Clicker post

This is a post for Dawn, recreating some of the steps that Peanut and I went through to get him being over headshy.  This process actually took me a week, with each session preceded by about 20 minutes spent catching and then wrestling a halter onto Peanut.  I went in thinking that it takes as long as it takes, and I wanted to keep the sessions relatively short to keep from overloading the Nut.  If anything got an adverse reaction from him, I would go back a few steps and either get him more comfortable before trying again or else get a calm reaction out of him and stop the session.

Equipment:

The horse's normal halter
A larger halter that would easily fit over the first
A lead
In this case, a clicker would be hard to use - a trained verbal click or cue would work best
Rewards

Step one: rub the halter over the horse's body, staying away from the face.  C&R (click and reward) in increments when the horse is calm, taking away the halter and making a fuss over the good horse.  Begin again, moving a little further up the body towards the head, regularly C&Ring and taking away the halter as the horse stays calm.

 Once the horse is calm about having the halter touching its body, move to step two.

 Step two: touch the halter to the horse's face.  First, just present the halter to the horse, keeping it at a distance where the horse remains calm.  C&R and take away the halter.  Shorten the distance to the horse's face (C&R as the horse stays calm), eventually touching the nose.

Incrementally, move the halter up the face, C&R and removing the halter as you go.  I found that walking Peanut around a little bit and talking to him between tries really helped a lot, so he stayed relaxed and had time between each try.

When the horse is comfortable enough to have the halter moved up and down its face, move to step three.

Step three: putting on the halter.  After threading the lead through the nose opening of the larger halter, begin to actually put it on the horse's head.  Again, C&R and take away the halter as the horse remains calm as the halter moves up its face in increments.  Taking little breaks to walk and talk were still helpful at this stage.

Once the horse is comfortable, it will be wearing two halters.  Jackpot.  Then take the halter off and put it on several times, as long as the horse is calm, and C&R.

Legacy: reinforcement.  To reinforce that putting on a halter is a good thing, every time I caught him I would treat him.  7 years later, and I still do this.  Now it is only a tradition, but it started as a reminder to Peanut that being caught and haltered brings rewards and is not something to be feared.