Difficult to catch - What's your technique?

My mare came to me as a companion horse, couldnt be ridden, caught or led - needless to say she now does all three. There are as many different ways of 'catching' a horse as there are horses! Keeping a headcollar on and grabbing are not one of the ways I would use, but each to their own. Prior to my getting my mare she would be chased round the field with a bucket of treats (liquorice allsorts!) and, once caught, would be brought in to be groomed, ridden (in a saddle that didnt fit and with a mouth full of diastimas and ulcers!) and then fed!! She had learned to associate being caught with pain! I did a lot of leading work with her and teaching her to ground tie (she didnt tie either - she had learned that if she pulled back hard enough and fast enough, she could break whatever she was tied to - same thing with people!). She is now the first to be 'caught' - there is always something in the stable when they come in - hay and sometimes a few nuts or a carrot on the floor and, most of all she is no longer in pain when being ridden! I have had people comment on how easy it is to 'catch' all my horses but then they are just coming up to me in the field to see what I am doing and whether I have come for them! They don't see coming in as a punishment, just as they dont see being ridden as a punishment - they walk up to me when I walk up to them! If you are struggling, please try and get a professional to help you as well meaning people may make it worse and it is impossible to build a relationship with a horse that does not want to be with you - 'caught'.
 
Mine is kept in a field too. The technique I use is to go in, call him, he usually comes towards me then stops a few feet away. I just stand there still - don't attempt to chase him as that would make him run off - he always hesitates, stares at me then walks towards me whereby I put collar on - works every time ! If I didn't stand still and wait I'm sure he'd be off !
 
I have to be sneaky!

Not sure what she will be like this summer as we have moved yards this winter. Prior to this, she lived out 24/7 with access to open stables. I could get her into the stable no probs with a carrot/rustling a bag/small feed etc. But if you was to close the door and then go in with a headcollar, she would turn her bum on you and hide in the corner, so no matter what way you went you had her back legs in your face.

So the only other alternative was to quickly get the tack room open as soon as I arrived, hoping she wasn't waiting at the stable, get the leadrope and headcollar without clunking it or making a sound and placing it carefully in the stable, then act like I had just arrived and call her up. I would then get her to follow me in with a bucket/carrot, then quickly grab the leadrope, but around her neck, and then once you had that one, she was a dope on the rope. It was the sight/sound of the headcollar that made her run for the hills. Odd times I could hide leadrope behind my back and walk to her in field and get that around her then lead her up.

One time I took her companion out of the field to try and catch her. Yes I was able to but she was that traumatised and wound up, the whole hack was a nightmare, she wouldn't stop stamping and whinnying the whole way around, which is just not like her. So I would not recommend that as a long term solution.

You say you have a field shelter, can you not just tempt him in with a treat, then close the gate(presuming it has one if you can put the companion in it) and then catch her (unless he is like my mare with the whole bum thing)
 
fburton said:
As far as I know, Kelly Marks doesn't "do Parelli".
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Should have worded better. I meant stuff like that, like natural horsemanship. Couldn't remeber the word at the time of writing. I don't use it with my own horses very often, I just do basic ground work with mine and never had any problems but I have seen Parelli etc work wonders with a friends horse.
 
Liakp said:
You could pretty much have described my boy here (also a welsh). I don't know whether he had a hard start in lift but he's always been spooky and has been know to just jump over fences if penned into a small space.

The other issue I have is that he has a few lameness problems so I'd rather avoid him running around. Thanks for the advice though, given me some things to think about :)
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Take a chair , a flask of tea , a bag of carrots or apples , some lunch for you and a book . Sit in the field on a chair with your book , ignore him I mean totally ignore him . Have the head collar with you but don't catch him ...yet . Pour yourself a cuppa , read your book , make no eye contact with him at all . He will be inquisitive and maybe come over ignore him . For a while , if he stays give him a carrot or Apple or a scratch but don't catch him . If he doesn't co R over eat your linch and then bite into an apple or carrot . It normally I terests them . After they've had they first treat they normally hang about but it's important you carry in ignoring him . Maybe move to another part of the field and when he comes over a treat or scratch and continue with your book . I do this until she comes back three times and then stand up and really give her a good scratch all over head , bum etc and then another treat and try and put the head collar on . Then when it's in treat again and take it off .

