I can’t catch my horse!!!

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ponyrider2024

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Help! I can’t catch my horse 🙈 for context I’ve owned this horse for almost a year and had problems on and off with catching. We got to a point where if I left a headcollar on and went up with a carrot I could catch him with very few issues. But last week it was like a switch flipped in his brain and we were back to square 1 unable to catch him. He’s turned out with one other gelding and doesn’t fuss when other horse is removed from paddock.

When he sees me or anybody else he immediately walks away. We’ve tried food which he’s not interested in, treats again not bothered. Tried sitting in the field and patting him when he gets close but the second you move he runs off. I’ve tried corralling him into a smaller area, put up a 1.6m fence and he jumped out. Have tried lunging him around the field, he lasted 2.5 hours and then jumped out of the field so I herded him back to the yard (obviously not practical). Have tried leaving him out for a few hours after everyone else has come in so he has no friends/food in the field which he will eventually be caught for but this obviously isn’t practical when he needs catching in the middle of the day. I’d say 1/4 times I want to catch him is actually for work, the rest of the time it’s to come in to be groomed etc so don’t think it’s work related. Have organised physio etc to have a look for any pain but he is a happy competition horse under saddle and seems to enjoy his job. I haven’t noticed any lameness/soreness or loss of performance consistent with when this started (a week ago) so I’m kind of at a loss for what to do next, short of leave him in whenever I need to do anything with him and just turn him out on days where I can go and get him in at 9pm if needed I’m not sure where to go next. Anyone got any magical suggestions I haven’t thought of?
 
Sorry, nothing much to add except to say that I totally empathise with you and your situation having had one just like this- except that he wouldn’t even let me close enough to touch him. The nearest I got to “sorting” the problem was to take feed to the field gate- also needed to take buckets with something in for the other two. I’d put theirs over the fence and open the gate holding my horses bucket- he would then come for the feed and allow me to catch him. His field opened into a small paddock so no danger if he ran off. This was the only way I could ever catch him. Totally impractical, never worked out why he didn’t want to be caught ( although I’m sure there was a reason), and like you, I spent hours in both the daylight and the dark trying to catch him. Good luck and I really hope you manage to find a solution.
 
Does he have hay when he comes in? A quiet stable? The grass has started to grow here which can make them a bit silly I find. Hopefully he's just decided he doesn't fancy coming in and there's nothing more sinister to it (although that's a harder problem to solve!). Can you just leave him out, even for a few days?
 
My friend wrote this on a FB post so hopefully she won’t mind me posting it here on a horse who was being tricky to catch - Tarrsteps Equestrian if anyone needs a brilliant professional horse problem solver.

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My mums pony was like this. Many people tried and failed 😅.

She was moved to a new place and all the issues stopped. I know it’s not ideal, but sometimes it is purely environmental.
 
Are you able to do some join up? It does help some horses, and it teaches you to keep your heart rate steady too. Monty Roberts reckons horses can hear your heartbeat - as it increases, the horse thinks there is danger and runs off. Lots of little tips like approaching the horse at a 45 degree angle, and not making eye contact often help too. My friend's father used to get as close as he could to a hard-to-catch, and start picking grass. He'd turn away from the horse and stay bent over examining the ground and taking very slow steps nearer and nearer, and when he was within touching distance he would turn and walk away for a few steps and begin again. The horse always ended up curious and would come up to him. He was very patient though!
 
It's not always though. One of mine becomes hard to catch every year around the middle of April, and it stops around middle of June. It's definitely hormonal. We've had years when the grass has been poor, and it makes no difference. Routine is always the same, workload and activities are the same.

I would suggest that in OP's case it's probably linked to Spring.
 
I feel your pain. We’ve now resorted to field safe headcollar on 24/7, and shoving a feedbowl at him to distract him while we clip a lead rope on.

Hopefully he’ll settle down once they get used to the spring weather.
 
teddy_ said:
My mums pony was like this. Many people tried and failed 😅.

