Aaaaagh - can't catch pony HELP!!

[kkjames]

So the 'lovely' market pony has turned into a wild beast overnight!! We were meant to be returning it first thing this morning but I couldn't catch it. He is nervous but up till now I have always managed to catch him!!
Does anyone have any good tips for catching a pony? So far I have tried food but it is not interested, then I rounded it up into the field shelter but it jumped the hurdles and ran off. Please, please if anyone has any ideas help me!!!
Thank you!

 

[dressagelove]

We had a pony like this once, and I cured it with a bit of monty roberts style work Clear yourself a day with nothing to do, go to catch him, and dont give up until you do.

It took me about 3 hours, but she was always caught straight away after that, she knew I wasnt going to give up. Use some horse language, ie. chase him a bit, then lose interest and walk away, turn your back to him etc. It might work, depends how stubborn he is Is he with other horses? Might be a bit harder if he is, but its worth a shot...?

 

[HazyXmas]

Can be very tricky if he's not been handled very much. I have helped friends with fairly wild New Forest ponies in the past & the two tricks that we have found worked are to firstly remove them from any other horses, sometimes just catching & bringing in everything else is enough to make the 'naughty' one come in as well. If this doesn't work, fence him in as small an area as possible with as little grass as possible then remove any water, the idea is that he needs to rely on you for his basic needs of food & water. We did once have a medical need to catch a 12 month old colt fairly urgently, luckily he was quite greedy & we managed to catch him after putting a couple of ACP tablets in a small feed.
Good luck, hope that you catch him soon.

 

[wildcard]

I agree with Hayleshep88 my old boy when younger was a s** to catch and we got told to do the reverse phychyology job and make it your game not his. Chase him and everytime he wants to stop and eat keep him moving they usually gallop about for 10-15mins then get tired and moving on just turns into a walk away from you eventually they realise is a happier game if they just come to you. This worked a treat on my lad and if he ever tried to do it again i would just keep him moving and he soon learnt to just come to me rather than play games running away.. Good luck and let us know how you get on..

 

[kkjames]

Got Him!! Thanks all for the suggestions. I tried taking all the others back to yard, he wasn't bothered in the slightest! So then on to the Monty Roberts style work, he wasn't the least bit interested and after 2 hours he was still not even looking at me! My OH then built a corral type run and we rounded him up into it and then caught him. Epic day, I'm now quite glad that I am returning him. He is now locked up in a stable and I will not feel sorry for him and release him again!!! Thank you again!