Anyone ever fixed an impossible to catch horse???

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parker123

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Well, this horse is very close to getting sent on a one way trip to the vets or a lifetime in a stable!

tried natural horsermanship, small fields (which he simply jumps out of), no water, no grass, no rug in sub zero temps, too heavy a rug in summer!
going into the field and waiting....12hrs later 20 fags and a packed lunch still no horse.
Erm, tried working him hard everyday, tried not working him, for a couple of months. been vetted, not pain related.

this horse is also for sale. 15.1 Lw cob. bay four white socks. 11 yr old. loves to hunt, jump hack and is good enough to show. 100% to box shoe clip traffic and handle. All this IF you can catch him!

Any takers??? or ideas? Or does anyone have a spare dart gun?? or any gun???
 
I have a mare like this , have had her all her life (well since a 3 yr old) she has always been a sod to catch , 3 hours was normal , she is now 19 and i have give up , she lives out 24/7 on 6 acre field with a mule as a friend , she has her feet done a couple of times a year when i build up the energy to pen her in with the help of all the neighbours. She has never been mis treated always been spoiled rotton but just got worse and worse , learnt every trick in my book
Good luck and sorry i cant help
 
pony nuts, pears, apples, carrots, mints. u name it ive tried it. he has a 20 foot rule. i can not get within that distance of him. sometimes i can get arms length but this is rare! thinking of tethering him or hobbles!
 
I found putting into a paddock with limited grazing with a horse that comes to call, then every hour would go in with treats and give to them catch pet and let go....same thing over and over...then remove the other horse for grroming and tend to find other follows, always catch treat and then let go...all have realised now when i call its usually food so they come, and normally i feed treats and bring in for hour or so before i ride to eat so they dnt associate being caught with work just food.
 
Mine is like that! He's a bugger. There are certain circumstances we muct have for being caught;
1) after his time limit. After 3pm in proper winter, more like 5pm atm. After 8.30am in summer.
2) On his own. He hates the other horse in the field being too near you while he's being caught. He wants the fuss and the treat :)
3) If I've ridden him in the morning I'm allowed to catch him in the evening, but if he thinks work is in the evening I'm not allowed near.
4) Generally he'd rather my mum catch him than me. B*gg*r when she goes on holiday though, he goes feral for a bit :rolleyes: lol
5) He will NOT come in if his play mate is in the field. Now he's in a field with a horse he dislikes so is more than happy to come in ;)
6) Must have a treat. No treat = no catching! lol
7) He's best if he has his headcollar on. Makes it much easier as he sometimes has slight second thoughts when you're putting one on and he doesn't like it if you flip it over.
Other than that, muzzling helped, except for when he took it off, then he was in a mood and wouldn't come in for ages. Also a bit of join-up helped (Monty Roberts stuff :) ) and making sure he has a really established routine. He's much better when he comes into his tea as well. It never really gets fixed I don't think, but I find as long as I think about what I'm doing with him it's managed :) good luck, it's the most frustrating situation ever isn't it? :rolleyes: xx
 
Bribery. :)

Find a food he likes and he ONLY gets when you go to catch him. If he's getting any hard feed, he only gets it after he's caught, preferably with whomever caught him still holding on to him. I'd associate the treats with a particular box/scoop and "practice" with it at other times, say in his box or on the yard - stand a bit away from him, bring out the box, give it a shake and give him a treat when he takes a few steps towards you. It's important he comes to you and you follow the same routine as you're effectively training the response, not just giving him a treat for nothing.

Headcollar with a catch strap (piece of binder twine) on at all times. Use a cheap leather one if you're worried but snug enough he can't get it off.

Catch him every day, whether he works or not and don't work him every time you catch him, but do give him his treats/feed and a quick brush off or something else pleasant.