Basically when I do this I catch and release her again and don't ride or groom etc for a few days . After one day of this sitting in field being interesting my horse normally comes over every time I walk in the field and is easy to catch . If it fails poo pick .... They can't resist a barrow of crap to knock over , then put in head collar and leave it on whilst you scoop poop and then rematch and lead in
 
fburton said:
This one is useful too (slightly headshy filly):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyQ_HHbMn-A

I agree treats (carrots) can be very useful in this sort of situation.
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That is very kind of you! When I trained hawks, I'd use the same technique to train a hawk to take the hood which is, of course, totally against their nature. Pretty much the same advice was given in an old falconry book written over 500 years ago. There's nothing much new in training, we just forget and don't listen!

gos4.jpg
 
joulsey said:
You say you have a field shelter, can you not just tempt him in with a treat, then close the gate(presuming it has one if you can put the companion in it) and then catch her (unless he is like my mare with the whole bum thing)
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This was my tactic, I used to put a small bucket of food in the shelter and he would walk in but it's got really muddy around the shelter and he doesn't like walking through anymore :(

Thanks for all the ideas though, lots to try out. Me and my sister are going to fence off a small area tomorrow and try that out :)
 
MoonRiver said:
My welsh is the very devil to catch, you can't run him down, even when exhausted he won't stop. Would go through or over any corral. Got wise to treats.He had spent his early life just being herded into stable and field I believe. Just have to make sure he ALWAYS has a leather headcollar on,then you get one chance only to sneakily clip a leadrope on before he shoots off. is the friendliest thing otherwise, just have to admire him from afar :D
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Funny mines 50% welsh as well and will do the same, she will drop dead before she will be caught, iv had her heaving and dripping in sweat but won't give up and she will jump or go through fencing. The keep moving doesn't work when u have to walk around the other side of a 7 acre field to try again hence why I use my car :)
 
probably mentioned already but when a pony once got loose I herded him into the yard (field was right next door to yard) and just caught him when he was cornered.
So you could fence off a smaller area where you can catch him without him running off.
 
Sorry, I'm going to be an unhelpful pain and say that the only thing that used to work for me was sending somebody else to the field to catch the git!

Equally I can always catch somebody else's troublesome and uncatchable horse but never my own!!
 
Reading this with interest, as I have a bit of a conundrum with my 3 year old Exmoor. He comes to call, loves scratches, can play with his forelock, scratch his ears, etc. Bring a headcollar, rope, ANYTHING into the equation & he's off. I have been doing some click training with him & so far have got him to touch a bright pink towel with his nose in return for many many carrots & will be having a call with my local RA tonight.
Just wondering if any of you lovely folks might have any inspirations?
 
Is he food orientated? If so, throw treats to him whilst holding catching implements, as he gets more confident then get him to eat the treat from the hand whilst still just holding the headcollar etc. Then treat and touching him with the headcollar etc, until he fully associates the headcollar with good things. Generally it just takes time and patience.

Managed to catch my feral 2 year old like this, shes three now and fab to catch and now dont need treats or anything.

x x
 
I have a rescue pony, she is very suspicious - new person, different coat, different time of day. She was fine all winter in a biggish field, but then the spring grass started to grow and she decided that she wasn't hungry at all and would rather stay out in the field than be caught. With some help I was able to corner her in a smaller paddock, but she had had a fright then and she was very wary in the paddock too the following day. With the grass growing in spring I decided that the little sweetheart (!) could go in a very small fenced off patch, so I jolly well could get hold of her. Luckily she is not the sort to jump out when cornered, she gives in, but it was something I worried about. If ever she got out I would never, ever be able to get to her.
The one and only time that has happened, when some cattle knocked down the electric fence, by sheer chance there were two or three extra people around and with me catching my horse and leading him into a barn they were able to gently guide her into the barn to follow without anyone trying to catch her.

She is now much better. I am careful always to wear the same clothes. She is companion so only comes in for food and shelter. I kept her in a small area for several weeks/months until I decided that the grass wasn't going to give her laminitis, but she seems far more confident and actually looks pleased to see me in the evenings now.
 
