Hey there everyone, I'm completely new to this forum and have never posted here before, so bear with me!

A little info on me: I've ridden, owned, and trained horses for 7ish years. I have quite a bit of experience, but am not a total expert by any means. I do quite a bit of barrel racing and am a novice roper. Currently I have just one horse, the one talked about in this post. 

I recently (a few weeks ago) acquired a new horse. He's a 5yo QH, out of EV Tyrees Medusa and by Dark Dinero Hue, whose sire is PC Frenchmans Hayday. He's broke, just needs finishing. When I bought him his owners never had problems with him. No problems with catching, saddling, riding, etc. I rode him, watched them catch him, saddle him, and load him. He was great with everything, other than what I'll explain in the next paragraph. And I'm positive he wasn't drugged, I know these people personally. 

My plans for him is just to be an all around horse. I planned to start him on the pattern as well as roping, and just use him for anything really. Trail riding, etc. 

He's very watchy and flinchy. Will spook at most anything. He's gotten much, much better since I got him home and switched his feed to my preferred feed, Bluebonnet Intensify feeds. He had been getting a bunch of sweet feed, oats, alfalfa pellets, etc in his old home. Most all of it was soaked in molasses. Literally smelled like syrup. 

Anyway, since I brought him home I haven't been able to even touch him. He'll back away so he's just out of reach of me. If you're new to him completely, he'll be on the other side of the round pen. 

I can tell he secretly enjoys my company. He's not like most geldings (at least geldings I've had before), he's very sensitive and craves a relationship with a leader he can trust. He'll curiously follow me around, stand right beside me if I sit in the round pen, calls for me when I come, and looks disappointed and tries to follow me when I leave. But when I go to touch him, he doesn't want anything to do with it. 

I've had him about 2 weeks now and there's been some improvement, but I still can't touch him or catch him for that matter. Has anyone ever had a horse like this before? Is this behavior typical for PC Frenchmans Hayday horses? 

Not really sure how to handle this. 

Thanks so much! 

This is really not unusual behavior, especially for this bloodline and especially if this horse isn't being ridden a lot or the weather is cooler. 

Some horses have to have a reason to get caught.  Those types end up with two locations here.  They eat breakfast in one pen and dinner in another. They must get haltered and moved twice a day to eat.  The rest of the barn is munching away and the silliness goes away as I will go inside and keep going out while they run around whinnying 

Warwick Scihiller has a lot of really good videos on this. He has revamped his methods somewhat and his connection videos are simple but very affective. This horse has a lot to teach you if you are willing to learn. He also has a brand new book, The Principles of Training. I just got the book. It's already impressing me. He and his wife competed in WEG Championsip Games for Australia and while they didn't win, they had very respectable scores. He works all kinds of horses from mustangs to Grand Prix dressage horses, to Morracan Governments Barb stallions. 

I wish people would quit  blaming training problems on what they feed their horses. 

So, you have a round pen but can't touch him? Sounds like you need to learn how to use your round pen to me. 

You speak like you're trying to read his mind like he's a human. I'm not trying to sound mean but you need some training too in my opinion. Best wishes.

harsh  1 round corrall  no feed hay water till he lets me put a halter on  .then he drinks eats  and i brush   several days he will get smart

1. It is what it is. I have a FG grandson I've owned 4 years. Still can't touch him in the pasture. Can hardly touch him in stall. Rides fun, but he's no pet.

Does he possibly have gastric ulcers? 

I had a filly that would pull that with me sometimes and it ultimately came down to making doing the wrong thing hard and the right thing easy. I spoke to my colt starter about it and he showed me what he did with horses that would do that. He would make them work in the round pen until they faced up to him and let him catch them. You do have to be patient. It might take 5 minutes or it could take 30 minutes. Either way, make them wanting to not get caught hard and them wanting to be caught the release from pressure as a reward. 

That is just my two cents. It worked wonders with my filly and I haven't had any problems since addressing it. 

Hang in there, i am 2.5 months now with a new 4yo cow bred filly and she waa the XACT same way...

Problem is they said she was "broke" bahahahahahahahah - oh noooooo she was not - all she knew was nose literally straight in air and rear up and run backwards or flip over - ya its been a journey (side eye)

I made it a point to make contact - u will not eat until u have been haltered and we flex and i get ur mind focused on me, then add in petting and brushing, she is now at 2.5 months later greets me..

Ryan Rose Horsemanship is amazing with all kinds of situations and scenarios to work thru...

I ride and start a bunch of youngsters BUT  this one has made me up my horsemanship and focus more on the pyschcology and mind aspect..

Now that i have this filly's mind - wow its been a game changer....

so ya hang in there its going to take a few months of blood sweat and tears and some come to jesus meetings but yall will get there......

I have seen this with ulcers also. The diet that your horse was on would certainly hint at this. The fact that you have gone to a lower sugar diet might help moderate the attitude, but not cure ulcers if present. If he is flinchy on his acupressure points it might be a good idea to address that issue.

Good luck

You haven't had him long since you wrote that so maybe he has settled in by now. But if it's ongoing, and he's still "watchy" and "flinchy," wariness and flinchiness can be a sign of a magnesium deficiency. You might want to try some Remission.