Horse difficult to catch any advice?

[horses99]

I have owned said horse for 18months and this issue has been on and off since day one. Some days I can catch him almost instantly on a bad day occasionally it’s taken me nearly an hour. It seems to be a game and he decides if he wants to come in or if he is bored of playing. He won’t be bribed or tricked with food, bringing in the other horses does nothing. He is in a mixed herd 24/7 which doesn’t help because he comes in predominately for work (this cannot be helped but for reference I have had days of practicing and letting him go). However, I wanted to see what people have tried and could suggest. The only thing that I do and seems to half work is natural horsemanship techniques I have learnt, in a bit shell if he doesn’t want to come in I follow him / encourage him to trot or move around and only stop when he wants to stand still. However at times it can be difficult to get close to him and he uses his ‘standing time’ to catch his breathe and relax’ before bolting off. Not helped is my other horse is injured so a lot of the time he encourages him to run around when he’s not using the other horses to hide behind. Furthermore although this works in the sense I can catch him he can still be a massive pickle and i can spend longer catching than riding some days.

I am interested in any ideas/ experiences as he does not seem to get better consistently only for a period of time before being difficult again! For reference he is 13, not scared of being caught or even having a head collar on he is naturally brave and a competition horse, from what I can tell if he’s hard to catch the day before or ridden doesn’t usually correlate to how he is to catch the next day. He’s intelligence and seems to mainly out wit me! TIA

 

[Caol Ila]

The walking down/natural horsemanship technique does work, but you have to be sharp and recognise exactly when to pull back the pressure and when to increase it. You don't let them stop and eat, but you also have to watch their body language. If they've stopped, but they are still not engaging with you, you ask them to move again. If they stop and start to engage, you stop, you turn your body away, totally back off. Reward them for the engagement. Then approach, but not in a straight line. I always meander in a diagonal path. If they move when you approach them, you continue to lightly apply pressure. As soon as they stop and think about you, and not running away from you, reward with a slight release. Stop, look away, then approach, but in the most non-predatory way you can summon.

My Highland can give the yard staff a hard time. To be honest, he is amenable to bribes, but I've gone to fetch him without a bribe. When he wheeled away from me and cantered off, I started trudging after him, using the above-described techniques, and I said to him, "I don't want to be doing this for the next two hours and neither do you. So how about we not?" He agreed, and within two minutes, I had the headcollar on. I think he recognised that I could speak 'horse' with the pressure and release, and while cantering around yard staff for five minutes might be amusing, playing this game with me for a couple hours was not.

 

[nikkimariet]

The walking down/natural horsemanship technique does work, but you have to be sharp and recognise exactly when to pull back the pressure and when to increase it. You don't let them stop and eat, but you also have to watch their body language. If they've stopped, but they are still not engaging with you, you ask them to move again. If they stop and start to engage, you stop, you turn your body away, totally back off. Reward them for the engagement. Then approach, but not in a straight line. I always meander in a diagonal path. If they move when you approach them, you continue to lightly apply pressure. As soon as they stop and think about you, and not running away from you, reward with a slight release. Stop, look away, then approach, but in the most non-predatory way you can summon.

My Highland can give the yard staff a hard time. To be honest, he is amenable to bribes, but I've gone to fetch him without a bribe. When he wheeled away from me and cantered off, I started trudging after him, using the above-described techniques, and I said to him, "I don't want to be doing this for the next two hours and neither do you. So how about we not?" He agreed, and within two minutes, I had the headcollar on. I think he recognised that I could speak 'horse' with the pressure and release, and while cantering around yard staff for five minutes might be amusing, playing this game with me for a couple hours was not.

This exactly. I’ve had to do this with Rooni only twice so far. I’ve spent hours trying to catching him before. But he’s decided he doesn’t like being made to gallop round the field when it’s not his choice to lol.

 

[SheriffTruman]

One horse I had to approach by walking backwards. It took away the pressure for him, and let me come close enough to put a rope around his neck. Once the rope was on, he'd follow me anywhere. He'll be forever a tricky one to catch, I reckon.

Some silly ponies I got to by using one of their fieldmates. Fieldmate was allowed to come close, and lo and behold, there was I.

 

[horses99]

Y

The walking down/natural horsemanship technique does work, but you have to be sharp and recognise exactly when to pull back the pressure and when to increase it. You don't let them stop and eat, but you also have to watch their body language. If they've stopped, but they are still not engaging with you, you ask them to move again. If they stop and start to engage, you stop, you turn your body away, totally back off. Reward them for the engagement. Then approach, but not in a straight line. I always meander in a diagonal path. If they move when you approach them, you continue to lightly apply pressure. As soon as they stop and think about you, and not running away from you, reward with a slight release. Stop, look away, then approach, but in the most non-predatory way you can summon.

