Help with new baby!

[Juneir@aol.com]

Last week (April 7th) my mare gave birth to my dream filly - you know, the 
one you design in your head and never quite end up with - well I did!  
Anyway, I bred her to be the horse that I will grow old with ( I'm 59 now and 
figure that 89 and 30 are probably a good match). So every thing has got to 
be right (my first mistake!). Did the imprinting and early handling, halter 
on and off each day, and for the first three days everything was just fine. 
Then as I was putting on the halter on the 4th day, just at the buckling 
stage with no hands to contain the baby, a chicken flies off the stall 
partition, spooks her, she pulls back and falls over, bangs hard against the 
wall (luckily nothing injured) and now is extremely spooky around me, doesn't 
want her head touched and I can't get the halter on her at all.  My approach 
has been to back off and just love her up (halter hanging from arm) every 
time I go in the stall. She runs from me (and this hurts) but I make sure 
that I get her (no fight just opportune spot) and love her every time.  I'm 
not making an issue of getting the halter on or even trying to. Several 
friends have said that I better push the haltering now or it will be a major 
issue later but my instincts are to take it slow. Comments? Anyone with 
experience and advice?  She was not at all spooky until she went over 
backwards and is bred to be of a quieter disposition. Thanks for any advice.  
June