Advice please

[Chestersmummy]

I have just taken on a 5 year old traditional cob mare with view to buy. Shes a sweet little thing and I can see her being a very good pony in the future. The problem is she is really nervous of everything. When I went up last night she had managed to get her headcollar off. She will quite happily take treats out of my hand but won't let me put her headcollar back on. She was broken in last year and has been turned away and basically not touched for the last 6 months so I will be starting everything again. Once she has her headcollar on you can catch her fine. I'm taking some carrots up today to see if she will let me put her headcollar on whilst shes eating a carrot. Any other ideas? Thanks

 

[hayley.t]

Some more experienced people will probably give much better advice than this but when my little mare was quite new and didn't like to be caught I gave her a treat and then walked away a few steps so that she had to come to me for the next one and carried on till she would pretty much follow me, this sort of gave her confidence with me, then I would put the free end of the lead rope around her neck (gently without scaring her) and hold it round her and give her another treat then work up to putting the headcollar on. Also go when you have plenty of time so that you are not getting stressed and you could also try doing some field jobs like poo picking with her in the field and you will usually find that curiosity gets the better of them, reward her when she comes to you not just with treats but with a fuss and then walk off again.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

Good advice from hayley.t.
We have found that a 'difficult to catch' in her previous home filly is easy for us and we think it is because we use a rope halter and it is quiet, no rattling buckles etc. The first time we caught her we used a bucket of feed and put the rope round her neck first.

 

[SatansLittleHelper]

This was exactly how my youngster was when I first had him. I used those mint horselix treat tubs, the small handheld ones. And just gradually slipped the headcollar over his nose ect til one day I was able to get it on. From that day on he just trusted I wasnt going to hurt him and we have gone from strength to strength

 

[Chestersmummy]

Thanks
I went up earlier and had some carrots. She was distracted by the carrots and let me put her head collar on. She also let me brush her. Its going to be a long road but I don't mind as my priority is making sure she is comfortable with everything I do.