Camilla's Aunty Em said:
Reading this with interest, as I have a bit of a conundrum with my 3 year old Exmoor. He comes to call, loves scratches, can play with his forelock, scratch his ears, etc. Bring a headcollar, rope, ANYTHING into the equation & he's off. I have been doing some click training with him & so far have got him to touch a bright pink towel with his nose in return for many many carrots & will be having a call with my local RA tonight.
Just wondering if any of you lovely folks might have any inspirations?
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I think I would be going out there with him as often as is humanly possible, with a headcollar, leadrope and carrots and ignoring him. Try not to even look at him. Eventually he will get nosy and come to look. He then gets one small piece of carrot... and you walk on away from him. Progress, slowly, to feeding him a piece of carrot through the nose of the headcollar.. and walk away. He has to associate the headcollar and rope with something good and when he does it will be a piece of cake to catch him ever after.
 
Camilla's Aunty Em said:
Reading this with interest, as I have a bit of a conundrum with my 3 year old Exmoor. He comes to call, loves scratches, can play with his forelock, scratch his ears, etc. Bring a headcollar, rope, ANYTHING into the equation & he's off. I have been doing some click training with him & so far have got him to touch a bright pink towel with his nose in return for many many carrots & will be having a call with my local RA tonight.
Just wondering if any of you lovely folks might have any inspirations?
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look at Ben Hart's shaping plans or teach him the 'touch it' game-sort of modified clicker. Both my Exmoors come to call but I had an issue with my young lusitano last winter. When I went to catch him, I fell over when putting the headcollar on (because I am that athletic)-it was muddy and it was blowing a hooley in my defense.He was really spooked and I then couldnt catch him for two weeks (in a 35 acre field). I think you have to trust them to not run through a strand of electric fencing and I didnt. Anyway, 15mins with the touch it game and he was caught. I have had one short issue since and we have a house sitter coming soon and I have a field safe halter for him-just in case!

And Baileys High fibre nuggets-all of mine will do anything for them!
 
My old horse (also Welsh, there's a theme here!) saw catching as a game so the chasing thing just made him worse. He loved it! The second I took a step in his direction when he was in one of those moods I was doomed. He'd trot round me in circles and then shoot off as soon as I moved towards him. The only way I could get him was to refuse to play his game and ignore him completely.

I'd leave the field straight away without engaging him, get a chair, a bucket of feed and a book (always had one to hand for emergencies) put the bucket under the chair (it needs to be tall enough that he can't get in it while it's under there), sit on it and read. Within 5 minutes he'd be sniffing under the chair trying to get to the feed, at which point I'd pick everything up and leave without even looking at him. If I desperately needed him that day I could go back to the field 20 minutes later and catch him with the bucket, maybe with a second go with the chair if he was particularly playful. If I didn't, I'd leave him for the day and the following day, when he heard my car arrive he'd run to the gate!
 
Whenever I've had something difficult to catch I've always put a handful of nice rattly-sounding cubes in a bucket, and then place a headcollar strategically so that the noseband part of it is in the bottom of the bucket, and the headstrap is lying over the side of the bucket.

Walk around the field, rattling the cubes in the bucket, but not actually trying to "catch" your intended victim, just walk around aimlessly for a bit and rattle the bucket. When you've got the punter interested, let them stick their head in and then as discreetly as you can, slip the headbit over the top and hey presto.

This method has never failed me.

You may have to work at this though: horses are pretty canny and you may just have the catch the horse up, make a fuss of it, groom it etc., and then let it go again.
 
wear the head collar as an off the shoulder number and wrap the rope round your waist. you will then not have the outline with the dreaded head collar and rope. continually wear it like this every time you go in the field, sometimes scratch and go sometimes catch by wrapping the rope under the neck or over the neck, never the same way keep them guessing....................;)
 
Mine normally (deepbreathandtouchinglotsofwood) only plays up when there is Spring grass, but my sharer has found a failsafe way of catching her - send the sharer`s 6-year old twins into the field. They catch my naughty pony, put a headcollar on her and then my sharer strolls over to lead her out :-)
 
I've recently taken on my niece's retired pony, as all the people who loaned her as a companion sent her back after a week or so as they couldn't get near her!
On my sister's advice, I threw bits of carrot towards her for the first couple of weeks, without trying to catch her. After that, she let me walk up to her slowly, and backwards! I can now catch her with just a herb treat, but I still need to walk slowly and never directly towards her head.
I think it helps that she knows I'm not going to ride her though!
 
Liakp said:
Hi,

My horse is a sod to catch. He doesn't run away but he constantly walks off if you get too near him. He 's not the sort of horse you can 'grab' as he's easily spooked and will just run off.

