severe spooky horse

Question
I am a 48 year old woman, I have trained and worked with rescue horses since I was a small child, I am no expert but I have never had a problem such as I have now, Billy a 13.1/2 hand, 10 year old hackney cross pony,Sweet,does not kick or bite, he is kept with 4 other horses pastured and fed every night separately, he came to me 2 years ago, I was told he was an Amish Cart horse, he was wearing borum shoes,I have lunged him, trained him to ride,ect.. the problem is he has a very hard time with trust, I have desensitized him on a consistant basis but he shows Slow progess, he seems to resort back on a daily basis, if I trip accidently or touch him when he doesnt expect it, he spooks severly, he rides quiet on the trails, stops when ask but if I trot or lope him he becomes scared of me on his back,which makes him very dangerous, after all this time you would think he would get over this but he cant seem to let go of his fear of human contact,He acts as if I am going to beat him at any given moment, I am firm with him and this has helped, I dont feel sorry for him so as not to pamper him, I am deliberate and to the point, I give him affection when he does a correct behavior, I dont hit him, I say quit when he spooks, make him come to me and when he does, I say good boy and praise him, I let him smell what fears him, but the main probem is his fear of me. Granted he is 80% better than when I got him, but his fear keeps me from placing him into a "Free" loving home.

Answer
It sounds like you have done some good things for him.  I just shake my head every time I hear Omish and horse together.  Although I have never seen an Omish work a horse, I have only heard horror stories about how cruel the Omish treat their horses.  This horse has been taught that humans are the enemy and are cruel.  Time and fair treatment will push these bad memories back, but it will take time.  You said your self he is 80% better, that is huge, so in time he will get better and better.  If my horse spooks when I fall, I fall ten times.  If my horse spooks when I drop my hat, I throw my hat down 20 times.  All horses spook, it is how they survive for thousands of years.  Horses also learn very fast, so once the know they don't have to be scared, they are not.  Sometime a horse has to get scared in order to learn that he does not have to be scared.

When I get by spooky horses, that have usually been made that way by people, I am clumsy, I drop things, I wave my hands, I drop my hat, I stummble, I fall, knock things over, and I do all this like it was suppose to happen, soon the horse is like, just ignore this guy, crazy things happen when he around.  That is perfect, then when something happens that I do not plan, the horse thinks I planned it.  The worst thing you can do is be careful, easy, soft, quite, that makes it worse when something happens, so make things happen around the horse.  You can even carry around some small treats, and every time you knock something over, give the horse a treat, soon he will be looking forward to things falling around him.

Hope this helps,

Read my site about sacking out, it may give you some ideas.  

Rick