Hi, I'm new here and need a little help. I reciently bought a 12 yo Haflinger gelding. I knew when I bought him that he was going to need "refresher" training and hasn't been ridden in 3 years. I've done training (on my own horses) before and I definetly don't know it all. "Punk" (Is what he responds to - not my choice of names) has a good disposition but he's learned how to outsmart people. I have switched him over to a rope halter/lead from a nylon web halter with a stud chain (I don't like stud chains at all - I avoid them if I can - it didn't work well with him) My question being is (I'm sorry if I sould nieve but it has been a while since I've done "re-training" of this type) should I treat him as if he has never been broken and continue with establishing respect on the ground (and yes I do read a lot of JL's articles on his website and there's a trainer at the barn I can ask but am not comfortable doing so) then continue through with bridling and saddling? Most of the horses I have delt with before hadn't been out of work for this long. I know I have a lot of work ahead of me but it will be worth it. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

The answer is yes and no.
The sad part is he wasn't trained correctly to begin with.
If a horse is trained correctly from the beginning, you can turn them out for a few decades, bring them in and mount and ride off just as if the last ride was yesterday.
So, YES you need to start over, just as if he wasn't broke at all.
What will happen is that you will breeze through alot of the training and think that this horse training thing is really easy, THEN you will find his holes/weaknesses. Those are just the parts that the other people missed.
It will be difficult, but not impossible.
Don't rush when things are going easy, and don't get stuck on perfection when things get rough.
You have years to refine the small stuff.

Thanks for the feedback. I have no problem with starting from the ground up and safety is a big thing where I was hurt of a "supposed" safe and sane horse. I'm using natural horsemanship methods on him (I don't stick to any particular trainer for methods. I use what works for the horse I'm handling.) I know its going to take time and I'm really looking for those "holes" in his training. Thankfully Punk's not that big (14.1 hh) Chance is 15hh and he's still growing (I don't believe he's going to get much bigger where he was is tough shape when I bought him) With Punk I'm willing to do things right instead of doing it twice. If that means we need to repeat a lesson, no big deal. I want to make sure he understands before we move on to some thing "new". I just want to mention that I'm not a professional trainer. I only train my own horses. (The only exception to this was my cousin's pony when I was 12 - under the supervision of my father. And a 6 mo standardbred colt - teaching him ground maners - a few months later.)