AGREED, GET PROFESSIONAL HELP before the horse or the handler gets injured.
If the horse has already hit it's head it will continue to do so that's how horses are, they naturally move towards pressure and he is anticipating the knock to the head,...which he gets because the roof of the float that he has hit his head on the first time was TOO LOW!!!
Which is where it perhaps started... either by being accidentally being left tied up while the bum bar was opened, the horse backed out had a bit of a pull back fight, head goes up and "BANG". Same symptoms when someone is holding the lead and is trying to keep the horse from backing out too quickly. the pressure raises his head and "BANG"
For a horse that is from 15.2hh to 16.3hh the float should be no lower then 2250mm internal height. Most standard floats in OZ are at 2170 or less.
I have big horses, well over 17hh and my float roof height is 2400. You might well be able to fit a tall horse into a low roofed float that doesn't have issues, your risk is increased though as soon as a mistake has been made as with this horse.
So now of course the horse has a bad attitude towards being restrained in the float, the head will go up as soon as he feels claustrophobic, and who could blame him.
Time and patience with someone who specialises in this field is the way to go.
Good Luck with your friends horse