My Highland can give the yard staff a hard time. To be honest, he is amenable to bribes, but I've gone to fetch him without a bribe. When he wheeled away from me and cantered off, I started trudging after him, using the above-described techniques, and I said to him, "I don't want to be doing this for the next two hours and neither do you. So how about we not?" He agreed, and within two minutes, I had the headcollar on. I think he recognised that I could speak 'horse' with the pressure and release, and while cantering around yard staff for five minutes might be amusing, playing this game with me for a couple hours was not.

Thank you, Il have to keep at it then and just need to be more patient. I’ve had this conversation with him but he finds it too amusing! He will get himself covered in sweat at times. The only thing is it’s hard to follow him etc as he runs between the other horses then hides behind them then runs off again. Trouble is he knows / hard to hide my body language when I need to go to somewhere such as a show. Il have to start allowing more time again as he’s been particularly problematic last week taking me 45 minutes main issue is some days I just want to change his rug or something and can’t!

 

[oldie48]

I also found the walking down method worked well with one of my horses who sounds very similar to yours. I did it on a day when I could have him in the field on his own and I made him work, he wasn't allowed to stop to eat and if I could keep him trotting or cantering, I did. It was a 7 acre field, fortunately in those days I was pretty fit but it was hard work but on the plus side, I only had to do it once. Once he stopped, licked and chewed and engaged with me so I could slip his halter on. I brought him in, gave him a brush and then turned him back out. Actually, he did initially try to dodge back to avoid the halter, so he got sent away again. After that if he started to move away when being caught, I just shook the lead rope at him and he'd stop and let me catch him. He was a clever little horse and would still try it on with other people!

 

[Pearlsasinger]

Make coming in part of his routine, do it at the same time every day, give him a small feed of something tasty in his stable, give him hay to nibble while you do whatever you want to do with him, grooming etc and if you want to ride, ride him before putting him back out. I would leave him in the stable with forage on non-riding days for at least 30 mins, longer if possible, so that he isn't rushing to get back to the field/the herd as soon as he has licked the bucket clean.

 

[Curly_Feather]

There is nothing that enrages me more. If it was me, he'd be in a small paddock by himself But totally don't follow my advice on this, it is just one of those things which makes me irrationally furious, like kinks in hosepipes...

 

[JackFrost]

You say that he comes in predominantly for work. In a way he is saying that he doesn't enjoy working.
Are there things you can do to make 'work' more fun for him, what does he like or not like doing?
Are there issues that are causing discomfort when he is ridden?
I know some ponies can be little gits, and there is a lot of good advice above, but if a horse enjoys work it should be easy to catch.
I have had them fighting to be the one to wear the headcollar, because going out is so much fun (and no food involved).

 

[J&S]

I have a friend whose last two horses, over a period of at least 10 years have both been difficult to catch. Both those horses have been found to have significant problems although on the surface they both seemed pretty keen when ridden (when eventually caught!). On the other hand, their field mate, who I was riding, was older than them and you could catch him with a paper hanky round his neck any day of the week! So I too am slightly wondering if your horse has any underlying problems.

 

[Maryann]

Mine can be a bit of a git. I give him a small handful of nuts, put the headcollar on and then give him another small handful of nuts. It feels like a bit of a cop out but it is easy, safe and (with him) reliable.

 

[J&S]

The trouble with treats is they can get cross if they don't get one when they think they should! Then you tell them off, then next time you want to catch them they could be wary again.

 

[Hallo2012]

i think i would also look at why coming in isn't comfortable for him.

had it with a pony, had been fine on first yard we had him on and then when we moved was fine initially then bang out the blue would have phases of refusing to be caught and then being hysterical to lead and even hysterical to cross tie, but some days still ok.

i looked at EVERYTHING and even asked on here and i honestly totally lost my rag and thought it was just him and was just so sick of it.

turned out the sharer we had at the time was leading him with a chain in his mouth because he once spooked and trod on her toe - Didn't make the connection until i caught her, i actually thought it was gut related to start.

hes settled right back down and been fine for 2 years now.

so whilst some can be wily old goats ive learnt to always look at why the yard isnt a nice place/why working isnt nice first.

 

[QueenT]

My daughters horse had a period like that. The cowboy horsemanship works!

 

[lar]

There are some that just will be awkward to catch for no good reason (other than they like a joke!). I have a 31 year old retiree who lives out. I go down every day to catch him and give him a feed - that is ALL I do with him - and still on occasion he can refuse to be caught.

 

[Caol Ila]

I think mine just thinks it’s funny to run from the yard staff.