Horse turning to a blind panic whenever we try to put the leadrope on

[maya2008]

I would agree with gelding, 100%. In terms of future life via the right home, mine all turned into the most amazing, kind and trustworthy rides. Once you finally have that trust, it's beyond solid. Nothing else is ever an issue, because getting over that hurdle was such a huge experience. It does need that 1:1 bond though. With time (a couple of years in my experience) they settle even more and can move home, but it's all a long, steady waiting game. None of mine were colts though, and those hormones for sure can't be helping.

How big is he? What breeding? Mine moves, and looks, like a Welsh D cross. Thinking on it, most of my special ones have been at least part Welsh! I have a friend with one that loses the plot randomly that's a very fancy warmblood, but apparently that 'line' is well known for it.

 

[Ceifer]

I'm going to be the first to mention the elephant in the room. He is very damaged and doesn't have a safe place in the world. It would not be wrong to have him PTS.

At least, if you go down the sedative route, while he is sedated could he also be gelded? He would have more homing options then. He needs to find someone with a big heart and a lot of patience...and at the moment, someone who also hasn't got mares.

I would agree with this. I highly doubt this will ever be a riding horse and if he is to be kept as a non ridden horse, he has to be comfortable being handled safely so that when things like this happen he can be handled without stress for everyone.
You sound like you’ve worked hard to get him to this point but realistically is he going to progress?
I worked with a phenomenal horse woman years ago who took on 4 really damaged horses ranging from a yearling to one who we estimated was late teens. None of them were ever ridden. One was more confident than the others but the other 3 remained fairly feral. One with a massive flight response. They had 5 years with her as she could dedicate the time to them and they still weren’t great. When her health declined she had them all pts.

 

[TPO]

I was aiming to reply with my thoughts on "how to". Having read the updates I think PTS is worth considering.

There is nowhere safe to work with him. Having him in a smaller area where the "plus" is that he could run through the fence is an absolute no. You do not want a horse to learn that, ever.

I don't think the horse would be impossible to fix but it would be unlikely that it would be quick or cheap.

In an ideal world you'd want a Joe Midgley type to come out and do the work. I guess it depends if there's money to spend but it doesn't sound like it (of RS owned).

So yeah, without access to experienced (with this exact thing) people and a safe working environment it is sounding like options are limited with a huge potential for things to get much worse.

If pts isn't a consideration it might be worth watching all thr Warwich Schiller videos that you can find in YouTube. The Principles of Training series is a good place to start.

Richard Maxwell books, specifically Training your young horse, might help too.

Safe (ish) things you can try unhaltered in the big field are "matching steps" and very gentle pressure/release - yielding exercises. "Sacking out" has been missed and that's why there was panic with the lead rope etc. However sacking out has to be done correctly so as not to flood/overwhelm the horse and at best teach learned helplessness.

A lot of people use a flag for that process. Joe Midgley has videos on The Good Horsemanship Channel website about this.

During this process you can get the horse used to things touching their legs and then use a rope too. In RM book I'm sure he covers dragging a rope behind/alongside so that a horse gets used to being "followed" and doesn't panic.

But yeah, you can't know what you don't know and if someone who does know can't be afforded perhaps time to look at other options for everyone's safety.