Horse bolting when being turned out

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Heidi_123

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I've had my mare for 8 years now and I'm still having problems with her pulling away going out to the field. She is excellent to handle normally, very respectful of personal space, moves around as asked, stops and backs up with no pressure on the lead rope.

If she's not the first one in the field she has always been quite strong to go out, but when first out she goes out like a lamb. We had her on livery at a yard and the person turning her out was scared of her when she pulled (we used to make her halt and back her up if she got bargey to reinforce that that behaviour was unacceptable) so they just used to let her go. The distance away from the paddock they let go increased until the point the didn't even bother putting a rope on her just guided her off the concrete then chased her into her paddock. Obviously we didn't know this was happening until it became such a problem that they refused to look after her. We then did lots of work and managed to get her a lot more respectful again.

However, she has now learnt how to pull away as and when she wants, and that she is stronger than us. She is now beautifully behaved to walk to the field, but as soon as we go through the gate and turn her around, it is like she can no longer control her excitement and just pulls back. I have tried a chifney bit but this had no effect as the action is wrong, and also I really don't like using them as she has got loose from me with it and it worries me she will hurt herself.

I have also tried building a tiny holding pen through the gate so she has to go in there, have her rope taken off, and is then let out into the field. This worked, but the behaviour is not cured as she continues with the bolting as soon as the little paddock is removed/someone forgets to close it.

I am considering using eskadrom chain headcollar/dually headcollar on her, and was wondering what peoples experiences are with these for this sort of problem? She is a dream on the floor for everything else, and I wouldn't call her behaviour dangerous as she doesn't barge me over or anything, but obviously that is the next step up from this and I do not want a dangerous animal. The behaviour is worse once the grass starts coming.

She is ridden ~6 days a week and receives 1 scoop of pony nuts with magnesium in them and 1 scoop Alfa-A oil a day in addition to her grass and a net of steamed hay over night. She never finishes her hay and goes out straight after breakfast so I know she isn't hungry. She is a 15.2hh ISH (7/8 TB) and I am religious about no sugar, barley etc being in her diet as this can fire her up.

Thank you in advance.
 
Silly question and you've probs tried it but do you take a carrot up and, as your taking the headcollar off, get the carrot out so she knows it's there and will wait to have her headcollar off. Then she gets the carrot and you can get out the way safely. Worked with a horse I once had, however once he'd eaten the carrot he still exploded off bucking and farting. But it gave me chance to get his headcollar off and get out the way!
 
My horse is extremely respectful of his dually halter. He is a 17.1hh WB and very strong when he pulls in hand. I tried having the chain headcollar but he hated it and started rearing in it as he disliked it so much. But he won't try to tank off with the dually and walks like a lamb next to you with it on!

A chifney can be very dangerous like you say (if your mare got loose). You can remedy that by making your lead rope very short so she can't tread on it if she gets loose (tie the rope on itself to take up the slack rather than cut it in half). The same applies to the dually as that would be dangerous should she tread on it so you could halve your rope again in this scenario. I have a quick release clip on my lead ropes so in an emergency you can release the horse quickly from its rope and sometimes they do give themselves (although they are not designed to do this).

You say you give your mare magnesium. Try NAF's Magic calmer. It really does work, (according to my vet it works in 60% of horses). Its been incredibly effective for my horse and he has changed considerably from being on it. Give it a go.
 
NellRosk said:
Silly question and you've probs tried it but do you take a carrot up and, as your taking the headcollar off, get the carrot out so she knows it's there and will wait to have her headcollar off. Then she gets the carrot and you can get out the way safely. Worked with a horse I once had, however once he'd eaten the carrot he still exploded off bucking and farting. But it gave me chance to get his headcollar off and get out the way!
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This - a nice treat works wonders sometimes (actually...most of the time!)
 
My boy has a tendency to pull away from me on the way to the field too... He just sets his neckand off he goes and at 17.2hh I don't stand a hope in hell.

I have tried numerous things over the years and discovered the trick is partly just that - swap between tools - I use a leadrope over the nose sometimes, a chiffney others and right now I am using a French link full cheek snaffle which is working a treat. The latest technique I have adopted is to carry a pocket full of treats with me and stop my horse periodically en-route to the field to praise him and give him a treat. Sometimes I let him stop for a munch of grass. When we get to the field I give him a treat - I started giving it to him before I got the headcollar off (not that he ever went anywhere fast), but now I give it to him after. it is all a case of distraction and making it as easy as possible to stay with you...

