Can't catch my bl**dy mare ?

[Tihamandturkey]

As title

Madam is being a right pita - not been able to get anywhere near her for the last 4 days.

She's just gone on to 24/7 herd turnout with her fellow mares - anyone else having the same issue?

 

[Sheep]

I had this problem every year with our (sadly now gone, lost her 2 weeks ago) mare. I resorted to turning her out in a leather headcollar with a short length of rope permanently attached. It made things a bit easier... always just had to really take my time with her and occasionally remove all other horses from the field.
I feel your pain!

 

[Tihamandturkey]

Thanks Sheep - so sorry for your loss ?

 

[Caol Ila]

My 2-year old has recently gone to 24/7 herd turnout and is questioning whether or not she should have anything to do with human society. Finding wells of patience I didn't know I had. My 28 year old has always preferred humans to horses. That has its own issues but I now see the advantages.

 

[DirectorFury]

Mine has always gone like this when they go out 24/7, a scoop of suitably tasty feed usually does the trick though. It’s not ideal if the horse is down the pecking order as they can get a bit fractious.

 

[Tihamandturkey]

Nothing is tastier than grass atm according to Madam ?

 

[Caol Ila]

Mine has always gone like this when they go out 24/7, a scoop of suitably tasty feed usually does the trick though. It’s not ideal if the horse is down the pecking order as they can get a bit fractious.

I hear you. Yesterday my filly came up to me. Win. Then right before I got the headcollar on, another horse snuck in and chased her away from me. Not ideal. I told the other horse to get lost, which wasn't easy because it didn't give a damn about subtle cues so I had to be fairly loud. Filly seemed startled and worried by me driving off her fieldmate, and I had to play with a bit of 'join up' to catch her. Oy.

When Gypsum lived in herds, they were all terrified of her. I enjoyed this. Sort of.

On the other hand, when I bought my first horse, a wee quarter horse who was a middle-of-the-pecking order girl, I learned that I had to enter the field with a lunge whip, because there was a horse who would pin its ears and charge at your horse after you'd haltered it and were leading it towards the gate.

 

[Tihamandturkey]

Oh the joys ?

 

[DirectorFury]

Nothing is tastier than grass atm according to Madam ?

My nuclear option is D&H Pasture Mix, it’s horrifically sugary and my mare would sell her soul for a handful of it!

 

[Tihamandturkey]

My nuclear option is D&H Pasture Mix, it’s horrifically sugary and my mare would sell her soul for a handful of it!

? obviously more enticing than the 10% cool cubes I was offering ?

 

[Elf On A Shelf]

2 of my mares are like this. As soon as I turn them loose in a different field I can't even so much as touch the tip of their noses for the best part of a week. One is top of the pecking order, the other is the bottom but even with food it's a no go. The ones in the middle would sell their left hoof for a sweety so trying to get rid of them is impossible and when you do manage the other 2 see you as a really really bad guy and won't come within 10 meters of me. 7-10 days later they are fine again and I can do anything with them. Sometimes I have to scratch them with a brush before I can slide a rope round their Necks and they know they are caught then.

 

[Tihamandturkey]

Only 6 days left to go then ?

 

[iknowmyvalue]

Yep, Henry does this as soon as they go out in the summer fields. Usually he’d do anything for a scoop of feed, but the first week he’s so full of fresh grass that even that doesn’t tempt him i can always catch him eventually, and after a while of feeding him a small feed every time I catch him, he gets the idea and becomes (slightly) less feral ?

 

[Cowpony]

Mine gets like this in the middle of April and if I don't get her in then I can't catch her until the middle of June Last few years I've got her in the second she started to be tricky. It means a lot of early mornings and a lot of mucking out, but it's so worth it!

 

[Tihamandturkey]

Mine gets like this in the middle of April and if I don't get her in then I can't catch her until the middle of June Last few years I've got her in the second she started to be tricky. It means a lot of early mornings and a lot of mucking out, but it's so worth it!

Oh Lordy ?

 

[Mule]

I find sitting down near them and ignoring them until they get curious and come over works well when nothing else does. (You can also incorporate waving a carrot at them when they show interest)
Its weather and time dependent though.

 

[Tihamandturkey]

I find sitting down near them and ignoring them until they get curious and come over works well when nothing else does. (You can also incorporate waving a carrot at them when they show interest)
Its weather and time dependent though.

?

