I can’t catch my horse

[rabatsa]

An hour is nothing.......I have been known to spend up to four hours walking a horse down, you just need to be more stubborn than the horse. So, deffo no feed, and no giving up either: you need to make it a mission. Good luck!

I have taken this long to walk down a mule in a stable. It took several years to be able to walk up to her in a field, fortunately she would head for the stable to stand and be caught. Despite being a contrary beggar I did love that mule.

 

[Identityincrisis]

Is there a smaller permanently fenced off yard, field or other area you could herd them into? When you fenced them into a pen in the field did you use standard electric fence posts or the tall ones? If it was the standard ones then I would suggest buying the taller ones as IME most (except one of mine apparently!) horses won't try to jump them, especially with only a short run-up.

The final option that I was forced to use on a previous horse (and have used with other horses new to yards who refused to be caught) will take determination and time, possibly several hours. You need to quietly go into the field with headcollars and an apple/treat and walk up to Zulu as if to catch him. When he won't let you, you need to calmly walk after him, and keep him walking. Only stop walking if he stops or turns towards you (and say 'good boy' etc and show him the apple/treat). Don't let him stop to graze, and don't push him into anything faster than a walk (the more wound up they get the longer this will take). Eventually he will decide he is bored (and possibly hungry by that point) and let you catch him. Put his headcollar on quietly and give him an apple/treat.

However (understandably) frustrated you are when you finally catch him it is important not to get angry as he won't want to come to you next time. At no point during the process shout or wave your arms/throw things, the process needs to be calm and controlled so that the horse doesn't think you are playing a fun and exciting game of running about.

With some horses you only need to do this once, but others require it several days in a row, with the time it takes getting shorter with each go. Yes, it is boring and frustrating (and tiring if they keep going for a long time), but it will work.

I had to do this in the summer, my horse was getting harder to catch and thought it was a hilarious game, I didn’t laugh!

On the advice I had read previously on here one evening when he wouldn’t catch I decided that was the evening I would catch him however long it took. At first he galloped one end of the field to the other, each time i would follow at a walk, he eventually stopped galloping and I wouldn’t allow him to stop to eat, just kept walking. He eventually started to self lunge in a small circle around me, i could woah and stand him but still not catch! 2.5 hours and darkness falling he allowed me to put his headcollar on, I didn’t make a huge fuss just gave him an apple like it was completely normal.

He has done it a couple of times since but he gave up within 5 minutes

 

[HorseMaid]

My friend hadn't been able to catch her horse for about a month, and he had the run of a whole farm (like 200 acres!). After trying for a bit and getting nowhere we went and grabbed a load of tall electric fence posts and tape and very nonchalantly walked round him in a great big circle pegging out a pen (we penned him and several others inside it). One by one we booted the others out and gradually made the pen smaller and smaller until the little bas*@£# had nowhere else to go (unless he wanted to run through the fencing) - the feeling of joy as we got the headcollar on was amazing - I think it took about 5 hours. He never went out without a headcollar again!!

 

[Crazy_cat_lady]

How I used to visualise shooting my Welsh D when he used to pull this stunt!

He'd let me get just near enough to reach for his headcollar before shooting backwards at a rate of knots, before haring off across the field at a rate of knots, in a proper Welsh D flashy trot

If he was in one of these moods, absolutely nothing worked, he completely ignored food

He once stayed at large for a whole week, before suddenly standing at the gate screaming to come in!

He did it one boxing day. In the freezing cold. Took about 3 hours to get him, as I was determined as didn't want him to "win" and learn he could get away with it.

I did once with a willing group of volunteers corral him in a corner with us holding lunge lines between us to act as a "pen" but it was a bit hairy, fortunately he just retreated into the corner rather than trying to jump or bolt. You also need enough of you and enough lines to ensure there's no gaps - one time we tried there was a gap and off he went.