One other key thing to overcome is how YOU behave. It is really difficult but you need to try and relax and keep your body and the leadrope slack... concentrate on your breathing, talk to your horse or sing to yourself, think positive thoughts rather than 'oh s**t is she going to do it today' and all the fears of embarrassment, frustration and anger that come with it.... it really does help.

Also, try to cut out the alfa-a to see if that calms her down - it can make some absolutely NUTS!! Pony nuts can also be quite high in sugar and contain cereals ... worth cutting bucket feed completely to see if this has an impact? Feed a handful of soaked speedibeet to carry the Magnesium if you need to...
 
just be warned, my horse got away from the stupid YO with a chain around his nose attached to a leadrein, he stood on the lead rope and smashed the chain, i think he was lucky it was the chain and not his nose. I bought a dually!
 
Thank you all for your replies, there are some great ideas there. I think I will give the treat one a go first to see if that helps, as I'd rather not resort to force as that's not necessarily going to solve the problem, just cover it up.

I think I should of been clearer with my problem. She's fine to go to the field, not strong (there's only two other horses on the yard and they all go in and out together so she's always first as neither of the others can cope alone and we have a rota so one of us does all three on allocated mornings). It's when I walk towards her to take the rope of. I keep her paddock gate shut so approach paddock, open gate, walk through, turn me and her around to face gate, shut gate, then I turn around to I clip her. It's as I go to I clip her that she goes. I'm not sure how she does it, but she just sort of flicks her head and is gone. As she's 7/8 tb with the engine of a Ferrari she's just gone before I realise.

She's not at all fiery to ride or in general so I think she just gets so excited about being out that she sort of loses the plot as opposed to the feed (I just wanted to mention feed as obviously if she were on race horse mix or something ridiculous then most people would rightly point to this as a cause). She can occasionally do this being ridden in large groups/exciting situations where she just goes brain dead for a minute or so then comes back to us.

I've always struggled to get her headcollar off in the field, unless I use one with a pin fastening and leave the end untucked so I can quickly release it. This is why I don't use a chifney/bridle as I can't get it off (had to undo the cheek piece of the chifney then she bangs her mouth as she pulls back to go). When she goes she goes the the bottom of her field and stops and lets me go and catch her and take it off without a problem. I do let her nibble a bit on the way, and the rope is as long as it can be when I'm doing the gate but she shows no interest in the grass.
 
I have worked on this using 2 headcollars. Takes a bit of time but works. Fit with 2 headcollars, and when in the field remove the first, still hilding the horse via a rope to the second. The horse will attempt to pull away, but you can bring him up short with the second. Repeat, putting the headcollar back on, and removing the horse from the field, lead back in, take the first one off, and when he pulls back bring him up short.

Rinse and repeat as many times as necessary until he does not pull back again. For a week or so I would keep the second headcollar on, so when you turn out you just put the rope onto the first headcollar, remove it and quietly walk away.

After a while the second headcollar can be dispensed with.

Simples :-)
 
Our pony went through a phase of this last summer, he is a gentleman on the ground has the best manners and was always excellent to turn out, then he started to take off as soon as we were through the gate, he was perfect to walk to the field but every time would just go as soon as we got through the gate. Ended up taking a cut up carrot or apple, give him a couple of bits as we were walking down so that he knew we had treats then walk through the gate, turn him bit of carrot, take headcollar off then the last bit. Did this for a while and now we don't need to do it at all it was just breaking the habit.
 
I had one who did this - it was a combination of turning round to face the gate, and hearing the clip that was his cue to bog off. Firstly, I added another rope, so that I unclipped one, he went to go, and realised he was still contained. Secondly, I took him in, turned him round, foiled the escape attempt, closed the gate, then turned him back round and walked him to a different bit of the field every day, before letting him go. It took a week or so, but he got the message eventually.

If you're turning out in a chifney - use a slip rope. That was, if she gets away from you, the rope will not stay attached to the chifney, so she won't get hurt by putting her head down to graze and standing on the rope.
 
I used to work at a yard with a horse that used to do this from time to time. Tried the carrot/apple thing but more often than not it wouldn't work.

What I used to do was just as I was approaching the gate to his field, a few steps away, I would undo his headcollar and just hold it together with my right hand. As my hand was already then up near his face, he didn't so much anticipate the 'being set free' as they would normally when you go to take off the headcollar (if this makes sense).

