how do i earn my new very green/wild pony's trust, and get a headcollar on him....?

Get some help, maybe two helpers. Use a fence panel and walk in, one of you with the halter on, the other two (preferably large people) using the panel to slowly make the stall smaller and smaller until the horse is penned up against the wall of the stall, nothing hurting him, but keeping him from going anywhere. The one with the halter reaches through or over the panel and puts on the halter. Keep him there just long enough to accomplish your purpose and to pet him and calm him down, and put a lead rope on him...then begin making the stall larger by reversing the process until everyone is out of his stall and the one with the lead rope can walk in and lead him out.

This will take a lot of time and patience on your end. You're doing the right thing by not looking him in the eye (that shows that you're trying to tell him that you're the dominant one, bad for a horse that doesn't trust although good with a horse you've bonded with) and being careful not to touch his head although he will need to get used this this soon. First, he needs to trust you. When you're working around him, work slowly so he can take in and learn to read your movements. Don't change the pattern on how you handle him at first. Next, face the corner of his stall with your back to him and don't look back at him. He'll most likely be curious and soon will walk up to you to investigate what you're doing-he's never seen you do this before. Wait until he touches you with his nose, and if he won't, if he's right behind you acknowledge that. Turn around SLOWLY and give him praise. After you do this a couple times, when you're working around him in the same pattern that you had, start talking to him or singing (I know it sounds weird haha, but it works) and soon he will recognize your voice. Again, slow movements are key. All of this will get him used to you being there. Then the scary part comes (for him at least). Run your hands over his body softly and slowly so that he gets used to your touch. Work your way from his back to his shoulder and up to his neck and see how close you get to his head. Once you get to a spot where he flinches away or reacts somehow, stop immediatley. Everytime, try to get a little closer to his head. Talk to him while you rub him. This will be a reassurance since he knows your voice. This won't just take one day or even two. It'll take at the least, 2 weeks. You can change it up as you go a little bit if you don't like the results you are recieving. Good luck!!!!

At the barn where I used to board my horse there was a pregnant mare that wouldn't let anyone touch her other than on her head. What i did was get some food and just stand outside her stall (or inside it. Whatever works best for you) and talk to her softly. Reach out your hand with oats in it and speak to it. Eventually by doing that the mare let me pet her anywhere and she would even close her eyes and amost drift off. That's how you get him to let you touch him.

Story 2-I used to have a extremely spirited Morgan/Arab horse that wouldn't let anybody touch him without running away. Now what i did was get a long whip (don't worry it's not to hurt him in any way) and get him in a small round pen or paddock. Swing the whip and crack it on your shoe or on the ground so that he runs around the pen. Do this for a couple minutes and then when he's running tell him to stop. He should then stand still and let you walk up to pet him. After repeating this process for a while he sould stop instantly when you tell him to and let you put a halter on him. Hope that helps!!

Ok. Get a head collar which can be undone at the nose band and at the head side.

Try feeding him in a bucket on the ground and just stroking him starting at the withers and making circular rubbing movements further and further up his neck, talking to him gently, humming to him. Pass your left hand under his neck and put the head strap around and quietly do it up. When he has his head up put your hand under his chin and put the strap over his nose from behind and pass the noseband over, preferably without touching his nose and do the noseband up and then leave him to eat. Apart from the fact that eating is pleasant, I feel that the act of chewing is relaxing.

It is going to take a lot of time and patience, but it will come. If you want to put it on without feeding him you might need to back him into a corner of the stable. Start the process again by rubbing his shoulder, moving up and up, slowly, talking and when you get to a few inches behind his ears where he might start to get a bit touchy, you can put the head band around his neck and slide it up. Then do the noseband up. Give lots of praise when he behaves nicely and lets you do something. Patience, quiet,firm movements are the name of the game and trying to watch his body language for tension, stop a moment, let him relax and start again.

He will get used to it. Use a cloth or a sponge to clean his ears, not a brush.

I wish you every success with him. Remember he should not be backed until he is at least 4 years but this might need to be delayed a little until he is happy to work with you on the ground. As you say, there is no point in rushing him. He is also going to grow quite a bit until the age of 6 or 7.

I've personally never had this issue, but I've had one similar to it. When we purchased my 12 yr old gelding 7 years ago, he was difficult to catch, so we left his halter on. Today, he comes when he's called and puts his head in the halter. One of the methods we used (i don't know if I would recommend it, we wern't very horse savvy when we first bought him) was to chase him around in his pasture with a lunge whip if he ran from us, that way we were the ones telling him to run. Then we would offer him the chance to accept the halter, and if he didn't, we would chase him around again (it's kinda like free lunging, lol) We looked for the common submission signs we looked for while we usually lunged him (dropping of his head, ear tilted in towards up, licking of his lips) before we would offer the hatler to him again. Eventually he would take it, and we would make the experience rewarding (grooming, grazing, treats, etc) Also we would shake a bucket of grain and allow him some for coming. Then we would put the halter on and reward him again. (Like I said, I've never had to deal with a horse who wouldn't allow me to put the halter on)

blah, I think I said more than I planned. I hope this helps you somehow! Good luck!

i would say try JoinUp too, it teaches people non violent (not saying that you would be) ways to connect. train and take care of their horse, some of monty roberts books can be helpful as wee. even though you probably do not have time to read them you could maybe find a brief overview on the internet, hope it helps, good luck!

Try Join Up.

http://www.montyroberts.com/ju_about.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B86Vb90IwuA

Hope this helps!