If you want to see "head shy," try a donkey or mule that's been "eared." There is a rather brutal technique of horse restraint that involves holding and twisting (or even biting) a horse's ear. It works, possibly because it hurts so much the animal seems oblivious to anything else . . . . But donkeys aren't comfortable with strangers getting in their faces anyway, this makes them downright paranoid. That was how my mini mule Betsy was when I got her. To catch her, I had to "walk her down;" in other words, though I didn't run fast, I continued to follow her until she stopped and let me approach her. (Rick Gore has at least one video on catching the hard to catch horse). Once I was where I could get my hands on her, I looped the lead rope around her neck. I hold the left side of the halter in my left hand, and put the halter under her chin. I reach over her neck with my right hand, and take hold of the crown strap of the halter (it's unbuckled, of course). I get the nose band around her nose, and buckle the halter on. It takes a little coordination and practice, but I do this without touching her ears at all - that's a lesson for another time, haltering is an issue all by itself. This also allows me to get the halter on snug enough that it won't come off until I take it off.