As it was already undone, if he did decide to bog off the headcollar would just come off and I'd be left holding it, which I always thought was preferable to getting rope burn, then having to catch him again, all the time worrying about whether he would step/trip over the dangling lead rope.

It worked for us, I still used to make him turn (or at least try to) back to the yard where we had walked from as we got inside the gate to discourage him from bogging off.

Good luck.
 
I have one at work like this and it is very scary. He will rear, pull and gallop away given half a chance.
I usually take a carrot or something similar to the field with me and hold it by his nose and tease him the whole way. By the time we get there, he's soo desperate to get the carrot, I can whip the headcollar off and give him the carrot. He will still always rear and gallop away, but at least by the time he's finished the carrot, I am out of the field and out of harms way!

Good luck!
 
How patient and calm can you be? I'd go for two headcollars/halters and treats. Do the treating thing and try to have her calm when you take the first halter off. If she still whips away you've got the second one (probably with longer than average rope). Put the first halter back on and take her out of the gate. Walk her away. Rinse and repeat until she goes away calmly. Be armed with many treats and some hours to spend, literally hours.
 
Heidi_123 said:
Thank you all for your replies, there are some great ideas there. I think I will give the treat one a go first to see if that helps, as I'd rather not resort to force as that's not necessarily going to solve the problem, just cover it up.

I think I should of been clearer with my problem. She's fine to go to the field, not strong (there's only two other horses on the yard and they all go in and out together so she's always first as neither of the others can cope alone and we have a rota so one of us does all three on allocated mornings). It's when I walk towards her to take the rope of. I keep her paddock gate shut so approach paddock, open gate, walk through, turn me and her around to face gate, shut gate, then I turn around to I clip her. It's as I go to I clip her that she goes. I'm not sure how she does it, but she just sort of flicks her head and is gone. As she's 7/8 tb with the engine of a Ferrari she's just gone before I realise.

.
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I would still stop and treat on the way to the field so she learns to slow down, give her one as you get to the field and then once again once you are in the field - and ideally immediately before you remove her headcollar and immediately after - initially you will need to take a good few treats with you, after a while you can cut this down to the cruicial one or two for when you are actually in the field..
 
Whenever I have dealt with a horse doing this, I have used the bridle, removed the reins and put a lunge line through the bit rings ( I don't like this always, but needs must) and I do not let the horse go until it has earned the right to be let off. That being. I stop the horse the moment I think it is starting to get ready to go and I use treats to reward it standing still. I repeat this until the horse is in the field and then I start to pretend to go through the motions of letting the horse go. I pretend to undo everything. I have, with one horse, had a dually on under the bridle and in undoing everything, switched the lunge line to the dually and taken the bridle off...so when the horse then went to run, I could correct it instantly and reward as soon as he stood still again. That particular horse was a 17.1hh wb stallion and an absolute liability. I stood inside the gateway for about 3.5 hours with it the first few days and after about 4 days I think it was, he finally understood he wasn't going to be allowed to go until he would walk away calmly. He eventually learned to walk away and then after about 3-4 strides, would go nuts. I was fine with that...he gave me the space I needed to be safe.

Others just started to behave to be let go of and canter off with a little buck and fart.

I'd rather go for the option of consistency, patience, determination and time than using things like chifneys!
 
NellRosk said:
Silly question and you've probs tried it but do you take a carrot up and, as your taking the headcollar off, get the carrot out so she knows it's there and will wait to have her headcollar off. Then she gets the carrot and you can get out the way safely. Worked with a horse I once had, however once he'd eaten the carrot he still exploded off bucking and farting. But it gave me chance to get his headcollar off and get out the way!
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yep, this has worked for me in the past
 
I do worry about trying the two head collars, as it very much doubt I could hold her. I tried reversing her through the field gate a couple of times. The first time it worked. The second time she ran halfway down the field with me swinging off her headcollar. She also goes with full grown men trying to hold her, each of whom way in ~15 stone.

I think I will try the treats for a few days, giving them on the way, as we go in, then before and after releasing. I may also try a lunge line rather than a rope as then I will have more of a chance of getting a grip on her before I run out of rope. By time she's swung her head in the way she does I'm completely out of rope as she's quite a big girl (6.6 rugs and a very long neck).

