Cant catch horse in the stable

[blitznbobs]

So i have a young horse rising 3 and i btought her in a couple of days ago at
Night which is not unusual for her and we put buckets in for water as the autos were frozen - she is
Normally the
Most sensible 3 year old but she managed to put her foot through the bucket- anyhow i came back only an hour or so later to find the bucket in multiple pieces and some blood on her fetlock and a tiny (couple of ml ) cut on her nose. I tried to catch her to put a headcollar on so i could have a better look and she was having none of it (normally she is no trouble at all to headcollar) but now wherever i am in the stable her arse is pointing at me (she is not trying to kick me (yet) but it is more that she wants to keep her head as far from me as possible- as soon as i come out and shut the door she is back round talking to me and lets me rub her nose etc and a bit if her neck but the second i put my hand as if to lift some thing over her neck she is gone. I spoke to the vets and they prescribed some sedative jel relaquine to but in food but this didnt touch her. I think if i can get a headcollar on her i could calm her down but i dont have a clue how to get hold of her. Have spoken to yhe vet again but their only opinion is ‘yes its tricky isnt it’ i have spoken to sone experienced grooms etc. and they say leave her she will get over herself but its not really my style — any ideas (and yes ive tried food)

 

[PurBee]

One of those 1 piece rope halters would be good for this …not the natural horsemanship style of rope halter, the sort that farmers use on showing bulls - they do them for horses- ohh what do they officially call them?

Theyre good for quick catching when head is facing you. You could have the nose loop around you wrist, with apple/carrot in the hand - while she’s eating them, you could sneakily quickly slip it over.

Similar to this:

 

[DabDab]

What did she do when you tried food? Did she engage at all?

 

[Carrottom]

I have one who is tricky to catch if he think something is likely to happen, e.g. vet or farrier. With him I ask someone to stand in the doorway so he would rather turn to me than them. Then reward when caught.

 

[Red-1]

As she has hurt her nose, is she just protecting this area? Would it be better to tend to her initially with a rope round her neck?

 

[Merrymoles]

It sounds like she's frightened herself. I am a big fan of bribery - she can have a many carrots, pony nuts, whatever as she wants as long as she comes and takes them from your hand. It does take a while but you can then work up to some other high value thing she likes, like scratching her neck or her ears or wherever her favourite scratch spot is and from there it is a simple step to rope over the neck and then a headcollar.

I approach from the side with the treats, keeping my wits about me in case there is a spin, and work my way slowly to the front end, chatting inanely all the time.

I am still kicking myself for inadvertantly scaring my newish horse, who is plenty old enough to know better, by going straight up to him with his headcollar.

 

[KittenInTheTree]

Blossom went a bit like this earlier this year, after an allergic reaction resulted in her needing to have ointment rubbed into the welts on her face. I found that sliding a leadrope over her withers and then pulling it closed in front of her neck worked best for catching purposes. She has since forgiven me and is back to normal, but it took time.

 

[Cortez]

Rope on a pole, bit like a catch pole for feral dogs. It needs a screw in eye bolt on the end. Or time, that is probably the best strategy.

 

[Marigold4]

Tactic from No fear, No Force book by Sarah Weston: rub neck/mane from a distance with a feather duster on a long stick just where a mother would lick/nuzzle her foal. Then move feather duster to other parts. Once happy, shorten pole by inches till you can stroke with your hand alongside duster, then catch. Tried it on a feral New Forest and it worked a treat. Took at least an hour though.

 

[Highmileagecob]

Can you set aside a bit of time where you don't actually need to get hold of her? Stand in the stable, don't really pay attention to her (except the dangerous bits!), and have a few treats or bits of carrot wrapped up in paper in your pocket. When she is happy to have you standing there, turn your back on her and very slowly unwrap a treat. Make a noise with the crinkly paper, but don't face her - she has to come to you and nudge to ask for the treat. After two or three treats in one session, walk away, try again hours later or the next day. Hopefully after two or three successful sessions she will be relaxed enough to accept you sliding your hand along her neck as she takes the treat, then baby steps to get back into a headcollar. She has had a fright, and she's suspicious. Hope you can diffuse the situation.