Chasing him down didn't work the field was too big, he'd almost completely shut down. I did sometimes just open the gates and shoo him into his stable, but it relied on him not outsmarting me especially if I was alone as of course I couldn't block off all routes

He didn't get any dinner when he did this, no way was he getting rewarded. He would have got his nice dinner if he'd come in as normal!

He did get better as he got older, maybe he realised it was easier to just comply, however I'm also convinced he was the equivalent of autistic and if his routine was disrupted he'd go AWOL. If you try to catch him too early - jog on. If you were late, also jog on!

I found he was better if kept in a consistent routine of in at night all year round so he knew what was expected

It is the absolute worst "ground" habit it's so infuriating!

 

[Pippity]

if his routine was disrupted he'd go AWOL. If you try to catch him too early - jog on. If you were late, also jog on!

That's familiar! I could only ride my old share horse first thing in the morning or in the evening, because you couldn't catch him at any point outside of his routine!

 

[tyner]

Oh my goodness what a frustrating situation.
Is the new companion to blame? Or the yard move?
Was he ever hard to catch before?
What is it that sets them off like this?

I moved to my grass livery yard this weekend (thanks for the push everyone).
I borrowed a retired horse from a friend as a companion. They are thick as thieves already.
BUT I have not been able to catch Zulu since Saturday.

Literally cannot even get near him.

 

[Highmileagecob]

We have had a few liveries that have been hard to catch following initial turnout. You have my sympathy - it is so damned frustrating, especially in a herd situation where they all bunch together and career madly round the field. A few treats in a crisp packet seems to get their attention. No idea why, but the crackly packet seems to warrant investigation!

 

[Parrotperson]

Lasso?

There must be a cowboy who wants some practice?!

 

[TheChestnutThing]

Well this morning was back to square one. So they didn’t get breakfast. They came up but as soon as I reached out to clip the lead rope on, Zu buggered off.

Think this is going to take a lot of starving (they have lots of grass don’t worry), to nip in the bud.

It’s so frustrating and my empty wine bottle collection is growing rather quickly.

 

[smolmaus]

For the foreseeable, they only get fed if headcollar on and human attached.

This would be what I would do. Feed bucket left on the other side of the gate after a good shake so he knows its there, lead rope on, led through and he can eat outside the field and get put back when he's done. I would maybe do something low value when/if he comes to you or let's you touch him. Another low value thing if he lets you clip the lead rope on and then the high value dinner bucket is for actually leaving the field.

A friends mare is similar and this is the most reliable system for her. Other than having me catch her, because I don't care whether she comes in or not and how much you care has a very strong correlation with how annoying they seem to want to be stay strong! They won't starve!

 

[Horseysheepy]

I once got to the point where I was very close to getting a yearling darted.

But had one last attempt at grabbing the little so and so. Whilst putting a big pile of hay out in the field, I'd hid a leadrope under it and made a thing of shaking the hay out beside him to distract him, I then picked up the rope along with a pile of hay and shake shake shake swing went that rope around his neck, gotcha!!!!!

Not much help to you, I know but it brought back a memory of mine and I was lucky that the horses were calm and eager to tuck into their hay.

 

[Caol Ila]

Here's my mad story.

My then 2-year old filly (now 5) had a BOGOF foal. Filly was not well handled when I bought her, and I'd only owned her for about two months when she foaled. She reverted to being foal proud and totally feral. When she saw you with a lead rope, she'd leg it, foal in tow. For about three weeks, we tried all the usual tricks. Feed, sitting in the field reading a book, natural hosemanship walking down, etc. All to no avail.

YO was not happy with a couple uncatchable horses on her property, plus the foal needed to start his worming regimin and they needed to be moved to a different field. One day, myself, the foal's owner-to-be, my OH, and YO and her husband gathered and tried to catch her by cornering her with a lunge line and walking down for as long as it took. We all had about a century of horse experience between us. After two hours of this, Teen Mum would not relent, and the foal was exhausted. Poor wee guy. This was not a viable method.