She was moved to a new place and all the issues stopped. I know it’s not ideal, but sometimes it is purely environmental.
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Does he feel safe in the field? Is he being bullied? Our Welsh A was impossible to catch at her previous home unless you removed all the horses and gave her a bit of time to calm down - on watching them all together they were constantly picking on her and she felt unsafe. Being attached to a human on the end of a lead rope felt too much like being trapped and unable to escape if one of the bigger ponies came for her…so she refused to be caught.
 
marmalade76 said:
If a horse becomes difficult to catch, it's usually because what happens after he's caught is unpleasant for him. What are you doing with him that he's not enjoying?
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Not always. If what's in his field (new grass) is more appealing than the alternative (hard feed, hay).......that's the problem.
Could you leave a short length of rope attached to his headcollar, to catch him with?
 
Years ago I bought a pony from a dealer. Said dealer was very clever and warned me that the pony could be a bit tricky to catch but was OK if there was a short piece of rope hanging from her head collar. This worked until her herd moved into the summer fields, which were full of lovely grass. Then catching became a lengthy process. I found that what worked on some days was a bag full of goodies - bits of carrot and apple. The bag had to have a rustle to it so that she could hear me coming. I used to use the bag to give her treats when she was in so that she learnt what was in it. In the end I did sell her, not just because of the catching issue, but it was a major factor. When you've had a long day at work the last thing you want is for your pony to be metaphorically sticking two fingers up at you as it canters happily around the field.
 
This past week or so the weather has been milder, growth of grass happening..it’s lovely to be outside. He may well be feeling the same, wanting to bask in spring loveliness after a dark cold winter!

Something to try to fairly quickly rewire his brain that coming in means a good thing, is to buy a bag of really nice quality properly made haylage (devon haylage timothy and rye mix is VERY palatable to most usually) and give him a kilo every time you manage, from this point on, to bring him in.
Literally have it pre-prepared there waiting for him when he comes in, as the ‘reward’ for being brought in will be more instant and make a better solid brain/memory connection if it’s immediately available when he comes in.

I un-knowingly at the time, trained mine with this, due to grass being crappy at the time, so they had something to fill up on when they came in. Theyre on haylage anyway - really nice quality, thats better than the grass here most of the year, so now i can call them, any time of year, and they’ll come in because there’s always something they love eating waiting for them.
The only thing that competes with this working in their minds, is if i’ve put them in a rested field where there’s lots of long fresh grass. But the usual grazed fields with just small tips growing i can pull them off easily for preference of nice haylage waiting for them.

Its a good idea to get physio etc to check over too.
 
marmalade76 said:
If a horse becomes difficult to catch, it's usually because what happens after he's caught is unpleasant for him. What are you doing with him that he's not enjoying?
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He’s a happy horse, enjoys being around me and other humans. He likes his ridden work, he has a very varied lifestyle and competes regularly. I think I have figured it out and he was being bullied by my pony when being led so he’s associated having a Headcollar on as being vulenrable to being picked on by the pony. Anyway after days of patiently walking up to him with a bucket of feed, catching, patting and feeding, then releasing him, he’s realised he isn’t getting bullied by the pony and coming in is a nice experience where he gets fed and cuddles. I have no doubt we will go back to square one again at some point but I think (🤞🏻) we may have cracked it
 
maya2008 said:
Does he feel safe in the field? Is he being bullied? Our Welsh A was impossible to catch at her previous home unless you removed all the horses and gave her a bit of time to calm down - on watching them all together they were constantly picking on her and she felt unsafe. Being attached to a human on the end of a lead rope felt too much like being trapped and unable to escape if one of the bigger ponies came for her…so she refused to be caught.
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I think this may have been the problem. He’s turned out with my late-gelded pony and occasionally when I’ve been up to get them in together my pony has had a buck and horse gets very worried he’s going to get kicked. The pony is also boss and if I have food won’t let the horse near me. The pony is also quite possessive of me. I’ve figured out that separating them and then feeding the horse is the best route to catch him!!
 
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