been reading the advice from the others and it all sounds great, just wanted to add something:

horses never approach something head on if they are weary of it so try circling him (inhand) around the pole with yourself inbetween your horse and the pole.  let him stop of his own accord and look/sniff at the pole.  gently encourage him to make the circle smaller and if you think he's doing really well and listening to you then lead him away again as reward.  dont cuddle him or pat him during this, taking off the pressure is reward enough without confusing him (he may think your rewarding him for walking away from the pole)

set a small goal each day and remember that its fine if you reach that goal in 5mins or 5days.  as monty roberts (i think!) said: 'if you act like you have 15mins it will take all day, if you act like you have all day it will take 15mins' or something like that!!

lastly, age has nothing on experience.  its all about making the positive of something outweigh the negative.  its like falling off a horse, the sooner you get back on the sooner you get over it!

good luck with him, he may be fine by now, and i hope he is!  there is nothing more satisfying then helping a horse overcome a fear, but that doesn't mean its easy!  look up desensitising too, it doesn't have to be poles - i think its a great thing that helps all sorts of horse no matter how bomb-proof they already are.  it genuinally helps improve their confidence.  if anything your lucky you horse is young, they are generally less set in their ways than older horses with similar phobias!

Xx

yeh,i'd try and put one or 2 in his field or turn him out for a  hour with them in the arena-if you put a heynet behind them or a bucket of carrots next to them he'll soon get curious!!you'll be surprised how much less scary the poles will seem with carrots next to them!

i'd also start him inhand-even walking next to them gradually moving along the pole towards the middle will be a step in the right direction!

at the same time i'd try and get yourself some lessons on a more confident horse to get your own fears sorted,if both of you are scared then neither of you will improve!even if you just do polework with him for 6 months it'll be better for him in the long run than trying to force him and scaring both of you even more!

good luck!