I've had a few that were very bad and came around. I will say I've found it much tougher with ones living out 24/7 as they don't "need" you in the same way as horses that come in but it's still doable.
 
you say you tried natural horsemaship? did you try approach and retreat with him? when i got my lad i spent around 4 hours trying to catch him, using every way i could think of. Another livery showed me the approach and retreat and, although this still took around 45mins, i eventually caught him.
 
horseandshoes77 said:
I found putting into a paddock with limited grazing with a horse that comes to call, then every hour would go in with treats and give to them catch pet and let go....same thing over and over...then remove the other horse for grroming and tend to find other follows, always catch treat and then let go...all have realised now when i call its usually food so they come, and normally i feed treats and bring in for hour or so before i ride to eat so they dnt associate being caught with work just food.
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Agree with the above, visit just to scratch or give him treats not just to catch him to ride, farrier etc.
I had a mare who'd never be caught; at a loss I decided to try the 'foot version' of sitting for hours on a nappy horse. I held a rope in my hand, picked a lovely day and went to see her. She walked off. I moved away, then threaded my way back towards her as she put her head down to graze, when I got within touching distance off she sauntered. Two hours later after using the same tactic, she glared at me as I got close again, stamped her foot (really!) and let me scratch her neck. I put the rope round her, made a big fuss of her, then left the field. She wasnt troublesome again, and it had taught me loads. I was pretty fed up half way through I have to admit!! but in this case it worked.
 
I think the small bare paddock method would work but you'd need to put up electric fencing that he wouldn't jump out of. Then visit him regularly to offer a bit of feed and treats until he sees approaching people as welcomed into his area. I wouldn't withold his water or over-rug him, but if he's kept a bit hungry there'd be no harm. To keep his interest up in your bringing food to him. Don't be in a rush to grab him. Wait and be patient. It might take weeks or even months to fully gain his trust but if you can get him over this hurdle now it will be worth it in the long term. My first pony (jaded ex-riding school) wouldn't be caught. Within a year she would jump out of the field to come to me in the yard when I arrived. That was another problem to deal with, but she was never hard to catch again after I'd won her over.

When we had a youngster prone to jumping out of her field my husband bought some 8' thin round wooden posts which were fairly easy to knock into the ground when it was wet. We set her up a 'temporary' paddock using the posts, electric fence tape and a high powered portable battery pack. I borrowed the battery pack from a friend to keep the cost down. At 5'6" high the filly was deterred from jumping out over the tape. This worked until I was able to move yards to somewhere where she had 40 acres to roam at liberty with a large band of babies (luckily she was always easy to catch.) But something similar erected for your boy might help, if you can arrange it.
 
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For the last 3 days he has been in a very small field with very high electric fencing, with small well behaved pony. Still have to corner him, with feed to catch him.

I used to try get him in at 3pm everyday and this helped but could still take up to 2 hrs.

Tried approach and retreat, he has a 20ft gap he needs me to have with him and after hours and hours all i have left is a tired sweaty horse that i still cant catch without at least 2 volunteers.

As i general rule i dont ride him, hes had all winter off, just coming in to bet fed and petted, and when i say coming in a mean we have to herd him into his stable at his 20ft boundry he sets me.

makes no difference if i leave headcollar on as i cant get close enough.

TarrSteps...
Find a food he likes and he ONLY gets when you go to catch him. If he's getting any hard feed, he only gets it after he's caught, preferably with whomever caught him still holding on to him. I'd associate the treats with a particular box/scoop and "practice" with it at other times, say in his box or on the yard - stand a bit away from him, bring out the box, give it a shake and give him a treat when he takes a few steps towards you. It's important he comes to you and you follow the same routine as you're effectively training the response, not just giving him a treat for nothing.

i have tried this on the yard and in an arena, he loves pears so tried them. seems to work for that situation i.e arena and yard but the moment i move it to a larger area its gone, and i have practised.

tried following him for hours, again, left with tired horse and no closer. I also poo pick every day which sometimes gets his interest but still the 20 ft rule.

i know hes frightened of being caught as when im not there he stands at the gate and looks for someone and when he sees me coming hes looking but at that 20 ft distance he gets worried and cant stay near me. in the stable he has good days and bad but when i take him for walks ( yes on a leadrope like a dog) or play in the arena which does happen sometimes he follows me around. We dont have a bad relationship.

i just hate having to corner him, its not helping either of us but its the only way.

thanks for advice though.
 
