What exactly is a tack change?

How do you handle a hard to tack horse?

• We have a 22 year old QH horse that was severly head shy, walked sideways away from putting on a saddle, once mounted walked exceptionally slowly, and at times would yank at her string tie on our trailer and bolt away when no one was looking. She has run away from others holding her and ran to her trailer. We have discovered that our horse prefers to be warm before tacked hence her being blanketed first, and rubbed/massaged before the saddle goes on, and always rewarded afer the halter goes on so now she lowers her head to put the halter on (when she used to whip her head back - nice change!). The walking slow part we'll keep because my wee one rides her and she tippy toes with kids on her back, that's why we bought her. It has taken six months to change this horse around and now we call her our new-age zen horse because we put her in the 'meditation zone' before we tack her. My friends joke and say all I need now are vanilla incence candles burning in my trailer and a couple of monks chanting. Surely there must be other methods than this calm talking, rubbing, rewarding style. Any other methods that might be quicker? Or just accept our zen-new-age horse that has to go into the' zone' before tacking?

• Answer:

  As a trainer she probably had some bad experiences before that make her afraid of certain things, some horses never really get over it. So I think that what you are doing is great and helps with the trust bond between her and you, so you should keep with the warm soft rewarding encouraging things.