Rescue Breakthrough

First a little bit of background info-

I currently have 3 horses, well 2.3. My one true love Archie- 23 yr 16.1hh TB gelding. Bright chestnut with 2 hind stockings, stripe and snip. He has a roman nose, pigeon toe and scar on his back leg when he sheathed it on a fence. He's got little marks of his life all over, scars, calcifications, lumps bumps and patches but I think he is the most spectacular creature in all of creation. Archie is an LBI and incredubly intelligent. He is my heart, and has taught me everything i know about horses. Archie was my 26th Birthday present, and thinks he's the king of everything but is really a very gentle caring soft boy that always looks after his mum.

I then have Noah, a 10.2 ish red leopard spot Palouse gelding. He is my baby at about 3.5 years. Noah is an extreme LBE, you can't keep his attention for more than 2 minutes at a time, he's cheeky, curious, naughty, sweet, loving and so forgiving. This is my next levels horse. Noah was also a gift and he's going to be a Liberty legend. He is Joy personified.

And then there's Luna, my foster horse.

Luna is a 15.1ish dark bay STB mare, 16 years old. Luna was starved by her last owners. She was alpha broodmare at a trotting stud so was used only to pop out babies. When they were seized- over 20 horses in all, they were bone thin, having to have faught for every scrap of food, she was pushy, no manners, very deffensive and cold. Luna is incredibly quick on her feet, and used this to evade people as best she could. Goodness only knows that poor girls true history. When Luna came into my hands, she was almost agressively disinterested. She had no ground manners at all, pulled through pressure and her ears seemed glued down to her head.

This was my difficlty, I had two happy, friendly horses that wanted to be with me, and Luna was the complete opposite. I completely understood her position, I wouldn't like me either, I wouldn't like any people if I were her. I spent hours with her, playing catching game, just haning out with her, feeding her. But after 3 weeks she still wasn't interested in what I was trying to do. I knew I couldn't teach her anything if she didn't have the interest there to start with. I was slowly teaching her to move off constnat pressure and rewarded the smallest try. But she still wasn't responding. The worst part was that she has such a soft face, when she's with the other horses and just to look at her, she would have been the sweetest girl, so gentle. Now she was hard and cold as stone with regards to people. She's fat, regularly fed, has friends and a big paddock to run about in. I didn't know how else to warm her up. The breakthrough came of course with food- treats actually. I filled my pocked with molassified barley. And every time she did the smallest thing I asked her, I gave her some. After only 1 hour, she was watching me intently, her ears forward, her eyes less guarded. She moved off my touch so smoothly. 1 hour. Now when I walk in the paddock, she doesn't walk away from me staying jut out of reach. Now I can approach her, touch her, ask her things, she can play stick to me in all directions light as a feather and best of all, she has almost completely stopped putting her ears back when she looks at people. When used correctly and not as a bribe, treats can be a wonderful tool- because you can't teach a horse that simply doesn't want to interact with people. My little Rescue mare has come a long way in the month since we discovered treats, and she gets softer every day. It's just so sad that she had to learn that at all.