 

[ponynutz]

So i have a young horse rising 3 and i btought her in a couple of days ago at
Night which is not unusual for her and we put buckets in for water as the autos were frozen - she is
Normally the
Most sensible 3 year old but she managed to put her foot through the bucket- anyhow i came back only an hour or so later to find the bucket in multiple pieces and some blood on her fetlock and a tiny (couple of ml ) cut on her nose. I tried to catch her to put a headcollar on so i could have a better look and she was having none of it (normally she is no trouble at all to headcollar) but now wherever i am in the stable her arse is pointing at me (she is not trying to kick me (yet) but it is more that she wants to keep her head as far from me as possible- as soon as i come out and shut the door she is back round talking to me and lets me rub her nose etc and a bit if her neck but the second i put my hand as if to lift some thing over her neck she is gone. I spoke to the vets and they prescribed some sedative jel relaquine to but in food but this didnt touch her. I think if i can get a headcollar on her i could calm her down but i dont have a clue how to get hold of her. Have spoken to yhe vet again but their only opinion is ‘yes its tricky isnt it’ i have spoken to sone experienced grooms etc. and they say leave her she will get over herself but its not really my style — any ideas (and yes ive tried food)

What is happening outside of her stable that might have caused it? Is there yard work going on she's not sure of? Is she out in a field and maybe doesn't like her friends? I had one that did this to escape work and was first hint her saddle wasn't fitting properly for example although obviously at three won't be this. (she'd submit to it so much once we'd caught her we never noticed bless her heart).

Before we fixed the problem I used to get her to turn around with food and then be quick enough to stay with her head as she spun and she'd give up. Clearly I feel badly about this given what I know now but in the short term it worked really well (although sometimes we'd be going round and round the stable a couple of times lol).

 

[nagblagger]

Instead of trying to lift something over her neck try under her neck then over from the offside. (My donkey taught me this is the only way to catch her as she is so head shy)

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

Arabi used to do this as a very young horse I regularly got calls from yard staff saying they couldn't get near him, he only did it to me on a few occasions mainly if he was unsettled about something so it's a bit similar with yours she's had a bit of an upset.

I would try bribery with food if not I would sit it out just stay in the stable and turn your back drop all eye contact, she will probably just come to you eventually then just feed treats and leave, then repeat the process a few times it should work I did this with Arabi in the field as he would leg it as soon as I tried to put the head collar on.

 

[MidChristmasCrisis]

Chuck some calming cookies to her…it might take the edge off a bit and let you get closer to her?

 

[Ratface]

Years ago, I took over the care of an abandoned youngster. She had been left in one of our fields, and none of the usual catching methods worked. I finally managed to catch her by spending endless hours sitting in a corner and reading a book. She became curious and I chucked a few pony nuts out for her, which she ate. A couple of days of doing this, then repeated with me standing up. Then scratching her neck. All with no eye contact and still reading. It took about ten days to get her confidence, and be able to lead her.
She turned into a nice little in-hand show pony, and, eventually a first-ridden.
In my opinion, slow and steady definitely wins the race with horses and ponies, whatever their ages. Along with ignoring tantrums!

 

[Jenko109]

Not read all replies but if she will eat from a bucket with you stood next to her, use a rope halter and open the nose section up and put on the rim of the bucket, so she has to put nose through to eat. Have the remainder of halter long so you can hold the other end while stood up just about.

You should be able to time it to quickly pop over ears (which as it's long wont need to touch her head) even if she goes backwards at this point, the rope will tighten on her face and nose bit will be sat in about the right place.

Good luck.

 

[Carlos's Mum]

My horse.was afraid to go in his stable for various reasons and so we could not get headcollar on… we could do most other things including picking feet up. Read a tip which said to lift a front foot as if to pick out get someon e to then put. Head collar on, it worked straightaway!!_ kept him on stablesovernight and moved him next day to my present yard..now a happy lad and never any problem to catch.

 

[blitznbobs]

Update -Have found the issue - she has smashed a bottom incisor tooth, she must be in tonnes of pain - vet prescribed some strong pain killers and will have her in hospital on monday to extract the tooth

 

[Jenko109]

Update -Have found the issue - she has smashed a bottom incisor tooth, she must be in tonnes of pain - vet prescribed some strong pain killers and will have her in hospital on monday to extract the tooth

Bless her. Just another example that horses are rarely being difficult but are almost always trying to tell us something.

 

[Highmileagecob]

Good grief how did she manage to do that? And well done for managing to spot it - here's hoping for a speedy recovery and no lasting head shyness.

 

[Merrymoles]

Glad you managed to find the cause - there is always a reason isn't there! And good luck for tomorrow.

 

[Carlos's Mum]

So glad to read you have found the reason for her behaviour. Poor girl. Hope she is soon sorted. She will be cuddly for Christmas I'm sure.

 

[catembi]

Good that you found the cause. My Dartmoor was feral when I got her, and used to turn her quarters in the stable but never kick or threaten to kick. What worked for her was to drape a lead rope over her back, then inch it up towards her head, then I could get her head collar on. She didn't move away from me if there was the rope on the other side. I can mostly catch her in the stable now, but if I can't, this trick always works.

 

[blitznbobs]

Update

tooth finally out. Horse in field with water, hay, and a leather headcollar?

 

[HollyWoozle]

Wonderful update and glad she is OK.