Advice on handling a wild pony

As some of you know India and her daughter Aponi (two monthe old) are at my place, she had to have some calmvet for the travel, she's 5 years old, never had her feet done, only knows humans by sticks and tracters with cages on them, I can do anything with Aponi now but India only lets me touch her nose, nearly mane, face, she's riddled with horrible flat flies, nothing I can do about that really
Any advice would be very welcome
my daughter tried her with a lead rope on, as soon as she felt that she was held she spurted off with my daughter who had to let go

I know this will sound tough but as long as she is not in dire pain or stress dont TRY to do anything until the foal is weened, if she will give you her nose now just repeat the same for now and rest on your laurels till later. Push too hard now and she will see you as a threat to the foal. If you do get a head collar on her dont use a lead rope, use a lunge line and if she bolts let the line run.

thanks bob, good advice, she's had a head collar on the same one that the dealer 'put' on her two years ago poor thing, I'll be pleased when I can get it off her to tell you the truth!
little pic of them both
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Agree with Bob and when your ready set aside the time and use the method of approach and retreat.
Pen

I am sort of starting with that pen, the strap under her head collar is longish
so I give her a carrot, scratch on the forehead, then I hold the strap, when she stops pulling I
give her a carrot and let go, she's been through a lot with this dealer, no confidence whatsoever
in humans, I'm going to put the wormer in her carrots as she's got a rather big swollen stomach
a bit ofa worry too as neither of them have had their jabs

one positive thing, she's the only one who seems to like to listen to me singing!
If anyone wants to visit to see the 'zebra' and foal you're welcome

i had the same sort of 'fun' with gerry when he 1st arrived,

be paitent, let them get used to you, if she will let you touch her then do so & then walk away, gradually get her to let you get closer/touch but ALWAYS walk away without trying to hold/grab etc,

in her instincts she sees you as a predatory threat....plain & simple & by walking away you can change her opinion of this,

no predator comes up says hello and then goes away now do they? this is what she will start to think..see?

eventually the level of trust will improve so long as you never make her feel threatened, i agree all this is time consuming and some may say it's be best left untill the foal is weaned BUT I feel you can use the foal as your avatar (not the blue type though! ) she will be watching how you interact with the baby.

gerry certainly watched me with his pal chance and later with saltie & little gingi, when gerry arrived you could not touch him at all not even the nose, i did all as above & waited.

1 day he came back in to the barn alone, walked up to me and put his face against my belly - just like a foal does to its mother for reasurance, he was asking to be friends,
i stroked and talked to him but did not try to hold him, after a few min he just stepped back looked at me and went back outside, it was his choice at his own speed,
we made rapid progress from then on, he is still easy spooked, wary of strangers etc but he does generally give me the benefit of the doubt,
he is almost at the backing stage, he would have been ridden by now if not for my health problem.

give her time......something it seems no-one else has done so before, good luck

bye

They are both lovely
Wild ponies do take a while to sort out but once you do she will propably be one of the best ponies/horses you have ever had .
I have had 2 wild ponies, a infoal Dartmoor that had come of the moors and had just been passed around dealers and markets, she turned out to be a brilliant riding pony and such a kind loving mare.
The other i got here of a French family they had got her and her mum of a dealer then sold on her mum but only the OH handled them but even he could just about touch her nose and when went to see her they couldn't get anywhere near her, it took them over 3 hours to get her in the box to deliver her.
With her i just put her out with our other pony who would boss her about a bit so she would them come to me to protect her and within 30mins she would come up to me and let me patt her.
After a few days i could take her headcollar off as she would let me walk up to her and she would walk up to me and let me catch her.

many years ago we used to buy completely untouched wild ponies, its a mistake to turn them out, and we spent the whole of sunday morning building a corral, into where we chased to the onepony who demolished it completely, i later lassoed it and hung on and flew across the field as if i was watersking, then some runners came into the field and tried to hang on, i'll never forget him running across the field hi bare legs taking ten foot strides as the pon y bolted, we were in hysterics.
we learned to put them in a stable and go in to feed etc and not to threaten in any way, to feed out of , a bucket and do like you are scratching and eventually grooming with a brush the neck withers and especially the quarters no sudden movements, but not prowling like you are about to pounce, slow deliberate thought out actions and always talking to them, giving off an intuitive kind of vibration of i am your friend, they pick up on this, you could put the foal in the next stable after its weaned, when puts her head up the corner as they often would i would scratch the top of the quarters, with caution, from the side, then always when they show fear back off instantly, and eventually slipping my arm round their necks without holding and giving a good old scratching, after all that is what they do to other horses in the mutual grooming thing, but always when they are ready, no pressure, there's always tommorow, and soon they accept the headcollar slipped on to the nose but not fastened, then fastened when they are ready, then later two people to teach them to lead and walk out properly, then your wild pony is ready to break in

Thanks for all of the advice, it's really helped, she's progressing
every day, I'm not far from the withers now, she lets me scratch her
face without pulling away or ears back at me, she calls me when she sees me
and comes straight to me so that's good! she's a love

Well done jann I'll deliver the wormers when they arrive and meet the little ladies.
pen x

Great Pen thanks!

I gave India her first brush today, she's really coming on
a very sweet pony