Catching naughty ponies!

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JosieSmith

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Can anyone help me please! My yard has a an exmoor pony who jst gave birth about 3 days ago in the field, but no-one can catch her! The foal is up and seems fine but we'd really like 2 get her in and e sure they're both ok! I've tried feed every trick I can come up with and I'm normally good at catchin the ones that don't want 2 catch but I can't get near her! She's in a 13 acre field and we can't block any of it off as she ruraight thro everythin we try, and it's 2 dangerous with a foal at foot now.

I've tried feed, advance and retreat, gettin her trust by jst sittin in the field but nothin seems 2 work!

Any idead greatly appreciated!
 
gosh i hate when the wee buggers run away lol ... I had to catch a wee mini shetland thing today and it just galloped around and around eventually cornered it at the gate after about 30mins, but it doesnt kick etc hence the cornering trick lol ... Although i fear i have no ideas for you as youve tryed anything I would have suggested anywho :rolleyes: lol good luck though
 
I went in with a wheel barrow full of hay and carrots on top to catch a naughty pony, just ignored as if doing checks on grass...how sads that...pony got curious and came over to barrow ,munched carrots and then ignored me, managed to get hold of mane and hang on.Not the brightest idea but it worked.
even tried sitting on floor once to catch mates horse throwing nuts on floor in front of her and she then after loads of nuts..and nearly getting piles.. lol came over and ate by me.
Got hold of her rug and she gave in. Would never do it to a horse that I did not trust!
Not very BHS whoops needs must
 
Are she and foal in company? Can you bring in others and see if she is keener? Don't envy you! Nothing more frustrating than a horse that doesn't want to be caught. When you do catch her, leave on field safe headcollar with short length of rope attached to make it easier for next time!
 
my old mare is a total sod to catch. i second the wheel barrow thing. i pretend i'm going in to muck pick and randomly throw food on the floor and then grab if i can- again not wholly bhs be but it does work. i too am not fond of cornering/trapping due her grand old age and frankly she knows all the tricks in the book, inc going thru fence or jumping, maybe the foal will get curious and venture over wit mum in tow
 
My mums horse is a bugger to catch so we leave a headcollar on him and he is generally ok with us going up and just putting his leadrope on. We suspect his behavioural issues are due to him being mistreated as hes never being naughty when he wont be caught, he is genuinely frightened. A few weeks ago he lost his headcollar in the field and we had no chance of catchin him, as soon as you go up to him with a headcollar he runs off, so we were fortunate enough to have a cattle pen at the back of his field which we herded him into and we still couldn't catch him in that! So we pretended we were lunging him and when he got bored and wanted to stop we asked him to trot on again. Eventually he got so fed up he just came to me. It was as though we switched over from him being in control and running away, to me being in charge and him obeying what I was asking of him. Sometimes if you dont let them have chance to stop and eat they get bored of walking around and will let you have them.
When we first had him we had about ten people surrounding him in the corner of the field and 2 hours later we'd have caught him so we have come a long way since then. Im sure you'll think of a way to catch her, its just about trying different things.
 
Even before I opened up this thread I just KNEW it was going to be about an Exmoor, I must be psychic. Or maybe it's because I've got one who can be silly about being caught too.

Was she handled previous to having her foal? It sounds as though all of her feral and maternal instincts have kicked in. My advice would be too give the Moorland Mousie Trust on Exmoor a ring, have a chat with them, they are total experts on the subject. They'll probably tell you to gently herd her into a smaller enclosure..it's how it's done on the moor.
 
I also have a naughty Exmoor who is an expert at pulling off head collars. When I first had her she spent 2 months in the field without being caught. I spent hours with her in the field and thought I'd tried everything but the thing that finally worked was putting a gate on the field shelter and herding her in there using lunge lines and a reel of electric tape (you need a couple of helpers ideally for this). Once she realised she was caught she was fine. Today she is easy to catch because I can feed her in the field shelter and shut the gate. The cattle pen idea also sounds like it would have the same effect. Good luck !
 
She's just being naturally protective, I had a pony once that used to hide her foal for the first week. If there's nothing obviusly wrong, I'd trust to nature and let them get on with it.
 
Thanks, some great ideas. Unfortunately I know nothin about her as she's YOs and I've never even seen her before but I'm gonna giv it another try 2day, thought I'd take some feed and jst sit and read, see if she gets curious.

Herdin her in2 a smaller field isn't an option unfortunately as the only field she's next 2 is 50acres and she's hard enough 2 catch in thr 13acre one she's in now!

I'm goin back out this afternoon and will let u know if I get anywhere, even a foot closer is progress!
 
Take heart took me over six months to catch one of my mums for the first time just sitting there. Will see if I can find the picture of how close he used to get before buggering off. Tried cornering him and he would do anything to escape including pushing through hedges etc. hope your patients pays off. And hope it happens quicker than six months!
 
I hope so too! I'm ill after sitting there for so long today! I laid down and she got quite close although was still terrified, then I got a horrible rash all over my back and had to get up! I think I'm gonna have to get YO to close part of the field off cos I know if I can just get close to her I can get her trust, just can't do anything to gain her trust if can't get close!

She's fiercely protective of the foal and kicks out quite aggressively at the other horses so that doesn't bode well if I do get near her! Ha ha!

I'm back at work tomorrow so time is going to be limited, especially as she's not mine and I've got my on to see too as well.

Fingers crossed anyway!
 
Well I'm sad to report that the vet is coming on wednesday to sedate her. It seems it's the only way anyone is going to get anywhere near her or the foal anytime soon. It's awful and not what anyone wants but we need to just make sure everything is ok with her and the foal.

Hopefully the YO will spend a lot of time gaining her confidence so that she can be caught next time she goes out, although it will be in a much much smaller field!
 
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