Cant Catch Shivering but Scared Pony

WelshD

WelshD

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A couple of days ago I found my pony with his sweet itch face mask over his eyes, he was scared and was running backwards. I managed to get close enough to grab the mask and he pulled it off as he shied away

I didnt catch him yesterday but noticed he was nervy of his feed bucket which seemed strange

He is shivering today (he is a little underweight) but I couldnt catch him to bring him in to dry off and be rugged, he kept running backwards as if he had the mask over his eyes again

I know it will be a few days before he will start to trust me again but I badly need to get him in, get his wet sweet itch rug off and a clean dry turnout on

Any tips would be appreciated thanks x
 
My friends pony was abused before she got him and he doesn't like being caught. The only way to do it is to get him in a smaller area and then he'll stand still if you go very slowly.

However he hates being wet so if we've ever had to catch him when the weathers turned he'll stand as good as gold xx
 
no :( the other side of the gate is a larger well grassed area. I could section off a smaller area of that with electric tape though I guess but there are 12 sheep, 2 goats and another pony in his field so all hell could break loose!
 
What we have done in the past is tie rope to the fence, about 15ft from gate. Then walk away with the rope and get somebody to herd pony to gate. Walk with rope, making a small enclosure. It can be tricky, my little devil used to jump the rope :mad:. But it can work.
 
I did get him to eat about half his feed this evening but he was very jittery, I also tried the headcollar in bucket trick but that just made things worse so I gave up on that and concentrated on getting him just to eat something

I think the rope trick/smaller area is probably my best bet then thanks x
 
No injuries that I can see, no rubs on his face, eyelids etc but i guess it could have rubbed his actual eye but he isnt squinting/blinking more or anything and seems to be able to see normally
 
Is this a Welsh D by any chance??

I can't catch my cob once she's cold and wet. She doesn't like being touched when she's cold, especially on her poll area which makes getting a headcollar on her pretty tricky if I can get her to stand still long enough!

I'm lucky in that I can herd her into her stable, but have to be very careful as she will jump anything in her path rather than let me near her - apart from once she's in her stable. Even then I can't always touch her head! But can put a rug on her.
 
Normally yes but the other pony is egging him on and being a colt rounds him up and takes him away when he panics so they are as bad as each other at the moment

luckily the colt has a good coat, is a decent weight and doesnt need to come in or I would be tearing my hair out trying to catch the pair of them!

Wish I could roll back a few days to the lovely weather and sunny happy ponies!

They are both section A's. Interesting point about the poll area, my pony arrived with swollen sore ears from sweet itch and hates his ears being touched, I wonder if its the cold and wet that is the problem as opposed to the incident the other night.....
 
Don't walk towards him, looking straight at him, but look away and meander as if not intrested approaching him then turning away. Do not try to hide anything like a headcollar from him but be honest with him. If he comes to you, turn away, he will follow. Good luck.
 
Elsbells said:
Don't walk towards him, looking straight at him, but look away and meander as if not intrested approaching him then turning away. Do not try to hide anything like a headcollar from him but be honest with him. If he comes to you, turn away, he will follow. Good luck.
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Well this evening I assembled fence posts and tape to try and make a corral but thought I would try the above tactic first, every time the pony backed away I turned away giving him space and acting disinterested and after a while was able to get a hand on his neck, once in his headcollar he was fine and I quietly walked him to the stable where he stood good as gold while I found a rug to fit him and faffed about with straps and surcingles

One pony now dry and warm and back in his field. Thank you all for your advice :)
 
Glad you got it sorted. Funnily enough my friends is a sec A!! Although as I say he wasn't handled well before she had him. Once he's caught he's fine to handle xx
 
Good you've caught him. Something that worked for me once was feeding polos to the pony in the next field (my pony by the way). The horse that had been hooning around refusing to be caught got curious/ jealous enough to stand still long enough to be tempted by a polo and be caught.
I suspect my pony had been egging the difficult horse on in the hope of extra polos!
 
I had the exact same problem not been able to catch 2 shivering horses today! So I gAve up and put lots of hay out to warm them up! Know it doesn't help with catching but maybe just then try catch him when weather has settled !
 
Well much as I am sorry for all of you with difficult to catch ponies I have found this post very reassuring as my horse is pretty impossible to catch in the rain even with a headcollar on! He is nasty with it and swings his bum and will kick out with both barrels and yesterday he upped it a notch by starting to back up to me. I find the only way is to keep him moving and prevent him eating but this takes 30-45 minutes and even after that he is still reluctant and very nervous to the extent that I wonder if in a past home (not his last for sure) he has been beaten for running away in the rain. As soon as the rain stops although he can be a bit hit and miss my YM and I can usually catch him straight away!

I also tried a carrot in a bucket this lunchtime as was going to check his rug wasn't leaking but he was scared of the bucket. It is a good job he is my perfect horse in every other way!
 
WelshD said:
Well this evening I assembled fence posts and tape to try and make a corral but thought I would try the above tactic first, every time the pony backed away I turned away giving him space and acting disinterested and after a while was able to get a hand on his neck, once in his headcollar he was fine and I quietly walked him to the stable where he stood good as gold while I found a rug to fit him and faffed about with straps and surcingles

One pony now dry and warm and back in his field. Thank you all for your advice :)
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Well done, suprisingly simple isn't it. Of course you have now taken your first step towards NH!;)
 
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