Hi, I have a 7 month old filly. When she was born she was turned out to run wild with her mother. I bought her at 5 months old not really understanding how I would start. She now comes to her name but won't let me put a hand on her. She will walk out of the field to her bucket and will go back in after eating, but still won't let me near her.  If I do approach her she turns her back end around and she will kick out at head height.  She ain't a small filly. A friend of mine had her for 3 weeks and he had her leading, got a rug on her and was able to approach her in a stable. I got her back, had her in a stable and had to turn her into the field as she became dangerous and there was no way I could enter. Should I just let her come to me and see what happens or do you think I should cut my losses and sell her? What tips can you give?

Well where do we start with a situation like this?  I'll avoid asking why one would consider taking on a wild foal with no experience or research.... and skip to dealing with the problem at hand.

Having a more confident and experienced friend or trainer take over and train the youngster until she can be handled normally may be a very wise idea.  Then the friend can train you to interact with your horse when she has been calmed.

Otherwise, the aim is to keep your confidence up around your horse so that you continue to enjoy her company safely and she begins to look up to you, and to increase her confidence and trust in you so that an instant fight or flight response is not provoked at your slightest move. This is going to take a lot of patience on your part. 

One basic idea is to place yourself in a confined but not too small (not a stable stall) area with your horse and remain absolutely still, avoiding eye contact.  Hold your hand out in front of you so that when she does come up, it will be easy to touch her.  Eventually the horse will be curious enough to approach you.  Then start speaking in a quiet and soothing manner.  If she makes a move away from you, stop the noise.  When she's ok with speaking, try rubbing her a tiny bit with your outstretched hand.  Stop if she flinches or moves away.

The idea is to gradually increase the area and amount of contact while keeping the horse from spooking so much that she runs from you.  If it takes daily approaches over weeks, fine.  It can be done a lot quicker, but sometimes it takes the time it takes.  Better to get it right than have a frightened and dangerous animal on your hands.

For a really indepth discussion on training wild horses, I highly recommend this website which is dedicated to the training of the wild horses which you can buy from the (American) Bureau of Land Management's regular round ups of wild burros and horses.

This article is also available on the blog.  Please add your helpful thoughts and comments:
http://horsetrainingsuccess.blogspot.com/2007/01/approaching-unhandled-horse.html