Help catching a horse

TallyHo123

TallyHo123

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Hey guys, I know this will have bee posted many times.
A week ago tomorrow I got a new gelding, he's perfect in every way exept in the last few days he won't catch. It takes about 10/15 mins of following him around quietly until he just stands. Today I went to the yard to bring him of the grass for a few hours and I can't get him at all grr! going back in a bit to try again.

I know a lot of it may be he's new, but I don't want him to get into this habbit.

Ideas anybody? Can't take a bucket in as there are grumpy horses in the field!
 
hi, to be honest the best thing to do is what you been doing. Have you tried leaving a headcollar on (even getting the fieldsafe one?)

Do you give him a reward when you do catch him?

is there a reason why he does not want to come in? Is he getting stressed out in the stable or worked really hard? As maybe he just needs a wee bit of time to settle in and get used to you. Also have you tried to keep him in for a few days so that he can get used to you?

Sorry for the million questions it's just something to think about?

I have found that following them quietly until they get fed up usually works :-)
 
He seems to have setteld really well, comes in the stable for a few hours a day - loves it! has been on about 3 20mins hack, nice and gentle. Once you have caught him hes fine goes back to being chilled.
He's not galloping off from you either just walking away maybe trotting a little.
I started giving him a treat once he was caught when he started this.
Thanks for reply :)
 
Don't try to catch him.....go out an pooh pick the field, ignore him but just pick around him, when he comes to sniff just push the barrow away. Make him want to be near you.
Is the only time you are in the field is when you are catching him????

Go to the field and get another horse etc....

Catch him a few time but don't take him out the field just walk over to the water tank, give him a treat and let him go.

Hope it gets better soon. :D
 
My old trick was to stand in the field, in eyesight of the horse, very ostentatiously pull a carrot out of my pocket, snap it and start eating it. Usually brought the pony over in no time... ;) Might not be useful with lots of horses in the field though, so perhaps that wasn't very useful after all.
 
Do you have anywhere that you could try doing Monty Roberts' join up with him? Maybe you guys just need to establish a relationship with each other and him accept you as herd leader if you like? I bet it would work.
I had a mare on loan who could be a bugger to catch, did join up with her, and hey presto - she use to canter over to me when I went to catch her! Monty is a genius!!
Good luck!
 
Thanks for the replies everyone! MYother two are in the same field so I think everytime I go to get one of them I will give him a treat then walk away (If he lets me! lol)
Or try standing in the field with a carrot as sugested :)
 
depedning on how confident you are feeling and how much time you have, go in the field and sit down, horses are pretty inquistive and once they`re over the feeling threatened feeling they tend to come over for a look :) that one is a bit time consuming but it works!

Also when you do catch him dont bring him in everytime, he`ll associate it with being taken from his friends, catch him, give him a treat and a bit of a pat and then leave him in the field.

I used to catch my old very riggy gelding by wexding him in between two trees lol other wise it was impossible!

My current two are fab and come to call.....

Did however spend the whole weekend before last trying to catch some stubborn cow of a horse in a 15 acre field with a rig running with her 6 hours each day!!!!...still havent caught her yet...so far its taken 6 of us, a quad, a bag of feed and ACP tablets and we still cant get her!!!!
 
When my new pony arrived I visited him in the field just gave him treats and left him there a couple of times a day and brought him in once to feed and brush etc now I can whistle and shout on him and he comes trotting up the field on his own :) I ALWAYS have treats or carrots with me and he knows it! It's a small price to pay :)
 
my pony has always been good to catch but lately he's been in a different field with some nicer grass, since being in there he doesn't want to know me! i now walk around him squashing the divets down in the field and he just looks at me, i then turn my back to him and pretend i've got something interesting (same as you do to get a child to come and look) and yep he walks straight over nudging me because he wants to know what has got my attention.
i don't always catch him when i do that, when i dont' catch him i will rub and pat him for coming over then give a mint or something before walking away again.
 
I had a mare who was a complete troll to catch so got handed to me to work with. I never made it out as if I was going to catch her and would spend time in the field like somebody else suggested just doing jobs. If I got near her and she moved off that was fine and made it out like I didn't want her anyway so she didn't win. The owners chased her around and around but she loved the game!!!! She got so use to me walking around her field/her that it became the norm!!!! Does take time and patients though. She started to except me rubbing her head and than walking away and in the end she would follow me around like a lamb. Owners now have no problem but had to work with them a bit when they picked her up as they walked into the field and stright up to her and grabed the headcollar and frightened her. If you walk as if your going to go pass her so will come to you, but if she does go to walk away I turn my back to her and she gives in. They have had no more problems catching that mare since
 
The only way I could catch my chestnut mare was by chasing her away.

She was so stubborn and wanted everything her way, that if you chased her, she was having none of it and would come straight over.

Id go into the field, fuss the other horse, and chase her away, eventually she'd come up straight away :) takes time but really worked.

The other thing id do was to pretend to take the other horse away, she come running to the gate and put her head down for me to put the head collar on :p
 
Try these -

Walk backwards towards him - sort of confuses the hell out of them.
Let him come to you and then turn your back on him.
Always take a treat but give him a bit then tease him with the rest. Walk away with it then back yo yo fashion.
When you get him - put a field safe headcollar on him with a 6 inch piece of balertwine plainted on to the place where you clip the leadrein - excellent for that quick grab.
I used to leave a little loopy bit at the end of this twine so I could clip the leadrope onto that - that way you are nowhere near the head - seem to help....

Good luck.
 
We used to have the naughtiest dartmoor pony. We once couldn't catch him for 2 weeks and eventually herded him into the stable where he promptly jumped out! :eek: He used to kneel down with grass reins on to graze as well. He was something else!

Theres some really great suggestions so far though. My elderly pony can be a pain to catch for her sharers (she's always fine with me but then I don't ride her and she's not daft!), I have had to get them to go out with treats and fuss her and then not bring her in. She is especially bad when the grass is good. They are pretty smart, they know they'd rather stay out and eat than be brought in! You need to get him to not anticipate being taken away from his favourite place every time he sees you. It takes time though which is frustrating, especially with the nights drawing in!

Hope he improves soon.
 
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