, usually- although there are times when his bad memories come back.

Good luck I hope you get it sorted.
FDC
 
Had a 3 yo TB came in for sale prep and was very nervous about his ears so we tied some plastic milk cartons (the 2 litre ones with handles to tie the string to), two first with water in them so that they didn't blow around too much and then increased it to 4. At first he stood at the back of the box snorting but in a few days he was pushing his head out through them as if they weren't there and forgot about being worried about his ears and would happily walk in and out of his box through them with no worries. I'm not saying it would work for those that have been abused ( he was bred here and never had any hardship) but it definitely helped him.
 
well we have had some success with him now. we can put headcollar on without him flinching and putting his head in the air. still sometimes difficult to catch and headcollar stays on field but he is making little steps and we are so pleaed with him. have started touching face by holding hand there lightly for a few seconds and he loves his neck being scratched so is rewarded with that. better than treats as he loves his food!!
 
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