I will keep you posted on my progress, thank you once again for all the helpful suggestions. It's nice to know that I'm not the only one who has to endure this! It's so frustrating as she's beautifully mannered in every other way on the floor, so knows that her behaviour is unacceptable as opposed to having no idea about manners.
 
Heidi_123 said:
I do worry about trying the two head collars, as it very much doubt I could hold her. I tried reversing her through the field gate a couple of times. The first time it worked. The second time she ran halfway down the field with me swinging off her headcollar. She also goes with full grown men trying to hold her, each of whom way in ~15 stone.

I think I will try the treats for a few days, giving them on the way, as we go in, then before and after releasing. I may also try a lunge line rather than a rope as then I will have more of a chance of getting a grip on her before I run out of rope. By time she's swung her head in the way she does I'm completely out of rope as she's quite a big girl (6.6 rugs and a very long neck).

I will keep you posted on my progress, thank you once again for all the helpful suggestions. It's nice to know that I'm not the only one who has to endure this! It's so frustrating as she's beautifully mannered in every other way on the floor, so knows that her behaviour is unacceptable as opposed to having no idea about manners.
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Is it possible that the others that were turning her out have either caught her with a gate, actively sent her away from them or she has caught herself in the gateway at any time?
 
NellRosk said:
Silly question and you've probs tried it but do you take a carrot up and, as your taking the headcollar off, get the carrot out so she knows it's there and will wait to have her headcollar off. Then she gets the carrot and you can get out the way safely. Worked with a horse I once had, however once he'd eaten the carrot he still exploded off bucking and farting. But it gave me chance to get his headcollar off and get out the way!
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This!!!
 
Heidi_123 said:
I do worry about trying the two head collars, as it very much doubt I could hold her. I tried reversing her through the field gate a couple of times. The first time it worked. The second time she ran halfway down the field with me swinging off her headcollar. She also goes with full grown men trying to hold her, each of whom way in ~15 stone.

I think I will try the treats for a few days, giving them on the way, as we go in, then before and after releasing. I may also try a lunge line rather than a rope as then I will have more of a chance of getting a grip on her before I run out of rope. By time she's swung her head in the way she does I'm completely out of rope as she's quite a big girl (6.6 rugs and a very long neck).

I will keep you posted on my progress, thank you once again for all the helpful suggestions. It's nice to know that I'm not the only one who has to endure this! It's so frustrating as she's beautifully mannered in every other way on the floor, so knows that her behaviour is unacceptable as opposed to having no idea about manners.
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It is frustrating... you will have to keep at it for more than a few days for her to get the message though. Be patient and I'm sure you'll conquer it. I would be careful using a lungeline - I have found my boy (who is considerably bigger than your girl granted), can get away just as easily with a lunge rope as he can with a short one and it was just more rope to hold onto on the way to the field, which is a problem with the giving treats thing...

Think about how and where you position her and yourself when you let her go. Is your gate in a corner? Could you turn her back to face the gate but parallel to a fence (so that the fence is effectively stopping her spinning away from you) so that you have fence, horse, you? You then stand slightly in front of her rather than directly to the side to let her go.... also puts you in a slightly stronger position if she does decide to spin and try to bog off...
 
If you are using rewards (which I think is a good idea, since the behaviour you describe is actually the mare having learned how to escape from what she perceives will be a scary situation, and adding chains and chiffneys will make it more rather than less scary in her eyes), there is a bit of technique involved.

You need to teach the sequence of events *before* getting anywhere near the field. In the stable, take a few pieces of chopped up carrots and the headcollar. Put headcollar on, wait, take headcollar off and immediately give a piece of carrot. Repeat (do four or five repeats at a time then take a break). When the mare is actively looking for the carrot when the headcollar comes off, move to a different location and repeat the exercise. Try to do this in a variety of (safe enclosed) environments, until you are sure she understands "headcollar off = reward".

At the same time, with headcollar on, do a bit of leading and stopping (again in a safe environment to begin - an arena will work well). Lead on a loose line, stop and when she stops, reward with a bit of carrot. At this point you may need to think about waiting to give the reward until the mare is looking forward and staying relaxed - if she associates being led with stress/being trapped, she may need time to learn to relax, and you will sense her worry in how she takes the reward.

Repeat this, until she has learned that stopping and standing with you earns a reward, and then take the behaviour to different locations.

Once you are sure you have (a) headcollar off = reward and (b) leading with stopping and standing = reward, then you can start to work towards leading towards the field.

