Help catching gelding

LaurenM

LaurenM

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I've had my gelding for 12 weeks now and up until 2 weeks ago he was still coming in at night with the rest of his herd. They are now all out 24/7 over way too many acres of land.

The only way that I can catch him is to work out which mare he's buddied up with for the day and then seperate them both off from the herd. This is normally done by taking mare out of field or locking them in a seperate field to the rest (they have the run of 5 at the minute). As soon as the mare is out of the field/by the gate he'll allow me to walk calmly to him and stick headcollar on.

If I try catching him by walking up to him (sideways/head down/ relaxed body language etc) without mare he will just walk off and hide behind the others.

I feel like he's still abit unsure of me/taking the mick despite him being settled with me when he was stabled.

I just want to know if anyone has had any experience of this as I want to make it easier for us both.

I hope it gets easier as I just want to enjoy him :(
 
Take him in the school and do some join up with him, make him want to be your friend and create a better bond with him!
Bribery is always good as well, put a carrot in your pocket and give it to him once you've caught him, then he'll want to see you and then once he comes everytime, bring the carrot sometimes but not all the time so he learns not to expect it. In the meantime, if your fencing is relatively horse friendly, i'd leave his headcollar on.
Best of luck!
 
Bought him a field safe headcollar.

Bribery would be good but he's not interested in that either. It's too suspicious! He's only interested in food once he's out the gate. I've been feeding him at the gate to make it less stressful but walk him to his stable now and again. Think it's partly to do with him not wanting to be ravaged by the others as they are all hungry.

Will try join up again - did it a few times before he went out 24/7. We don't have a school though - it's a largish field and he tends to tank off in there, as do most of the other horses for some reason.

No one on the yard can catch him and I've had horsey friends round to try too as one used to work on a racing yard. No one has anything to suggest that I haven't done already!
 
it could take quite a long time, and probably you have already done this, but with the smallest of my rescue ponies, who you can not get near in the field, I only feed in the stable, so that he associates coming in with being fed (hard feed), also you say he has bonded with a certain mare, will he follow her, so that you catch and stable her and he follows along. Sorry if you have already done this and I am boring you.
 
do the join up with just him in the field where you shut him and the mare to bring him in! it should work well, worked with my horse who used to be a right pig to catch even with a scoop of nuts! good luck! x
 
When I first got my horse she went through a not being caught phase. Or rather, she'd let me catch her, then stay rooted to the spot before launching into a flat out gallop - often resulting in her being loose in the field with a dangling leadrope for hours.

I just preserved, no matter how frustrating it was and eventually she grew out of it. Not sure why though or what really helped - maybe she just realised it didn't mean she got her own way and wasn't worth the effort!
 
He has about 3 favourite mares! He's such a bloke! There are 22 other horses though with him though.

I've given up being frustrated with him. I just remain calm and talk to him as I've done the whole sending him away and it just doesn't work. I've even hid behind a pony to get close!

He has also spend many nights being caught for a second time as he tanked off with lead rope attached! I know don't click it - just thread it through!

Will definately try join up with him.
 
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