Can't catch my horse? (desperate for help!)

Hi, i took on one of these wild ponies of a mountain and i could catch him until he learnt what i was doing so now i have to be clever, so when he runs off i turn away and give attention to my other horse and then i move towards the wild pony slowly but backwards and not giving eye contact or going head on, i dont know if that helps haha
 
How annoying! When mine starts playing this game, I also go with the whole keep on moving games - if she is rude enough to walk away from me when I try to catch her then she can bloomin well keep on moving away from me until she is willing to come to me. I push her until she stands still or turns slightly towards me and I encourage her to come to me - if she turns away I send her away, if she comes up I let her come to me and then try and catch her, If she pulls away and turns again, i repeat the process and send her away. Sometimes I turn my back on her completely and she just follows me back to the gate but most times she just gives in and comes up to me to be caught.

now she is not normally bad to catch and usually comes to call so when she does this the process only takes about 10-15 mins max so if your boy is bad to catch this may take a while but surely he would give in eventually!

I wouldnt try and trick him - it wont work -make sure you are not aggressive in your body language when you are inviting him to come to you - dont stand square onto him staring at him or shouting at him as he wont come to you!

when you do finally start catching him again I would work on getting him to come to call and accept the headcollar being out on - even if you only lead him a little way give him his dinner and release him it should work eventually - dont give up and sorry if you have tried all this before and i'm waffling rubbish! Good luck
 
Monica I completely sympathise with you on this one... Nothing worse than a horse that doesnt want to be caught.

I bought a little 15hh cob mare in Feb this year and it was only when I got her to the livery yard that I realised I couldnt catch her. I tried a bucket which she same happily for but the minute she saw the headcollar she would take off. When I tried putting a lead rope around her neck she would spin and run, trailing it out of my hands.

It often ended in tears as I got that frustrated and angry.. the even trotted off one day and rolled!! The icing on the cake was when we got some unexpected snow, it was pelting down and I was soaked wet through and freezing. She was shivering and miserable but still wouldnt let me catch her. Took me almost 2 hours that day.

Luckily she has now settled and and I can catch her no problems without a bucket though I always like to have a treat of some kind for her.

Im sorry that I cant offer you any advice on this but I do share your frustrations.
 
We had this problem with Jessie when we first got her. She was turned out into 60 acres of interlinked fields and woodlands on the side of the biggest hill in Gloucestershire along with another 20 horses and ponies. When we went to catch her a couple of days later, she wouldn't have any of it, and ducked and dived through the herd to keep away from us. Eventually we had to get about a dozen people off the yard split her from the herd and corner her well away from the herd at which time she just gave up and let us catch her which took about 2 hours, and it took about 6 months before she started to trust us enough to be caught without any agro (she still can play a game from time to time, but we just walk away and try again 15 minutes later)

I'd say you have to split him from the herd and not let him back to them. he needs to know he isn't top horse when you are around him and this will tame time and patience. Otherwise he will just make a game of it and your life a misery when there is plenty of grass in the fields. I'd turn him out in a headcollar as well - you can get field safe ones as said above from Robinsons.
 
Ok, so my mare is the same, really hard to catch. tried food (nicks it and runs off), waiting in field (too busy for this charade), etc etc. She's ok if nother horse is coaxed in first with a bucket then neither caught, just ushered in through the barn door or allowed to walk in themselves.
But, everyone's set up is different but this has worked for me in most places:

Pick as short a run of fence as possible

carry your headcollar/rope (pref long eg lunge line) in your hand.

let horse walk to one end of stretch of fence. flap rope on leg once to turn horse

horse walks/runs to other end of fence, you beat it to the other end, flap rope to send it back the other way and so on.

Send it back and forth and eventually it will slow down, lower head and chew. relax a bit now, sending it on more slowly back and forth.

he knows he needs to be caught and will give up- stand and chew.

then walk over, stroke all over and rub with rope (desensitisation) and catch.

this process gets quicker because if you are relentles and don't give up he will submit quicker each time.

now i flap the halter once and my mare goes and stands to be caught.

If the horse can outrun you to end of stretch of fence and then bezzes off round field, throw rope to to turn him (if quicker than you running) or use two people at first.

Good luck and don't take his behaviour personally- the horse isn't doing it to offend you, he just know's he's clever and is trying his luck.
 
