Hands On

I need to be able to rub and scratch Abbey in order to start halter training.  Since she's not at all used to even seeing people, she's not comfortable with me being that close.  I'll use a "stick"--the type popularized by Pat Parelli and Clinton Anderson.  At first, I'll just take it with me into her pen and rhythmically wave it slightly up and down and back and forth.  When she's not scared of that, I'll do it closer to her, always stopping when she stands still and later when she stands still and looks relaxed.  As I get closer I'll use the end with the leather loop to reach out and scratch her withers--just for a second or two and try to stop before she moves away.  Then, it's rinse, repeat until I can rub her lots of places without her getting worried.
Next she has to be desensitized to a rope, so I'll repeat the same procedure with it.  When she's comfortable with the movement of the rope being gently waved I'll put it around the stick and touch her with it.  Abbey at this point is still not wanting me to be closer than arms length, so the stick helps me get around that.  I'll lay the end of the rope across her withers and hold the other the other end so if she walks away, I can follow and she can see and feel the dangling rope.  Again, most of this would go very quickly or even be unnecessary with a foal more accustomed to people.
Now I start moving my hand up the stick so that it's closer to her body as I rub with the end of it.  When she's comfortable with that, I'll work my way close enough to rub her with my hand.  If it were summer she would enjoy being scratched, but it's winter and she's wet, so that's not as enjoyable.  What I have to do now, is try to stop rubbing before she gets worried and moves away.  If she does, I need to move her around until she faces me and start again.  When she's comfortable with me rubbing a few areas--likely her whithers and butt--I'll rub a bit with the rope and try to drop one end over her neck to the other side.  Of course everything needs to be done on each side.  At first, Abbey is very uncomfortable with me being on her off side, so that will need more work.
Eventually, I can work the ends of the rope so that it dangles down on both sides of her neck.  When I hold the ends and move them a bit and she doesn't get scared, it's time to see if she'll give a bit to pressure.  I'll take both ends in my hands and step away from her to the side.  Since she knows by now she's supposed to face me, she'll likely turn her head toward me.  When she does, I'll take a step back and apply just the slightest bit of pressure on the rope.  Too much pressure and she will panic and fight.  Abbey weighs over 500 pounds, so we know who wins a tug of war!  But Abbey gives a slight inclination to move her neck away from the rope pressure, so I immediately release and tell her how smart she is. She gets a few seconds to think about that and I try again with a feather light pressure.  I don't want to pull her, I want her to follow the feel of the rope.  If I'm very good about giving her the reward (release of pressure) at the very first moment she "gives" she will stay light and soft.
So soon, Abbey is following the feel of the rope and even moving tiny steps to the side.  It will be after several lessons on this before I ask her to move straight ahead.  I don't start with a halter because I find weanlings fight the constriction of their head more than the neck rope.  I don't ever want to have her fight.  I want her to learn from the very beginning that co-operation earns her a reward and is never threatening or scary.  I want her to learn to look for that release as her first reaction.  If "fight" becomes part of her learning, I've failed her and set her up for more fights. 
After a few lessons of this, I can get close enough to tie a bowline in the neck rope and continue with the giving to pressure to the side, but I'll start making the angle larger, so the pull comes more from the side and front, not directly to the side.  At about this time, I'm starting to rub the tail of the rope on her face, around her nose, ears, over her eyes, etc.  This will prepare her for putting on a halter when we get to that point.  Now she has the neck rope on and has learned to follow the feel of it as I move her more and more steps.  I can now rub and stroke her while she stands relaxed and I'll start moving my hand around more--down her legs, etc.  If an area seems to worry her, I'll just stroke over it and then away and then back and away again.  Sort of approach and retreat until she stops worrying.  If she does move away when I'm doing this, I'll ask her gently with the rope to stop.  After a minute, I'll go back to where I was, but try to reward her for standing still by quitting what I'm doing before she gets worried and moves off.  When she will listen to the pressure of the rope and stop moving away,  we can make progress  really fast.