Hello
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May be you can do another join-up, put the halter on and send him away to deal with it and join-up with him again while its on? The reason I say this is that when Monty Roberts is starting a horse, he does join-up, puts the saddle on and sends the horse away to deal with it. If the horse chooses to buck - he can and when he is ready, the horse communicates that he is ready to "talk" again and Monty Roberts invites him back in and moves onto the next step in the starting process.
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I don't understand why someone would tie a horse to an electric fence - that makes me feel quite sick. But its been done now, so I think your horse needs to learn to deal with this halter in the same way he would need to learn to deal with his first saddle.
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Sounds like you have made some great progress with him :-)
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Oh, almost forgot about the tying up.
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In Monty's book "From My Hands to Yours", he fixes a bungy cord to a secure wall and fastens it to the halter. He says that neither the cord nor the halter should be likely to break, as if it does it will be a reward for the horse to keep pulling back because he got free.
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When the horse pulls back, the bungy cord stretches with him and gives him imediate release of pressure when he stops pulling. Depending on the horse, he or she may pull back quite a few times and this can be upsetting to watch. You have to be strong because they are not hurting themselves, they are working out why and how the rules have changed since the last time they pulled back because this time they can't get free.
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But I can say that this process works (and I was a bit upset while watching my horse). We tried it with our Rescue Horse Renacer because when I was taking him out to events, he was pulling back. He didn't do it at home though. So I took a bungy cord with me one day and found a good spot and let him sort it out for himself. He hasn't pulled back again since, but I will still tie him on the bungy cord till I feel comfortable that he is over it.
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You may have to allow your horse to get comfortable with the halter first and then move onto the bungy cord. One step at a time. I think the tying to an electric fence is the root cause to both of your horse's problems...
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Hope this helps, and I'm sure your horse is very grateful that you are his owner now :-)
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Kind regards,
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Gen

Hi emlaw,
Some of the things people do makes me ashamed to call myself human.
I'm so sorry this poor beautiful creature had to be put through this.
You have some great advice from Gen.
My little girl is very frightened of a halter. When I rescued her the halter she had on was very old and had been tied onto her face so tightly that it left scares and she has a permnant buldge on her nose. She was less than a year at the time.
She too has a difficult time with halters.
I just take my time in introducing new ones to her.
I approach her slowly and let her smell, touch and feel it first.
At first I had a neck collar on her and lead her around until she was completely calm and then I introduced her to the halter by buckling it around her neck and let her run in her pen.
She bacame familiar with the sound, smell and feel of it.
Then I approached her with the neck collar again and with the halter fully opened I gently slipped it over her nose only and took it away.
I did this several times until she accepted it freely and comfortably.
At first I only attached the lead rope to the under buckle and lead her around.
When she was comfortable with this I attached the lead rope to the noseband and gently lead her while stoping several times to encourage and comfort her.
She is still wary of it but once it is on she is fine.
You can do it.
Unfornately we can not take bad memories from our dear horses but we can make happy new ones that they will relate to us.
You have a good day,
Ronda

oh bad news about the electric fence .. if the halter and rope were synthetic they conduct electricity.Was that intended by the owner?Also a synthetic halter builds static when moving/rubbing on the horse and I have seen the current from electric fencing jump a short distance from a halter on a horse to the fencing.Life is sure full of surprises!
I think above you have the solutions!

Thank you for all the advice. He has some scars across his face which look like they may be related to the headcollar, I don't know whether it was when he was tied to the electric fence or caused by something else - the previous owner turned him out with a headcollar on as he was hard to catch. He is quite accident prone and always seems to have new bumps and scrapes on him, for this reason I never turn out with a headcollar on as I don't want it to get caught on anything. I once saw a horrific facial injury on a foal that had been let loose with one on, the owners had put an old bath tub in the paddock as a water trough and they stupidly left the tap (faucet) attached and the headcollar became caught.

It is good to hear that other people have had similar issues and have been able to overcome them, thank you for sharing your stories and perpectives. The bungy method is something that sounds like a good idea - that way I guess he is making the decisions himself, I just need to find a good place to do it.

Ronda - I feel glad that your poor little girl found you before it was too late, how can people be so mean to a baby? And to answer the question about whether the previous owner intended to shock him, yes it was on purpose, she admitted that to me.

He is part arab and not easily forgiving of harsh treatment, but we are making progress in a steady way - and it is doing wonders for my own body language awareness!

I am just horrified to hear that anyone person thought it would be a good idea to tie a horse's headcollar to an electrical fence! How on earth did she think that would teach him respect for the *fence*!?
Poor thing couldn't run away from this horror either since it was attached to his head. No wonder he expects things to happen when the halter is on.
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You already have some excellent advice, so I just want to add that you will probably need to go about this incrementally and teach him step by step that the headcollar won't hurt him. Show him how good things happen when he has it on and have tons of patience with him. (Although I'm sure you already have that!)