I know this problem, too, and I got a good hint from a westernrider.
After a wild-chase he told me to throw small pebble on his croup ...
... and wonder !, he stood still and I was able to put his halter on !
The rider told me, that the horse is stunned and felt being caught at this moment !
It really works with my horse !!! ;)
 
he is the sort of horse that knows that once I come with a feed, he is getting the feed, and then will let me put his head collar on, as knows he won't get ridden
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So put a scoop of chaff in the bucket and let him think it is his feed :) Really it is a bit of a myth about feeding/riding. No one worries about riding their horse from the field, but people panic at the thought of riding them after a small feed!

Also how long do you try for? You must NOT let him stop, you must NOT let him graze, you must NOT let him take his attention off you...he runs, you keep him going, and I don't mean for 5 mins and give up, you do it for as long as it takes, but you have to be strict, if you let him stop or graze for even a second you are back to the beginning! Good luck :D

We have one that the owners sometimes cannot catch, yet because I have chased her round before I can always walk straight up to her!
 
My horse starts playing tag when his herd is out on the grass and the weather is to good to leave it, in his opinion, I suppose ! :rolleyes:
And when Jubilar (his herd mate) wants to run around, too.

PS
And I only throw one very small pebble at his croup, of course ... ;)
 
I'm feeling your misery. My mare is, in the main, fine to catch. But when she has one of her days, she's exactly the same as your guy and despite being a gut-bucket, is unmotivated by food. I swear she's so intelligent that if I'm wearing jods, she won't be caught, so I wear jeans. If I've been away for a couple of days, she won't be caught as she's sulking. Last week I walked up and down the field for two and a half hours, with no joy. The next day, it was like all is forgiven, we're quits. Bloody horses, wouldn't swap her for a million quid ;)
 
Wow, can I just thank everyone for all of their replies, and i'll try not to miss anyone's advice out :P

07801rusty - I have tried ignoring him, giving everyone else attention, and then standing very still for him to come and see what I've got, but he doesn't come over, he just grazes with the other horses, and walks away from me, never coming over, as he is not greedy

treacle_beastie - thanks for that. I have tried making him move and move, but only for about an hour, as then I just gave in, but will definitely try and stay out for longer. As for the coming to call, the annoying thing is, is that when the weather is cold, or it's winter, he will canter down the field to me when I call him, but once it gets hotter, and there is more grass, he takes no notice of me... Well, he'll look at me when I call him, and then go back to eating

MrsT - thanks for that, it does sound like I'm in the same situation as you were

Ashf - I have tried getting him away from the herd, but it isn't a possibility to section an area off for him to go in, and plus he would get stressed and just jump out. As for the walking and stopping him going back to the herd without fencing an area off, he is so unbelievably nippy and quick, that it is very, very difficult to do that, and he really doesn't give in, as even once he is cornered, he'll still run around the area, and try to escape, and there are not many people at the yard I'm at who would stand their ground.

moosehunter - thanks for that, I will try it, but it is a fairly wide field, and he is really clever in that he will run for any available exit, so it may take 2, or even more of us. Also, flapping the lead rope does sort of work, but at the same time, sometimes he won't change direction, but just run along the fence line and back into the main part of the field.

Bjutschilp - hmm, never heard of that before! I will try it, although I'm not sure he wouldn't just run off? Guess it's worth a shot anyway :P

Weezy - thanks for that, I will definitely remember that about the feed. As for how long I have chased him away for, about an hour, as then I gave up, and ran out of time

EllieBelly1 - I've never actually thought of getting someone in to help, but I guess if all else fails, that is a very good plan, thanks!


Thanks for all the advice given, will be trying this out today!

Edit: missed the last post.

aquamarine - it is exactly the same as Wings by the sounds of it, although I wear jods even if I'm just feeding, so not sure if that could be why. It's so frustrating though, because he gets hay when brought in, exercised, fed and then turned out again, all in the space of a couple of hours, and I mean, it's not like he gets locked away for hours on end each day, he stands there with Monica, eating hay, then gets ridden, then gets put back with Monica for the feed, and gets turned back out with his herd!!
 
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Well, managed to catch the bugger today, after coaxing him through the gate and into a slip between 2 fields, which took about 45 mins in itself, and I was about to put the head collar on (as in over his nose), and then two horses galloped past him, and he followed. Must have taken me a good 15 mins after than tempting him to come and explore the feed bucket and eat his feed, letting me stroke him with my hand and the head collar. Put the field safe head collar on, and have added a little bit of bailing twine to the bottom of it, not long enough for him to stand on, but enough so that I can grab that to catch him, without having to grab the actual head collar.