Sounds like a tricky customer. Can you go and give him the pears, say at 20 yards, and throw them to him, do it for a few days, and see if he will let you get closer to him that way?
 
If i throw the treats he runs away from them! or even roll them towards him. hes as stubborn as and he will only get to them if i step back away from him. i once worked him really hard everyday and he would let me catch him but in winter, i dont have the time to as i have another horse and ride pointers.

I will try working him in summer but i dont think its going to be any easier. some of my friends have suggested a herbal biomechanics thing but its £80 and you have to be able to give them it more than once a day, this means geting close to him. Its also alot of money on something which may not work. He really is a lovely horse when you can get near him. Perfect in every other way most of the time.

Thinking of letting him live out and just have to herd him when hes due farrier vet etc.
 
parker123 said:
Thinking of letting him live out and just have to herd him when hes due farrier vet etc.
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can you not create a really small pen with electric fencing posts so that he can't get 20ft away from you. Whilst you are poo picking etc he can also have pats & treats, and when you have cracked that you can gradually make the space bigger with the option to reduce it again if you have a setback? It does sound as though he is worth persisting with
 
Been there, done that, I feel your pain:(

Anything I have now that won't come to call (well, the gate being banged actually) goes to live in the round pen, and stays in there, until it does come to call. It doesn't get hay or feed unless it comes to me. I have yet to have one that hasn't learned to come in pretty short order. The problem with that is that you actually have to catch the horse to get it into the pen:rolleyes: I cannot be fussed with all this sitting and waiting malarkey, I have better things to do than that, although I will walk a horse down in a small pen if I absolutely have to.
 
When I was on a large yard I was always asked to catch the uncatchable, because I always did. This was because I had many tearful sat/sundays as a kid with a pony taking hours to catch if at all. My mum would never help saying that I had to do it myself. I was gutted because all I wanted to do was ride.

Tried it all and in the end in a moment of sheer stubborness that I would catch the begger, I spent a total of over five hours just walking around after him, not allowing him to settle to graze, moving him along.
It was easy to do, no running after him, because as I couldn't get within 50 metres of him with or without the headcollar, He did all the running himself. This was in a 6 and half acre field. Eventually, he just stood, I guess we did bit of join uppy stuff to get near him and caught the sod.
Next day he saw me and pegged it across the field. In the past I would have just left him after two or three laps, but I trudged to him and pushed again, he ran off, I followed, caught up to him and caught him. Victory! I remember catching him, letting him go, catching him, letting him go to check it wasn't a fluke.
I then had a mare that was given to me (when I was older) as an impossible to catch, took less than an hour with her and she came to a whistle in the end. My pony now, wears a muzzle during the day and if my friend goes to put it on in the morning, no chance, he clears off, but both my boys come to a whistle, muzzle or not. I establish good catching from the get go now and I never give up however long it takes.
 
I have a mare that can be incredibly difficult to catch. When I first had her she was a barely handled eight year old, and arab as well, so very intelligent.

What I did / do is got her to the point that she wanted to be with me (food) and then when she came, I ignored her and turned around to face the other direction and didn't give her the food. Eventually she's come straight over to me and rest her chin on my shoulder. At that point she'd get her neck scratched (to check she wasn't going to run off if I touched her) and then a treat. I very rarely caught her. Now, she's pretty good. She has her moments, but generally she comes over. She's due to foal next month so fingers crossed it doesn't go pear shaped once she has a foal at foot!

