are there people who can 'cure' a bad catcher?

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saddlesore

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My horse cr*p to catch. He will be reluctantly caught if he is turned out alone but you still cannot walk up to him and catch him like usual. You need to play on his terms - out with company you sometimes cannot get near him until the other horses are brought in. Is this a learned benhaviour that can be unlearned? he does not always come in to be ridden, he DOES always get a wee thankyou feed when he comes in, and once caught he generally is a very obliging chap! Ive had an RA out and it made no difference - worse in some ways. I really dont know what to do about it! oh- he will come for a feed bucket so not daft! Should also add that he can be very jumpy about having headcollar touched etc........... no idea of his past but i've had him for around 10 months and have yet to see an improvement
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my friend used to have a horse like that all i would say is that he might have been beaten or be very headshy and also it might take him a long time to get to no/ totaly trust you so i would work on your relationship with him.
 
he was very headshy when i got him and would hide at the back of his stable when you went in
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all of this has improved loads and loads - i wonder if he is worried that when he comes in he will get beaten and then when he does come in he remembers that actually everything is okay now? x

P.s did your friends horse come round?
 
hi, i have bought a lot of won't catch over the years & i discovered this method (see end of waffle) almost by accident, but it has proved very effective if you give it time.

i now have 3 rescues, 2 were 18mth (when they arrived) french bretons (similar to big welsh cobs) one of these was very shy, almost to the point of panic when he arrived, you could not touch him...period!

we have no idea on his past handling but i would guess at zero or bad.

they live in a large open barn with paddock access which i can close when i need to.

it took more than 4 months of letting him just watch the others being handled and talking to him before he would allow me to even start grooming him,
even then only to the end of the ribs or he would threaten to kick out,
before that he wouldn't even take a tit bit from the hand & would walk away from food if you tried to approach him, while turning his rear end and threatening to kick, -

(he has NEVER tried to bite, so i know it was all defensive and not aggressive)

he was sedated for farrier & vet work.

now 18 months on, he is as soppy as any youngster i ever bred, comes to call, is OK to tie up, stands for the farrier, goes walkies down the road, has worn a saddle and bridle & any day now will be backed,

so what did I do?

we got a weak old headcollar with a small bit of old rope about 8 inch tied to the THROAT part of the headcollar not the nose, the reason for this is when he grazes the rope does not dangle where he can step on it, but you can bring your hand up from below and carefully get hold of the rope to make a first control possible then bring your other hand to hold the headcollar and put on the main rope later.

1st off, if you must to begin with throw treats to them and talk, make no attempt to 'grab' just stroke the neck /face, and then walk away, once he allows you to catch him, give some fuss/treat, & LET HIM GO STRAIGHT AWAY, do not even try to bring him in, at this point watch the look of total bafflement on your horses face as you walk away.

give him some time to think over this new ploy.

if you can keep at this off and on all day, he will start to look forward to you popping up and may start coming to meet you.

keep going back 'catching' rewarding and releasing, gradually lead him a short distance towards the gate but not yet to it before release,
.....eventually bring him through the gate or to the stable, give more fuss/treats NO WORK and take back out.

as you progress, he may begin to follow you..... let him but don't try to catch him again, keep the fuss/treats going and leave him out.

the idea is he learns to associate you with fun, make it a habit and it sticks,

once you can catch him remember to give some feed/treat whatever AFTER his work just BEFORE you let him go.... WHY?
because that way the last memory was as good as the come in memory and that's important!

even after he has gone back out after working, resume the catch and treat game, that way he does not associate it only with come in to work.

bribery & corruption.....works every time with horses, kids and husbands, good luck
 
Wow, thanks for your reply! Sadly i am pretty much house bound with a broken ankle at the moment but i will try your method once i am walking again and keep you posted. That's great to hear that they can be 'trained' to want to be caught. Thanks very much for this - you have given me hope! x
 
i have yet to meet a horse who cannot be cured of this annoying habit!

you need a lot of time and patience and imo do not use food- a day will arrive when you don't have a titbit and you won't have a chance!

if you set aside a whole day and simply walk him down- let him go as slowly as he likes and don't be tempted to try and grab at him; you are just going to prevent him from grazing by moving him on.
it can take hours before he will stand and let you approach but when he does, simply give him a scratch and walk away without even putting on his headcollar.
give him 5 minutes of peace and then repeat again... and again, and again until he is letting you approach pretty much straight away.

then you can start putting the headcollar on, give him a scratch and then take it off and so on.

next step is to catch him, walk him a few yards and then let him off.

it can take 2 days with really stubborn/ wary horses but most of the horses i have dealt with have given up totally after 2 or 3 hours.

if they ever resort to it again, you simply resort to walking them down!
 
Thanks guys, ive tried walking him down - gave up after an hour and a half right enough as i was seriously pi$$ed of by this point! Maybe try again when i have more time/patience lol

As for join up, i have read about this but have never done it. Is it best to get profesional help?
 
If you are in a livery yard then ask for help there but otherwise there are various videos on Youtube which show you how. you need an area, ideally round about 15m2 and a lunge whip or long rope. Send the horse round the edge of the circle and dont let him stop or go where he wants - you have to control his direction. Every now and then block his way (keeping safe) so he turns and goes in the other direction. As soon as you see him licking and chewing, he is ready to talk but its really im portant that as soon as he does this you adopt a conciliatory stance, not looking in his eyes and side on. He should come over to you but if he loses interest or runs off before you can approach him then send him away again and repeat the process. Whilst you are building the relationship put him in a smaller paddock where you can do join up everytime you need to catch him. Hope this helps
 
''P.s did your friends horse come round?''

i think that he started to trust her and he slowly started to trust her but its still in the back of his head if u no what i mean! lol
 
If you're going to try Join Up then I'd say you really need to get a good Kelly Marks Recommended Associate out. Check the IH website for details of who is in your area. They'll teach you to look out for all of the tiny signals that you would miss, being new to it.
 
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