So thanks for the help, and if he doesn't catch tomorrow, I'll resort to the keeping him walking, although I tried today, and really couldn't, as he decided to gallop from one end to the other, eat, wait for me to come and get him, and gallop back to the other end :(
 
I'm glad you managed to catch him! Just keep doing the same for the next couple of days and then maybe get him in for a ride at the weekend and give him lots of fuss and a bucket of feed just before you turn him out again! ;)

Keep us posted!
 
Thanks CBFan, and yes, think I will just get him in tomorrow, and Friday (vet coming out), and feed him before he goes out, and give him carrots at the entrance of the field, and then prehaps ride at the weekend, just in time for half term :)
 
Crazy question but do you wear your riding gear around him. If I am wearing my jods, abbey asscoiates this with exercise and sometimes doesnt catch.

So now I just pop out like normal as if to check her (so in joggers/pjs etc) and grab her then :) x
 
You have also described my boy down to the bone haha! I have tried so many things that I could literally write a book!

I only catch mine by seperating him from the majority of the mares and by not letting him stop. I'll then walk to the gate where the others are and encourage him to follow - or I'll walk behind guiding him.

Definately leave a halter on. Mine had the field safe off 2/2 times so I gave up!

When he gets close enough to you, move your hands around and then back off. I keep repeating this so that he understands just because my hand moved doesn't mean I'll lunge at him!

I also guide my horse where I want him in the field to keep him moving by increasing and decreasing the pressure - i.e. as soon as he goes where I want him I'll back off and I tell him to keep going but when he stops I'll test how ready he is to be caught by walking towards him in a circular angle and if he won't stand I'll ask him to walk on.

Ultimately I think for me it's down to lack of trust and stubborness (sp) so I always try and remain quiet and positive. As soon as I get stressed he knows and won't come near!

How long have you had your horse? I've had mine a whole 3 months!
 
Thanks for that, that does makes sense about guiding him, however instead of walking away from me, he canters/gallops circles around me, crazy little bugger.

I've had him for 2 years now, came to me really quite nervous, spooky, and we didn't get a bond for a long time, however now, well, I think the bond we have is really pretty strong, especially as we had to overcome some of his fears. He trusts me with so much, like, if he spooks at something, such as, for example, these black mats put down in the wash basin, you could see he didn't want to step on them, but did because I went on, whereas he wouldn't have done that last year.

It is so annoying, because he trusts me, and it really seems to be him being a d**k head over anything else, which makes the whole thing harder, especially because he is a very intelligent horse, too intelligent for his own good I think haha.
 
Well, a bit of an upsetting update from me.


I tried the walking him round and round thing for about an hour and a half, before eventually having to leave it, as have to revise for exam tomorrow, and because he looked in no way to be giving up, as even though he was doing the chomping/licking, whenever I turned away from him, he didn't take any notice and definitely didn't come over to me.

Managed to get him into the strip between the two fields (with feed), and all was well, put on the field safe head collar (which he had gotten off yesterday, and happily let me put it on), and he was happy with me touching him, so went to put his normal head collar on, got it over his nose, and he buggered off down the strip, jumped the electric fence, and started playing with the horses in the other field. He then refused to let me catch him, despite him having no way out, and he looked as though he was going to barge me out the way, so I let him through. He then stood at the entrance to the strip, cantering alongside it (electric fence gate type thing), and when my sister went to open it, he galloped away, and then galloped back to the gate, which he galloped through, and then into his field (gate was also opened by sister), and he galloped round for about 5 mins, until I put Monica back in the field.

I must admit, I am at a loss, he seems to be completely out of control, has no respect for me, and seems to go to any lengths to not be caught, yet doesn't seem to be afraid?

Will be asking YO for help tomorrow, as I don't see what else I can try anymore, and he is quite clued up on how to deal with these situations :(

PS: at least he has his field safe on, which will hopefully stay on, and I've attatched a little bit of bailing twine to it, not enough for him to stand on, but enough for me to grab on to, so hopefully this will help me catch him tomorrow
 
Sorry to hear this. Bloody horses- one step forwards and two steps back!

Can't add any more advice- the suggestions I would offer have already been made.

Good luck though!
 
I think with your trying and giving in as you have run out of time, he will be classing as he has won again,
What i would do is not do anything until you no for sure you have all day if needs be! and be consistant only try when you have loads of time? Sometime what takes and hour and half one day may take 3 hours the next atempt?
I also find the turning your back and bodylanguage is upmost important!
Good luck hope you get sorted soon! :)
 
vikkiandmonica said:
Well, a bit of an upsetting update from me.


I tried the walking him round and round thing for about an hour and a half, before eventually having to leave it, as have to revise for exam tomorrow, and because he looked in no way to be giving up, as even though he was doing the chomping/licking, whenever I turned away from him, he didn't take any notice and definitely didn't come over to me.