It's currently taking me about half an hour to catch him on my own, by just following him around and not letting him eat until he gets bored. I obviously don't have the time or will to spend half a hour trying to catch him everyday. I did think he was improving last week as I managed to catch him without much trouble a couple of times but the last couple of days he's been a sod again.

He lives out in a pretty big field with one other horse who I put in the field shelter while I try to catch him.
I was really busy before Christmas so would either just feed him loose or go up at the same time as my sister who could take the other horse out of the field. Now that I have a little more time I want to work on catching him.

So any advice?

Thanks :)
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No advice but I have one of these! He knows exactly how near I can get before he can walk off with the equivalent of a snear on his face! He has a head collar left on but sometimes your hand can be nearly on it before he suddenly shoots back then gets spooked and you can't get near him again. If he decides to run off you get a preview of the high stepping Welsh d trot that he's never inclined to do in the school! Think it's one of the most frustrating habits as the number of times I've wanted to ride or go down the fields then can't catch the b***** thing for 2 to 3 hours if at all by which point I've lost any motivation to ride!
Spring time is when he's at his worst and I've also spent various cold winter evenings last winter was weird had an evening where we couldn't get near him yo very nicely let me let him through into smaller field but before I could get the gate closed he peed off back up the big one I thought that's it he'll be out alone for the night as everything else was in gave him another half hour then my mum went out and he walked straight up to her. Almost like he zones out if he doesn't want to come in even ignores his treat ball or food then suddenly it's "time." Very odd definitely couldn't have another hard to catch horse! Think he got herded in one Xmas day (yes you read it right ) as everyone wanted to go home fortunately I have helpful yo now who helped!
Chatting to other horses in the field can help but there's ones in h's field I wouldn't want to do it with so have to be selective. Also not directly looking at him look at the floor.
 
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You know what i have been doing lately em, but for others:

My mare would walk off anytime i got near her. She got into a bad habit of running to the gate (which would be open to the yard) and to her stable which had dinner in it. So this meant any time i went to get her for something, she was running to the stable. In the stable she would dodge me and run back out if there was no food. When "caught" she has no halter issues, by the way

How i fixed it was a video Em shared and a bit of my own take on it. It was in a round pen, so if you have an arena, half it for this. I started by just simply letting her mooch about, when she stopped i CALMLY walked towards her and she would walk off and i walked about with her and she would go into trot but i just walked and stuck with her hip. I was not chasing her as in running about after her flapping, literally just walked around. When she slowed down a bit i slowed and if she stopped i stop and hit the deck in a squat (but my mare is a mini....) if she turned her head to where i could see two eyes i immediately walked away from her to the other side of the pen and would start walking around towards her bum. If she moved off, i went back to the center and started all over again. Eventually she would stand still until i got to her bum and then head and i gave her a calm scratch on the forehead, and would end the session. I have been able to catch her ever since, using the same technique. If she has two eyes on me i stop and look away and just keep making my way slowly.

This won't help haltering issues at all though.
 
Our Appaloosa youngster (also part Welsh) was sold to us as 'difficult to catch'. The second day she was here, she jumped into a neighbouring field, obviously preferrring the company of their pony to the cob filly we had just put in with her. The neighbour's field has at least 60 acres, cattle sheep and another horse, so we were somewhat disconcerted. However, we took a bucket with grassnuts and a soft rope halter, I got hold of the Section A and sister caught the Appy with no problem - except that we then had to dismantle the drystone wall that she had gone over!
We have never had a problem catching her since, we think that she was put off by the rattling of the headcollr and doesn't worry about the quiet halter.
 
Got a smile on my face. French and Saunders have a great parody on this. What happens after their caught makes them difficult to catch.
Might be unpopular but this where NH techniques rise above all others. Essentially cut off his avenue of escape by focusing on that part of his body nearest to his escape route, If you need him to move forwards rather than turn, focus on his rear end, saunter rather than march up to him. Be nonchalant when he gives you two eyes take a step or two backwards invite him into your space. if he hesitates, look at the ground or fiddle with something, He's shy, when he begins to approach let him come all the way, if you charge him your back to square one. Don't let him hide behind other horses, they are on his side. If during the catching dance you herd him towards the gate so much the better, If you corner him you will lose him. when you have him walk level with his face hold the lead rope with slack 6 inches or so in front of his nose with your arm outstretched. Imagine you are at a medieval banquet at a post dinner dance (all those moves came from somewhere) The whole thing is a courtship ritual. In a few months he'll be waiting at the gate before the car door slams:)
 
Ah, the devil pony! Put here on earth to try our patience - for whatever reason, and they can all be caught eventually, we just have to try everything going.