YO and husband called in a favour to the neighbouring cattle farm and picked up their gates. Then they constructed a mustang race. I was bricking it, with visions of the horses panicking, the mare squashing the foal, but this was happening either way. They herded the horses into the race without much drama. Once trapped in the small pen at the bottom of the race with nowhere to run, we got a lead rope around the filly's neck. Then a headcollar on her face. Once caught, she remembered the last 5000 years of domestication and was fairly civilised to lead out of the race.

They spent the next 10 days in a small pen while we did a lot of handling. Then they went out again, into a bigger field. Yikes! Teen mum reverted to being slightly feral. Still, not as bad as before. She'd leg it if you went straight for her head or neck, but we could get her to come to call with a bucket, slide a lead rope her over back while she ate, then wiggle it up to her neck. Once you had it around her neck, she was fine and you could slip the headcollar on nae bother. After about a month of that, we could catch her like a normal f*cking horse.

Good times were had by all.

 

[dorsetladette]

Well this morning was back to square one. So they didn’t get breakfast. They came up but as soon as I reached out to clip the lead rope on, Zu buggered off.

Think this is going to take a lot of starving (they have lots of grass don’t worry), to nip in the bud.

It’s so frustrating and my empty wine bottle collection is growing rather quickly.

Sounds like they are having a great time out there!

On the plus side think of the money your saving on hard feed! At least that compensates slightly for the wine expenditure.

I'm sure once the grass isn't quite so nice you'll be more attractive to them. Can you fence across the middle to make the field a little smaller so the grass disappears a little more quickly.

 

[canteron]

Good advice on this forum. But just to add, I often just wander into my horses field and give them a treat and/or a scratch and wander out again so maybe once you have dealt with the immediate catching issue (eek) this should be on your stealth plan to trick them into trusting you!

I also always have a handful of nuts when they come in, and for a long while gave the remaining horse a handful of nuts in a bowl in the field as soon as they were separated but luckily it now accepts it quite happily.

And what perfect weather for practicing catching !!!! (Storm Ciaran is raging as I post).

 

[Sealine]

If they're tricky to catch even with a headcollar on you need something to grab onto where you'd normally clip a rope. In the past I've plaited baling twine onto the metal loop so you've got something to grab. It needs to be about a foot long - short enough to prevent them standing on it but long enough to grab.

I've found something similar on ebay

Headcollar Catching Aid | eBay

<p>Headcollar Catching Aid . Condition is New. Dispatched with Royal Mail 1st Class.</p><br><p>Perfect to clip onto a headcollar to help with catching. Idea for foals and youngster or just hard to catch. Short enough to not get in the way but long enough to grab before clipping a rope onto them.</p>

www.ebay.co.uk

 

[eggs]

I was just about to recommend what Sealine above has said. I once had a horse who usually was good to catch but every so often he just decided 'nope'.

He went out in a headcollar with an old lead rope already clipped on which was cut to about 12". You could give him a polo with the hand furthest from him and get hold of the rope with the other hand before he realised it. He had enough manners not to try pulling back once he was captured.

 

[Surbie]

Here's my mad story.

My then 2-year old filly (now 5) had a BOGOF foal. Filly was not well handled when I bought her, and I'd only owned her for about two months when she foaled. She reverted to being foal proud and totally feral. When she saw you with a lead rope, she'd leg it, foal in tow. For about three weeks, we tried all the usual tricks. Feed, sitting in the field reading a book, natural hosemanship walking down, etc. All to no avail.

YO was not happy with a couple uncatchable horses on her property, plus the foal needed to start his worming regimin and they needed to be moved to a different field. One day, myself, the foal's owner-to-be, my OH, and YO and her husband gathered and tried to catch her by cornering her with a lunge line and walking down for as long as it took. We all had about a century of horse experience between us. After two hours of this, Teen Mum would not relent, and the foal was exhausted. Poor wee guy. This was not a viable method.