Hope you work something out. It's taken me two years to get to the point I'm at now, and unfortunately while I have little problem catching her, my friends still struggle, but I'm not sure if they let her go to them as if you walk over to her, she walks off. It has to be her decision to come to be caught.
 
parker123 said:
he will only get to them if i step back away from him.
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This tells you that at that moment in time what he wants is you to move away. If you do what he wants then you are reinforcing him (-R). You can then teach him how to control his environment, however, you train him gradually that if he wants you to move away he has to get closer each time.

Then when he gets close enough you can start ot use treats to train him (+R).

I've worked with hard to catch horses and the key is to teach them how to manage their environment. He is giving you a pretty strong message at the moment that he does not think that coming in is fun (no matter what you offer him). More and more chasing will just confirm his thoughts already that humans are not to be approached.

I would suggest you might need to think outside the box about how you can make it fun for him to come in. It has to be what HE thinks is fun as opposed to what humans think he will think is fun.

But first I suggest you need to teach him that when he approaches you you will give him what he wants....you to move away.

Hope that gives some food for thought.

Amanda
 
he doesnt like human company reasons only you and he know, but at this stage you need to get him out of the field, can you ride in on another horse and go up to him and put a rope around his neck to atleast get a hold of him, then i would put him in a smaller field/paddock but wouldnt starve him, dont punish (maybe this has happened so he dont like to be caught) make him feel that you are the best person in the world to be with, be friends with him give treats, remember what took years to occur will not be solved in 24hrs, you will win him over, dont over work him, if there is pain he will relate to this.
 
Horseandshoes' method has worked for me in the past. Also:

Always have him in a headcollar

Catch horse when you don't need him - titbit, praise, then let him loose

Get horse to come to you. I'm far too lazy to go to my horses. They all come to me (the liveries as well) because they know I'm Imperial-Mints-on-Legs.

Make your voice positive, loving and cheerful (ha-ha)!

Difficult horses will often come to you if you kneel. For some reason it fascinates them (unfortunately it also fascinates bullocks etc. so if your horse is in with livestock it may end up looking like a prayer meeting)

At the beginning of the project, wait until you have some vile weather (torrential rain, whatever). If you cast yourself in the role of saviour it's a big help.
 
ive tried walking away every time he comes to me! hes happy with that. Cannot take it any further.

I know he has had a bad time in the past, he has a scar where a headcollar had been left on and also a scar on his right shoulder. he is a nervous animal i know this but after 4 years of nothing but nice people he is still terrified. i wish i could afford a proper behaviourist to come to him but i just dont and i am not clueless.

i think after all your help i have come to realise that my horse does not trust nor want to be near people because of his past. i have tried to gain his trust and in some respects i have.... he was sold to me as a dangerous unrideable rearer and not once has he done that with me but still the underlying issues remain.

i have to ask myself, and you lot.... what am i doing?? i can happily let this horse live out his days in a field. why am i trying to make a terrified horse come to the same people (in his eyes) that abused him in the past? well i can answer that... he is quite simply the most honest horse ive ever ridden but if hes that stressed about it then i am being unfair in asking him to do that! or am i?? he jumps XC and hunts with ears pricked and as relaxed as ive ever seen.

oh i donty know... what do i do? let him live out with little human contact or leave him in a bare paddock for my own reasons??? i know which he would choose?

x
 
I also have a very nervous (mistreated) horse and know how hard & frustrating it is trying to gain trust. When i first got him home i couldn't get near him but since doing join up in his paddock hes’s not been to bad in that respect

Having done some clicker training with him I have found that only when he’s feeling more relaxed and confident does food work as an incentive & even then not to the same degree as my other happy & confident ones.

It sounds like he doesn't want to be caught as he is still afraid of what might happen to him when he is. Offering a fearful horse food when he’s got a field full of grass is not much inventive at all & I think water would be a much more powerful motivator. I would go out and offer him water every couple of hours. Start by placing it at his “20’ rule” away from you once he is drinking from that distance each time gradually reduce it.
When you get to the point where you can catch him, give him a stoke and let him go again. I would then carry on catching him without becoming predictable as to if you will bring him in or just let him go again.