 

[windand rain]

I have more of an issue with getting rid of them to poo pick although others don't seem able to catch them so easily.

 

[SEL]

90 mins is my record with a hard to catch. I just kept following and when she cantered off I'd head after her. She gave up in the end and turned towards me with a WTF look on her face. Field safe headcollar and a MUCH smaller paddock aftr that!

 

[Mule]

90 mins is my record with a hard to catch. I just kept following and when she cantered off I'd head after her. She gave up in the end and turned towards me with a WTF look on her face. Field safe headcollar and a MUCH smaller paddock aftr that!

I had one like that too. You need the patience of a saint with them. I ended up doing some natural horsemanship things with her that helped a lot. I probably shouldn't admit this on the forum, but it was parelli and it worked ?

 

[Brownmare]

I find reverse psychology works on these ones. The mare in my avatar got like this every summer so I would walk into her field with an apple and start to eat it. If she looked at me I turned my back on her and if she walked towards me I walked away. Usually by the time I finished she would have her head on my shoulder drooling ? She was on solo turnout but in group situations I find that giving the other horses fuss and attention but ignoring the one you want gets them interested too. Just don't be in a hurry whatever you do or you will fail!

 

[Meowy Catkin]

Mule - go and stand in the naughty corner!

I've had a randomly bad to catch pony previously and it is so frustrating. I can remember getting absolutely nowhere once and emotion overcame me and I actually sat down in the field and cried (I was 12 or 13 at the time) and he came right over and I caught him. *sod*

 

[HashRouge]

Sometimes it is just the first week or so that they're like this, and once the first flush of grass is gone they'll improve.
Herd turnout in a large field is tricky because a lot of the techniques that usually work are complicated by a big space or having a larger number of horses. I.e. take feed into the field, end up with all the horses you don't want while yours ignores you and eats grass. Or, follow the horse round until it gets bored, which can be made very difficult if the horse is on a large space and can easily get away from you, or even worse you end up with an excited herd charging away from you!

If she's not generally hard to catch, I would try to be patient and see if she gets over it in the next week or so. However, if this is a regular thing, I would avoid ever putting her in a big field/ herd turnout situation again once you finally get hold of her!

I have a very difficult to catch Welsh gelding. None of the things suggested here will work for him when he is one of his tricky moods. The only way to catch him is to a) remove his field companion or b) corral him into a smaller area. This is doable because I own his field companion and control my turnout space, so in the summer when he is trickier, I can set their field up so that there is a narrow end where I can use electric tape to corral him and gradually make the space smaller until I can catch him. Trying to catch him used to cause a huge amount of stress until I worked out that this tactic worked and doesn't seem to upset him particularly either, bar the odd snort when he realises his space is getting smaller.

I can and do have him out on larger areas in autumn/ winter when I don't have to watch his weight as much. It makes corralling him harder but I can always remove his field mate if I need to catch him. And for parts of the year he will be catchable like a normal horse, but it's hard to predict when/ why.

 

[Mule]

Mule - go and stand in the naughty corner!

??

 

[Antw23uk]

High winds AND rain ... forget it! I throw a token feed on the grass and go home.

 

[Tihamandturkey]

Got to yard today & YO had kindly brought Madam in for me - she will always go to him ? so at least I got to ride & she got a nice feed - hopefully she'll remember she isn't completely feral ?

 

[Alibear]

Thank you for posting as you've made me feel better. Both my mares are being pains to catch recently. We split them up and they were good for a week but have since deteriorated again. The younger one has now learned to rip her head/headcollar out of your hands before you can clip the rope on which has me really worried as they can do that in any space. The older one started the whole run away and don't be caught thing, but is now being slightly easier as she hasn't learned the head flinging manoeuvre that the younger one has. Electric fence is on order to make smaller paddocks and I'm trying to book our local excellent natural horsemanship person to come and help. The thing is they've both had masses of training, groundwork and ridden, and lead/lunge/ride well etc. I managed to get the younger one to sort of hook on last night so lunged her for 20 mins without a rope on a roughly 20 m circle in the middle of her field. We could change directions etc all nicely and she'd stand when I stopped and she'd let me walk up to her but any time I went to touch her head, off she'd go. Food doesn't work both will lunge grab a mouthful if possible and leg it, or just plain ignore you. Also younger one is out without a rug as previously she went field hopping but stays put without it. We haven't got a round pen at the yard otherwise I'd be working in that too.