YO and husband called in a favour to the neighbouring cattle farm and picked up their gates. Then they constructed a mustang race. I was bricking it, with visions of the horses panicking, the mare squashing the foal, but this was happening either way. They herded the horses into the race without much drama. Once trapped in the small pen at the bottom of the race with nowhere to run, we got a lead rope around the filly's neck. Then a headcollar on her face. Once caught, she remembered the last 5000 years of domestication and was fairly civilised to lead out of the race.

They spent the next 10 days in a small pen while we did a lot of handling. Then they went out again, into a bigger field. Yikes! Teen mum reverted to being slightly feral. Still, not as bad as before. She'd leg it if you went straight for her head or neck, but we could get her to come to call with a bucket, slide a lead rope her over back while she ate, then wiggle it up to her neck. Once you had it around her neck, she was fine and you could slip the headcollar on nae bother. After about a month of that, we could catch her like a normal f*cking horse.

Good times were had by all.

You can really feel the exasperation/irritation/weariness in this post!

 

[Tarragon]

This bad weather may make your horse start to change his mind!

 

[meesha]

Can u catch field mate instead? Hopefully yours will then follow and u can lead to a small pen or yard !!

Alternatively...cry .... I got so frustrated trying to catch baggins on my yard once as farrier was due imminently, I burst into tears ... He froze and let me put headcollar straight on .

 

[rabatsa]

The mule I mentioned upthread was kept with a collar on, not a headcollar but a tether collar. This was better long term as there was less risk of it catching on anything and no pressure on her poll.

 

[TheChestnutThing]

Can u catch field mate instead? Hopefully yours will then follow and u can lead to a small pen or yard !!

Alternatively...cry .... I got so frustrated trying to catch baggins on my yard once as farrier was due imminently, I burst into tears ... He froze and let me put headcollar straight on .

Unfortunately field mate is even worse! However his owners friend is coming down tonight so hopefully she can get hold of him.

Sadly they still have to go back into the 4 acres as it’s impossible to do fencing in this weather and as I’m on grass livery, no access to stables.

And I did cry…I called non horsey hubby in tears…

I’ve reached the stage of offering him for free to anyone who can catch him

 

[seriously festive equine]

I have had this issue multiple times with several ponies. These are the ONLY methods that work for me (and believe me when I say I've tried EVERYTHING!)
I will say though that you must not GIVE UP!!!!
A) sit in the field on a bucket completely ignoring the horses. DO NOT look up if they come near you!!!! It may take several hours but you'll get there.
B) this is what works for my naughty 15.2 8 year old cob. He point blank refuses to walk away from me. instead when I got to catch him I walk strait past him. He gets really confused and I start crinkling a paper wrapper to get his attention. Then he comes near and I start slipping the lead rope round his neck. He then bolts off I then begin sending him away ( lunging him round me with a lead rope/lunge line/whip whatever I have at the time) I keep doing this for a while and he will not come near me. after a good 15 minutes of following his every move and and keeping VERY STRONG eye contact with him I finally drop the eye contact. Then I slowly let him take a step toward me. I then step toward him. By this point he is very lazy and cannot see the point of going on with his 'game'. He lets me catch him.
The only other thing I can say Is that the only option I would have failing this would be to feed a calming medication in their feed at night. Hope this helps. Good Luck!

 

[seriously festive equine]

I spent hours - I think it was about six - sitting in a field with a a dozen carrots, a book, sandwiches and a flask trying to get hold of a youngster for a friend who had completely lost patience with trying to catch the pony. They had stormed off, saying that if I could catch it, I could keep it! I did the completely ignore bit for four hours, until the filly nudged me, and I gave her a carrot. She grabbed it and rushed off. I knelt up, still reading and ignoring. Thirty minutes later, filly returned and grabbed carrot. Trotted off. I stood up, still reading and no eye contact. Pony returns at walk. Still reading, no eye contact. Two carrots. Pony stood there. I scratched her neck. Another carrot. Put lead rope against her neck. Carrot. Lead rope round her neck. Two carrots. Pony demanding more carrots. Headcollar attached to lead rope. Carrot. Holding lead rope round neck and giving yet another carrot, I slid the headcollar over her head and did it up. Stood there for a few minutes, gave the final carrot and led her calmly out of the field, up the lane and back to the yard.
I offered to buy her after that, got her very cheaply (£25) and moved both her and my own horse to another yard some way away. A friend bought her and she stayed with them for life.