He sounds so nice in every other way I wouldn’t give up on him just yet.
 
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Parker
You've said that leaving him to just be a horse is something you're happy to do, if I could afford it, I think I would be temped to do just that. I'm at a livery yard so it's not something I would contemplate now but if I had my own land I think I would.
It's supposed to be a pleasure but it sounds like you feel bad for stressing out a horse who has suffered enough in the past.
If it's not a big deal to leave him ferral then it maybe it's a good thing to take the pressure of you both, it doesn't have to be permanent.
Good luck with whatever you decide to do, he sounds like he's landed on his feet with you.
 
turkana said:
Parker
You've said that leaving him to just be a horse is something you're happy to do, if I could afford it, I think I would be temped to do just that. I'm at a livery yard so it's not something I would contemplate now but if I had my own land I think I would.
It's supposed to be a pleasure but it sounds like you feel bad for stressing out a horse who has suffered enough in the past.
If it's not a big deal to leave him ferral then it maybe it's a good thing to take the pressure of you both, it doesn't have to be permanent.
Good luck with whatever you decide to do, he sounds like he's landed on his feet with you.
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seems to make sense; humans have given him nothing but grief - with the exception of yourself and a few others probably. May be if you took the pressure off him, and just visited him even to talk to him over the fence and go away, then go into the field leave something nice-dont go into his zone-talk to him (very low and quiet), dont look directly at him. Could take years, but if you get to the point where he tolerants you being there it'd be a huge. Dont have any expectations, just be with him, and dont ask anything of him.
 
Difficult situation, esp if you've got limited facilities in terms of other horses and fencing.

It can sometimes be something outside the actual 'catching' that needs a change. We had a old riding school horse who had always been impossible to catch. Usually took an hour min. About a year after I started riding her I changed her saddle to one that fitted well (she'd had the other 20yrs and regularly 'fitted' by a professional but I wasn't convinced). Within 3weeks she'd run up the field to see you. She'd be trying to tell people her saddle hurt for 20yrs.:-(

There's quite a few things i'd try:
Turnout with a group of overly human friendly horses and remove them as required.
Clicker training.
Coral.
Herding him onto yard.
'Walking' him into catching.
Look carefully at his life to see if something's bothering him about being caught: the headcollar fit? The gate? Something on the walk up to the yard? His stable? Being brushed? His tack? Etc etc.
 
I know my one is slightly different as i have had her from a 3yr old and know she has never been treated bad, but as i have already said i gave up and i still would say to any one come down and have a go at catching her as i really have tried everything !!! I did find that chucking her in a big field with plenty of grass with a couple of horses who are good to catch broke the 20ft rule and she will now come over for a tickle and a carrot (after a year of living out), but if i have a head collar i have no chance , i round them all up in to a smaller paddock and bring them out one at a time and normally i can just get her if im quick (this is for farrier and vet)
Trust me , im not a numpty i work with horses for a living , if your steed does not want to be caught you dont stand a chance. chuck him out with some others and go down once or twice a day with some carrots ,it could take a month or a year, he WILL start to come over. I could only go down this route as my mum lives in france and has land so it doesnt cost me anything.
Good luck !!
 
Hi,

I cant leave a headcollar on because it always rubs him, even when ive spent hours lining them. He can get them off too so its pointless.

I have no idea what he considers fun. He likes to go hunting but i cant do that often as its too expensive.

Herding him works but its not always an option and its not really helping him as im then teaching him that i will chase him to a corner or into a box, what i worry about is what if something happens to him and i cant get close enough to help because he will panic.

also, he wont approach me. Even after hours and hours unless he is in the mood. which happens once every 6 months or so.
 
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