Managed to get him into the strip between the two fields (with feed), and all was well, put on the field safe head collar (which he had gotten off yesterday, and happily let me put it on), and he was happy with me touching him, so went to put his normal head collar on, got it over his nose, and he buggered off down the strip, jumped the electric fence, and started playing with the horses in the other field. He then refused to let me catch him, despite him having no way out, and he looked as though he was going to barge me out the way, so I let him through. He then stood at the entrance to the strip, cantering alongside it (electric fence gate type thing), and when my sister went to open it, he galloped away, and then galloped back to the gate, which he galloped through, and then into his field (gate was also opened by sister), and he galloped round for about 5 mins, until I put Monica back in the field.

I must admit, I am at a loss, he seems to be completely out of control, has no respect for me, and seems to go to any lengths to not be caught, yet doesn't seem to be afraid?

Will be asking YO for help tomorrow, as I don't see what else I can try anymore, and he is quite clued up on how to deal with these situations :(

PS: at least he has his field safe on, which will hopefully stay on, and I've attatched a little bit of bailing twine to it, not enough for him to stand on, but enough for me to grab on to, so hopefully this will help me catch him tomorrow
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In the Herd, a horse is either below or above. There is no level ground. It sounds like he sees you as below him, and is treating you with the contempt a 'lower horse' earns.

If you haven't got time to see it through, don't start the process as you will just reinforce his view that he can get the better of you.

If I'd have not caught him then, I would have gone back 20 minutes later and tried again, and I'd have not allowed him to rejoin the herd at all.

You have to be more bloody minded than he is !
 
I dont know if this will be of any use (someone may have posted it already, I'm not sure!) But having experienced the same issue with my mare this week, I think I have just about cracked it.

Yesterday I went out with a reel of electric tape and a couple of stakes, and without stressing her or giving any indication I wanted to catch her, I simply walked calmly around the field setting up the fence (without pulling it tight) whilst she grazed. I stayed well away from her, so she didnt think I was even trying to make eye contact with her. I then pulled the tape taught once I had it secured to the main fence posts, so that it formed a square with Ellie inside it. She remained calm until I went back to get her headcollar from the gate - then she started charging around! So rather than stress her by trying to catch her, I simply began to make the paddock smaller and smaller, reducing the size until she physically could not turn around quick enough. Eventually she came to a halt and I was able to catch her - she was very peed off though!

It took a while, but I 'beat' her at her own game.....for the first time in 10 years! I've never tried this method before, but I will definitely be using it again. Obviously it wouldnt work if your horse is likely to go through/jump electric tape, but if they do respect the fence then I think it's an option worth trying! It's my new saviour for sure!
 
My arab mare does this.

Like yours, only sometimes though,when you can't get near her at all, even with a headcoller on. Not food orientated and runs circles. other times she is yours straight away.

When she runs circles I never ever look at her or encourage her, I just stand still and look down and whats interesting is her circles seem to get smaller and smaller and then I usually find she will come and stand near (ish) to me. I still stand still and ignore her, as now she wants my attention. I wait, so she comes closer and eventually she will have her chin on my shoulder. I still ignore her. Then eventully I walk off. and she follows me. at this point I will turn around and she wants attention, so I praise her and catch her.

It can take a while, but it works for me.
 
I haven't read through all of the replies, but my friends pony was like this.

When she did catch her she got turned out in a small paddock, 6ft electric fencing, head collar and a catch rope attached, still could not catch her. We tried herding her up into a corner and she tried to jump the fencing got tangled and injured.

The ONLY thing that could get her in was if someone else did it. The owner would hide, and someone else on the yard got her in perfectly fine. Could someone else try for you?

Not saying that your horse might not like you!! But this mare was not interested in food and associated its owner with riding :)

Hope you find a way to catch him!
 
Just a thought but you say he was fine to put the fieldsafe headcollar back on but not the normal headcollar and you can go up to him but not catch him. Why not try different types of headcollars i.e. ones that do up under the throat / over poll / rope halter etc.

My old pony wouln't let me near him if I went up to his head but I could catch him if I went up to his back end and picked up a hind leg, then a front leg, then got a rope on the headcollar......
 
Goodness me, I do sympathise. My mare has always been awful to catch except for now *touches wood*. And even now I don't take it for granted!

I've lost count of how many lessons etc I have missed because I couldn't catch her, and how many times times she has reduced me to tears. Once she was out for several weeks in a massive feild at a livery yard with 20ish horses for several weeks without anyone being able to get near her.