At the moment, just offering a carrot to an already very hyped up horse at the field gate may not work - food is overshadowed by anxiety - you need to build new expectations before trying to use food in a situation where the horse is already very worried.
 
_GG_ said:
Is it possible that the others that were turning her out have either caught her with a gate, actively sent her away from them or she has caught herself in the gateway at any time?
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I don't think that I have caught her personally, but others may very well have done. I found out that they used to thread the clip end of her rope through her headcollar so it would come off when she pulled, which I know can slap them on the chin which wouldn't have helped matters. They also used to chase her to get her into her field which would massively reinforce the running away thing. At present her gate is just a wire that I undo and put on huge ground to the side and allow her to walk through then pick up and clip back on to the fence once she's inside. The electrics are very rarely ever turned on, and certainly not while we are moving the horses around as we wouldn't be able to open the gates if they were on.

I think the major cause of the problem was that she got excited and a little strong so they let go, teaching her that if she pulled she could get away. This has then escalated by her pulling harder and harder. I had her for at least 2 years before we moved yards and she never got away from me/tried to on the way to the field (I was only 13 at the time and certainly not an experienced owner so she really wasn't a handful).

As she doesn't do this every single time, I'm sure she just gets excited about going out and uses her strength to get there faster as she knows that she can do it, a bit like a child once they learn that they can climb on to the worktop to get something as opposed to waiting for it to be given to them.
 
CBFan said:
It is frustrating... you will have to keep at it for more than a few days for her to get the message though. Be patient and I'm sure you'll conquer it. I would be careful using a lungeline - I have found my boy (who is considerably bigger than your girl granted), can get away just as easily with a lunge rope as he can with a short one and it was just more rope to hold onto on the way to the field, which is a problem with the giving treats thing...

Think about how and where you position her and yourself when you let her go. Is your gate in a corner? Could you turn her back to face the gate but parallel to a fence (so that the fence is effectively stopping her spinning away from you) so that you have fence, horse, you? You then stand slightly in front of her rather than directly to the side to let her go.... also puts you in a slightly stronger position if she does decide to spin and try to bog off...
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I am worried about using a lunge line for the reasons you state, and also my friend broke her finger using a lunge line as it somehow caught it as she went to let it out. At present I would have the fence, me stood with my back to it, then my mare stood facing me. The gate is in the middle of the fence, but it has also been in the corners. I will see if I could adjust it so that it is in the corner and stand as you say. She's very aware of personal space so I doubt she would spin if I stood in her way (though I will most definitely be wearing a hat as well as gloves just in case, and possibly even a body protector!)
 
Brightbay said:
If you are using rewards (which I think is a good idea, since the behaviour you describe is actually the mare having learned how to escape from what she perceives will be a scary situation, and adding chains and chiffneys will make it more rather than less scary in her eyes), there is a bit of technique involved.

You need to teach the sequence of events *before* getting anywhere near the field. In the stable, take a few pieces of chopped up carrots and the headcollar. Put headcollar on, wait, take headcollar off and immediately give a piece of carrot. Repeat (do four or five repeats at a time then take a break). When the mare is actively looking for the carrot when the headcollar comes off, move to a different location and repeat the exercise. Try to do this in a variety of (safe enclosed) environments, until you are sure she understands "headcollar off = reward".

At the same time, with headcollar on, do a bit of leading and stopping (again in a safe environment to begin - an arena will work well). Lead on a loose line, stop and when she stops, reward with a bit of carrot. At this point you may need to think about waiting to give the reward until the mare is looking forward and staying relaxed - if she associates being led with stress/being trapped, she may need time to learn to relax, and you will sense her worry in how she takes the reward.

Repeat this, until she has learned that stopping and standing with you earns a reward, and then take the behaviour to different locations.

Once you are sure you have (a) headcollar off = reward and (b) leading with stopping and standing = reward, then you can start to work towards leading towards the field.

At the moment, just offering a carrot to an already very hyped up horse at the field gate may not work - food is overshadowed by anxiety - you need to build new expectations before trying to use food in a situation where the horse is already very worried.
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Thank you. This is a very good point. We have an arena so I will start off in the stable as you say then move in there and then on to the field. She's very intelligent and likes routine so I think she will respond quite well to this.