Well, since my last post we have been doing some proper ground work with the Dually headcollar. He has taken to it better than I expected and it took only minutes for him to get the hang of leading and backing up beautifully. He responds to the slightest touch of pressure. Still not keen on having it put on, but he will tolerate it. However, it suddenly struck me (in a Eureka moment) that all of his headshy issues relate only to his muzzle area, and the worst part of his headcollar phobia seems to be when it is being slipped over his nose or when he thinks you or something is going to touch it. Being a pink nosed grey horse he managed to get a bit of sunburn this week (we are in the midst of a New Zealand summer), so I thought I should put some suscreen on him while he had the headcollar and a long lead line. I smeared some unscented lotion on my hand, and allowed him to sniff it and then attempted very gently and slowly to put it on his muzzle, all the time keeping my eyes cast down at his front legs and with passive body language. The reaction was almost as though he had received a shock - he threw his head up and actually reared, snorting and totally freaking out. Since then I have been going into the paddock at intervals and trying gently to rub and touch different parts of his head, and the only part that really still upsets him is his muzzle area. The possible reasons for this could be the past electric fence abuse, which is the most likely one, a previous injury (he does have a scar there), painful sunburn in the past, although last weeks sunburn has healed now or physical abuse such as being hit or smacked. I am aware that a horses muzzle is one of the most sensitive parts of their body anyway. There is a lot of helpful advice around on dealing with headshyness around the ears and the poll, but the main problem here seems to be the muzzle. I have heard people say that feeding small treats from the palm of the hand is a good way to get a horse used to having their muzzle touched, but according to Monty feeding from the hand is a big no-no. I have tried running my hand slowly down his face, but the second my hand gets anywhere near the muzzle area he just throws his head up or to the side and tosses my hand away, and if he has a headcollar on he pulls back as well. My thought is that I should continue to pet and stroke his head in the hope that I can slowly get to move my hand further down his face in tiny stages. Does any else have any ideas of other tactics I could try?

emlaw
Given the history of your horse I would agree with you that the electric fence has severely traumatized him. The other item that popped into my head was his teeth. I know for a fact that horses will tolerate having a sore mouth as long as they are the ones controlling the input of pain so when you touch him around the muzzle he reacts. Give the nature of your horse if you are going to check his teeth you would be better off letting either a vet or equine dentist do the check.
The electric fence trauma is going to be a little more difficult. Even though Monty stresses not to hand feed your horse I have been doing it for years with out a problem. If the horse starts to get agressive so does the feeding. If you try the hand feeding use an apple or carrot to start with. They are bigger targets for the horse and less likely to mistake your hand for a carrot If he will not take it from your hand have his feed bucket next to you and just drop it in so he gets the treat and after awhile he will start to take it from your hand.
One other trick you can use is once you have the head collar on rub his face gently and slowly about the muzzle band and then just let your hand rest quietly for a moment or two. Your horse should start to relax with you rubbing his face and one this happens just slowly drop your hand down just lightly touching his muzzle. He may flinch and throw his head but after awhile he should also start to accept this treatment.

I really think your horse is not so much head shy but afraid of just being touched in the area the he was hurt so you will have to gain his trust, which I am sure you can do. You have already made progress with him and as I always say, be calm, quiet and patient and you will succeed. If you are nervous at all when you are trying to gain his trust and let you touch his muzzle, he will sense it and will be on guard. One last thing is don't worry about failing. You are not going to do it perfect the first time, but don't give up you can succeed.

Cheers

Hi emlaw and all,
Did you watch the "centaurseries" with Abigail on this Uni?
I'm sure you'll find a lot of good advise watching the way Monty works with this extreme case of headshy/abused horse. All cases are different, but Monty's approach will help you make a roadmap for your longterm treatment of this severe problem.
From what I read in this thread, you're doing a great job, you'll win his trust!
Miriam

Dennis - his teeth were checked in August by the local vet who is also an equine specialist dentist. He said they were OK but would need to be checked again around April, so I might just get him back early in the New Year for another look, just to eliminate this as a potential issue. I do think though, as you say, it is the electric fence trauma that is the real problem. However, now that I have pinpointed the exact area that needs to be worked on (ie his mouth/muzzle area) it means I can focus on that. I do yoga classes so have become better able to control my breathing and keep as calm as I possibly can - this does not come naturally to me as I am a butterfly kind of person who naturally thinks and moves quickly, but I would highly recommend yoga to any horse person who wants to learn inner calmness, it really helps! He will take bits of carrot from my hand with his lips, but if I accidentally touch his muzzle he drops it like a hot potato. So I will keep trying and trying.
Miriam - I hadn't got to the Centaur part of the Uni yet as I have been working my way through the earlier lessons, but on your recommendation I sat down and watched it today. Oh my! Abigail is exactly like my boy! But there is some good advice in these videos, so I shall be watching them again several times and picking up some ideas. I cannot do it from horseback like Monty as my other horse is the paddock boss and would most likely scare my nervous boy away. Nevertheless, I think there are lots of things I can be doing to work towards his eventual acceptance of my hands on his muzzle. Thanks guys - lots of food for thought!