Totally agree with this method - best I have found so far. It is my 'tried and tested' for when all else fails!

 

[seriously festive equine]

Unfortunately field mate is even worse! However his owners friend is coming down tonight so hopefully she can get hold of him.

Sadly they still have to go back into the 4 acres as it’s impossible to do fencing in this weather and as I’m on grass livery, no access to stables.

And I did cry…I called non horsey hubby in tears…

I’ve reached the stage of offering him for free to anyone who can catch him

just joking here but: Ooooh! What breed?

 

[SantaVera]

Get four twelve foot gates and four fencing posts,make a pen, open one gate place feed bucket in pen,when horse is eating close gate.

 

[suestowford]

I have a pony here who is known to be hard to catch. He's been like it all his life, but I had thought he was getting better about it. Until yesterday morning, while it was horizontal rain and we were both getting soaked! I shall curse alongside you Chestnut

 

[TheChestnutThing]

just joking here but: Ooooh! What breed?

Field mate is a cob thing…

So…owners friend told me he is notorious for winding other horses up and making them uncatchable. Fun.

Unfortunately due to this and the fact that I do need to ride (I have chronic depression and anxiety and it really helps me cope), we are going to have to separate them. So this weekend I will be fencing a portion for Zu and a portion for cob-thing. And they will have to live separately (but still next to each other). I’m also going to convert the shelter into a stable type thing and Zu will have to come in if he wants food.

Last night was a disaster. I managed to catch cob as he was shivering (lives out no blanket but I insisted he have one on from yesterday), and he came to me. Tied him up with his dinner outside the field.
Couldn’t catch Zulu and who was fence walking because friend had left. He wouldn’t come near me.
Cob then got a fright and snapped the baling twine and the lead rope and careered around the space inbetween the fields for a good 20 mins until owners friend managed to intice him with a packet of polos. By this stage Zu was so wound up he was impossible. But his rug had managed to undo itself so I had to get him.

Bucket of feed and some patience and I got him. Took him out, made him eat outside.

Then came the haynets. We went to hang them up and it was a fcking disaster. Every time cob went to eat Zu chased him and vice versa. I said to owners friend right, grab one of them and we are doing the fencing now. Needless to say we couldn’t grab either even though they both now have head collars on.

I went this morning to meet the hay guy, but did not go near the field. I don’t think I’m going to go there tonight either (is that bad of me to leave them for a whole day? Or will it *hopefully* teach them a lesson).

Either way this cannot carry on.

 

[TheChestnutThing]

Herewith photo of the A-holes on day one…

 

[poiuytrewq]

Sorry if its already been said/suggested. I wouldn't be able to get anywhere near one of mine by himself. How many is your horse out with? Can you arrange to have them all caught up and led to the gate? Luckily for me i only have 3 at home and i can easily catch the two. The difficult one if in a routine which i am fairly strict about within reason then follows us to the gate and i can catch him then. I NEVER ever feed in the field and I never leave out 24/7. I did one summer and his foot years later is still cracked because he went so long without a trim his hooves went wild.

 

[TheChestnutThing]

Sorry if its already been said/suggested. I wouldn't be able to get anywhere near one of mine by himself. How many is your horse out with? Can you arrange to have them all caught up and led to the gate? Luckily for me i only have 3 at home and i can easily catch the two. The difficult one if in a routine which i am fairly strict about within reason then follows us to the gate and i can catch him then. I NEVER ever feed in the field and I never leave out 24/7. I did one summer and his foot years later is still cracked because he went so long without a trim his hooves went wild.

They are on grass livery. There is no option of stables. So they live out 24/7.

It’s only mine and the companion in this particular field.

He has always had a very strict routine. But sadly I’m at the yard on my own most times as everyone here keeps to themselves.