I also wonder if the other people tried to take her headcollar off over her ears as she's always been nervous about having her ears touched. W had to strip the bridle when we got her and undo the top of the headcollar. I can now touch and play with her ears whenever I wish as she trusts me, but still freaks out if other people try to touch them. I wonder if they've tried to it that way and she's gone to pull away at the same time, bashing her ears. Therefore making her more eager to get away before this experience can be repeated.

Gosh I never thought there could be so many contributing factors! Why oh why didn't I buy a quiet, simple-minded gelding?
 
Heidi_123 said:
I wonder if they've tried to it that way and she's gone to pull away at the same time, bashing her ears. Therefore making her more eager to get away before this experience can be repeated.

Gosh I never thought there could be so many contributing factors! Why oh why didn't I buy a quiet, simple-minded gelding?
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lol, I'm sure there are quiet simple minded geldings out there, but I know a fair few neurotic angsty geldings too :D

From what you say, it would then be no harm to include "headcollar on, carrot" into the "headcollar on, carrot, headcollar off, carrot" sequence - might as well make the whole procedure more pleasant :) I'm doing a "catch the headcollar" training programme with a slightly anxious gelding at the moment and we're at the stage where he will follow the headcollar and put his nose in it which is a big improvement on the previous running off when headcollar spotted behaviour!

ETA - you may find you need to only offer carrot when the horse has head forward - if she's not had food rewards before, she may want to start checking out where they're coming from. It's quite easy to incorporate "good table manners" training at the start so she learns that food comes when she's standing facing forward, never when she's bending round to frisk or snuffle humans ;)
 
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Brightbay said:
lol, I'm sure there are quiet simple minded geldings out there, but I know a fair few neurotic angsty geldings too :D

From what you say, it would then be no harm to include "headcollar on, carrot" into the "headcollar on, carrot, headcollar off, carrot" sequence - might as well make the whole procedure more pleasant :) I'm doing a "catch the headcollar" training programme with a slightly anxious gelding at the moment and we're at the stage where he will follow the headcollar and put his nose in it which is a big improvement on the previous running off when headcollar spotted behaviour!

ETA - you may find you need to only offer carrot when the horse has head forward - if she's not had food rewards before, she may want to start checking out where they're coming from. It's quite easy to incorporate "good table manners" training at the start so she learns that food comes when she's standing facing forward, never when she's bending round to frisk or snuffle humans ;)
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Haha I know there are! Some behaviour I've seen from geldings is making me really consider what horse I'll eventually buy next - my mare doesn't just push my buttons, she stamps on them, and I've seen a lot of geldings who I'd get rid of by the end of the day!

She's god regarding treats from me as I don't give them to her per say. I tend to put them in her feed or on her hay. However my mum gives her treats like they're going out of fashion (luckily her visits are not daily or the dental bill for fillings would be ginormous) so she does understand treats. I will be firm with her about not begging or harassing me for them though as she often helps herself to them out of my mums pocket without her noticing, which will defeat the object of it if she gets them before we get to the field. I doubt I will have too much trouble though as I'm strict about things like not touching her hay before I've put it on the floor and stepped away and moving back away from the door when I approach with her feed and waiting until it's on the floor and I'm out the way. She tends to help my mum empty her haynet and not necessarily exactly where it's meant to go!
 
My horse used to be similar - would be nutty to turn out, if not first out - would be strong, run off, rear etc.
She was turned out in headcollar, led with rope just looped through headcollar, then when she ran off, just held on to rope.
She is 23, recently retired home and now turns out great, as she's first out, even has headcollar off.
 
Hi!

Similar, I have a tb mare. When I first had her the girl that took her, and all the others, out to the pasture and would chase them, hollering, as soon as she got the halter off because she liked to see them run.

I did the treat solution, but would toss the lead over her neck and hold it to make a bit of a collar. Treat, halter off, then as she went to go off I still had her in the collar. Gave 2nd treat, stand for scratches, then release.

I used voice, commands and praise, and also walking in further and to different spots everyday to let her go.

These days she now stands and makes mooch faces for her treat. There are still days when she's excited and I will used the neck collar method for backup.

Good luck!
 
After 8 years I doubt you're going to solve this.

Try the treats (I'm amazed you haven't already), but personally I'd just slip a rope through her head collar, rather than clip it on, and then just slide it out when you get to the field.
 
I tried treats - horse would almost do anything for carrots except turn out consistently well. I could always tell by her face if she was going to wait or run, no way to distract or prevent if she wanted to run. Best way all round was the lead rope through headcollar - safest option :)
 
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