What I do,

Take one Dry lot, ie a paddock with no grass, or round pen. Insert one pony (yep. right)

Headcollar with thick, cotton rope attached.

No food unless it is delivered to him, by you.

Decide on a cue, be that a whistle, a certain call, his name, a gesture, bang on the gate - whatever, be consistent with that.

At first, give the cue, wait until he looks at you and then feed him his hay/ etc, only a section of hay. Walk away. Start early in the day.

At lunchtime (whenever you decide that he will be hungry again) cue, wait until he takes a step towards you, and then feed, walk away. repeat, repeat, repeat, not giving food until he moves towards you more. Obviously the last feed of the day should be enough to satisfy him, but not so much that he isn't going to be pleased to see you in the morning because he is a bit peckish :)

Basically, it is a kind of clicker training with another cue.

It can take a while, but if he has no option but to rely on you for food, at a cue, then he will learn to come when called. This can take days, it can take weeks, I generally keep them in for a couple of weeks.

Don't try to catch him/touch him until he will come right up to you, on cue, for his food.

I have a friend who can stand at one end of a field, whisper her mare's name to get her attention, and make a tiny 'come here' gesture with one finger, and that horse comes galloping, even in a strange field.

My other method - walk a lot, shout, scream, jump and down, throw myself on the floor in a tantrum, swear loudly and smoke a lot never works, but it entertains the horse and any other onlookers greatly :)
 
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This worked perfectly for mine:



This might seem like a long process, but it's retraining that lasts and it's bloody amazing watching the horse forge the new behaviour pattern of coming towards you to be caught! I've described it for someone doing it on their own - it can be compressed a bit, but the results will be a bit more 'shallow'/less reliable. If you see a deterioration, repeat this process immediately. Training is not a tattoo (unless it's done through great pain and fear), it is a sun-tan - I mean that it needs maintaining and topping up.





HOW TO TRAIN YOUR HORSE TO BE EASY TO CATCH:



If we try/fail again and again within a few minutes we are being very efficient at training the horse to walk away when we approach (repetitions of him walking away!). We are training him to NOT be caught! So, we never do the try/fail with horses.




If we chase horses we are being very efficient at training it tension, flight steps and to run away from humans!

We use a food reward for catching which is targeted. That means, the horse has to produce a desirable response to get the food. We never feed snacks randomly as random feeding leads to random behaviour (= mugging, biting, barginess).

We fill a bum-bag with hundreds of tiny pieces of his favourite food (really tiny; thumb-nail size). To get one piece the horse has to at least look towards us (with his eyes and ears). Repeat this at least 9 times with no attempt to catch him.

Then he has to take a step towards us. Repeat at least 9 times. Then two steps/repetitions. Three steps/reps. Four steps/reps.




Next day:

Repeat day one, but only do 3 reps of each stage.




Next, he has to take the steps and also let us rub his forehead before he gets the one tiny piece of food. Repeat 9 times. You see from this that training the 'come here' response in your horse is a training process; not a magic wand. You will need to set aside time for it and practise it every day for it to become his new response.

From rubbing his forehead, he has to let you rub his neck to get the food reward/x9.

Then put the rope over his neck to get it/x9. Then put on the head collar to get it. Repeat this stage 9 times too, so it isn't just that you caught him by fluke, but that you can put on and remove the head collar several times and he will stand still for this.

Horses get good at what they practise, so use food to induce him to practise approaching you to be caught. Takes time to train, but saves loads of time/frustration for the rest of your relationship with your horse.

If he's already very well practised at not being caught, do what you have to do to catch him, then do the above training process in a small, safely fenced area, but start the whole process with his head collar and lead rope already on. Get him really dependable in his correct response and so there is a clear connection between that and the food reward. Then in the same area, repeat with no head collar on. Progress to a larger area from there.




I can also teach you how to clicker train your horse to be easy to catch, how to put his nose into the head collar, and so on.




Let me know how it goes.




Best wishes









Julie Stapleton




BSc (Hons), BHS 3, ES Assoc Dip







www.equitationsciencetraining.net




https://www.facebook.com/EquitationScienceTraining
 
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