We've tried EVERYTHING over time. Living on her own, living with others, out in a starvation paddock (she is a fatty anyway), chasing her round to try and join up, taking a feed bucket etc etc. Before, even if I did get near her she would rear and pull back as soon as I went to touch her head collar. Nightmare!

In desperate situations, the electric fence tape trick has worked so long as she is on her own and in a fairly small area anyway. For a while last year she was great at coming over every evening for a token bit of grub (Baileys Lo Cal is a godsend), standing at her gate to eat it and then be released straight away; couldn't get near her at any time other than dinner time though!

I'm not exactly sure what has changed now but a number of things are different. Since December she has lived on the estate where we live and my husband and I will often randomly just pop up to the horses to check on them without the pressure of her being caught, often we will take up some apples and carrots for them but not catch them. If she wont come up to us for a treat she misses out, but that doesn't happen now she knows whats going on. Shes out 24-7 in 30 ish acres all year round with a nice herd of 3 mares and 3 geldings. She is the only one in regular work. I can randomly turn up now and so long as I have a carrot and I hide her rope on approach, I can feed her carrot and while she's chewing clip her rope on so she can't really see. When she comes in, she is ridden, fed and released again. I think she hated being stabled.

Back in January she was being a git to catch in the bitterly cold weather and a foot of snow, and three other people (including an animal behaviourist who owns the estate!!) helped me chase her round for a couple of hours, not letting her back with her friends, and not allowing her near the hay at all. Knackering, but it eventually worked, and was made easier by having more people and one person who really understood what was going on and could properly guide us. I think that 'session' had a big impact on how she is now. Oh, also, I try not to have an 'expectation' when I approach her; I'm sure I used to think '****, I'm never going to catch her', and she would pick up on that, and would turn and run!

It is now lovely to be able to catch her when I want on my terms, although I don't take it for granted and I've not been brave enough to remove her leather headcollar yet!

Hope something that I've said helps, and hope you find the answer for you. It really is THE most frustrating thing! :)
 
This may sound unkind but you have to make the horse depend on you,bring him into a box or yard and leave him there,no food or water.Then and this sounds awful but the only food or drink he gets is from you,holding the bucket or feeder and allowing him to take what you want to give him,when you leave so does the food and drink.this takes a great deal of time to start with but they soon learn to associate you with giving food etc and should start coming to you,then you should be able to catch him before you feed him and hold him while he eats.No catch,no food,it does work but takes patience,never grab at the horse but allow him to approach you.
 
Well Zippo - that will make your horse trust you and want to be with you won't it? Probably not!

So many suggestions and no one has addressed root cause here. Bluntly, catching is always a relationship issue - it's about who has the authority in the relationship.

There are probably two issues here. Please don;t get upset, this is not having a go at you, just asking you to look at it from his perspective.

One is is a leadership issue - he is more dominant than you are and you are not leader of his "herd of two". You need to get into a leadership position so that following you is the natural thing to do, and you need to get very good at a strong send and a strong bring back. There is a lot of good horse body language to learn from both Mr Roberts and from Parelli. For example you can learn the "come with me" body language.

(Yes the dreaded P word, and you can always choose to dismiss it if you want, but honestly I know lots of folks who practice this seriously and none of them have any trouble catching their horses. Quite the opposite - their horses catch them!

In fact I sneak up to the field to get my 3 horses and never call for them because if I do then I spend half an hour tamping down the divots from them galloping down to the stables!!!;) )

So important starting points are friendly games, learning to move from steady pressure and then rythmic pressure, driving him from you and bringing back - these are all things that horses do to each other to establish dominance and herd hierarchy - and if you learn them you will be in a better position to be his "leader in the herd of two".

The second issue is that it is simply not worth his time coming with you - oh, it certainly is in the winter when he wants the food, but at this time of year why should he come for a bucket he doesn't need, and to be made to work? Far more fun to be out larking about with his mates!!!

So you need to find things to do with him that make him feel that you are WAY MUCH MORE FUN to be with than the other horses. This may be initially just going for a walk in hand finding interestin gthings to eat and spending time together. It may be learning some groundwork games and finding out which ones he likes, and what his personality is. Does he like the games when he has to do a lot of movement or the games when he has to really think?

I have a cob that will play very advanced games online or at liberty, and a ginger TBxID gelding that thinks that doing a figure of eight round two traffic cones for 15 minutes is just so much fun (and has been seen doing it himelf in the play field when turned out) - different things appeal to different horses. Simple games like carrot stretches will combine fun with agility. And always lots of praise, and genuine warmth towards him.

Hope that helps...
 
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