I can't catch my horse!

Kokopelli

Kokopelli

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Took 20 mins to catch him today. :(

If I didn't have event training would have left him out but needed to go to this training as we already paid. (it wasn't over a xc before anyone has a go about weight etc it was in an arena doing mainly flatwork)


He literally gallops around like a looney! I managed to corner him and get him in the end but what can I do?

I can't bring food out as other horses in the field and is dangerous. Its a massive field and tried chasing him away for a bit but couldn't carry on as field was too big.

Any help much appreciated- this pony is really pushing my buttons now the little beggar!!
 
Spring grass!!!

It is not easy to catch a horse when there are loads of others out with them and I expect Andy is just thrilled with the spring like feel to the air and good grass coming through, all much more appealing than work to him atm ! :D

Perhaps you could try making a point of giving him a polo or carrot every time you catch him and also making sure that he gets something nice as soon as he comes in. Having said that, I'm not sure atm you are going to have much luck as he clearly reckons out is better than in and horses aren't stupid, he'll likely see through the old treat thing I'm afraid.

Sorry I can't be more help but maybe if you really need to go somewhere you might have to keep him in that day?
 
Hmmm, every now and again Matrix trys this one.
If we put him in a big field full of grass, we have a problem.
20 minutes? Try 3 days!!
Someone went in, held out an apple, and the little sod snatched it, did a 180 degree turn and galloped off!
So now he goes in his own little strip- he can see, touch and groom other horses- not that he wants to- hes an antisocial little thing!
Also has the effect of keeping his weight down- not a problem for you though.
Must be the spring grass- bad pony.

Would Andy hate being alone?

Maybe try turning him out with just one other, so less horses if you need to use food.
Also try a fieldsafe headcollar.

Good luck!
 
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Can you carry a carrot? When I first got my lad he would bugger off in walk or trot - just quick enough that I couldn't catch him! But if I waved a carrot he would stand still. I resorted to bribery and made sure he was given a treat every single time he was caught. This nipped the problem in the bud pretty quickly. I also made sure that when he came in all he did was go into his stable and eat hay - all his work was done before he went out in the morning so he wasn't associating coming in with work...
 
Can you take the other horses out when you're trying to catch him? It will be a really helpful start. Is this the first time he's done it? If so, maybe it was one of those days.

If not, you need to break the association. I assume he's not in pain, and he's happy in his work and getting variety, not being worked too much etc. I'm sure he's not :)
So my guess would be he'd rather not come in to work. Is it possible to give him a few days off so you can get on with sorting the problem? It was certainly handy when I was working with Len with this, as he soon learnt that he didn't always have to come in for work, but came in for a cuddle and dinner instead.
I would start by going out without a head collar, and a pocket of treats. Approach the other horses and (if it's ok with their owners) give them a treat each, before wandering over to Andy. If he looks like he's going to walk off, don't change anything. Don't be tempted to chase him away, just calmly follow him. The idea, I found, is to keep them walking and don't let them stop. If they stop, you can stop. (That way the message they get is if they stop walking away from you, you stop following them) When you get near enough, offer him a treat, let him take it and leave.
Repeat. until he learns that you coming over to him=treat. Slowly you will be able to stand with him, give him a scratch etc. Before long you can stick a head collar on him. When you do, don't take him in, lead him around the field a bit, give him a scratch and then let him go. Put head collar on, take it off, put it on, take it off until you break the association between head collar and coming in to do work.
When you do bring him in, make the coming in as nice as possible. Have a bucket of feed waiting for him, I did once read that horses value water much more highly than food (makes sense, it takes a lot more effort to find water than food in the wild) so if you're at the yard all day and you have access to a paddock of his own, the article suggested taking away their water for a few hours so when they come in they are grateful for the water waiting for them. I don't know how useful it is, and I know horses 'should always have access to fresh, clean water' but seeing as there was a study on wild horses recently that showed they didn't revisit watering holes for weeks sometimes, I don't think, personally, it can do too much harm.

All of this is a hell of a lot easier if you can have him in a pen on his own ;) This took about a week with Len. IMO I could have brought him in as soon as I got to the stage where I could stand with him, but that wouldn't have been fixing the problem, just patching it up. I had to go right back to basics with it and re-teach him. He still isn't perfect, and still wears a field-safe. But he does stand at the gate waiting for me now and I don't have problems.

Good luck, it really is a frustrating problem to have, but try not to get too annoyed at him :)

J&C
 
Need to know a lot more about his route really before I can comment/help.

Does he live out 24/7?

Does he let you anywhere near him?

Do you only bring him in to ride him or do you feed him, groom and turn back out sometimes?
 
Oh no! LOL!! Poor you koko!

Malt also being a begger today. Managed to catch him by pretending he'd been really really really good and told him he was a good boy (very exaggeratedly!!) I think he got confused and just stood there a bit baffled.

Dunno if it will work tomorrow though...
 
Grace tries this one, she comes in though when she sees me bringing prince in or fussing him. Tbh, their isnt a huge amount you can do if he is out with others. If he does it again, leave him out till the others come in, hel soon want to come in if he thinks hes being left alone or not getting any food!
 
Don't always just bring into ride, about once a week I try to make a habit of bringing in and grooming then turning out again.

You can't get anywhere near him, about 50ft away and he knows and charges then stops to look at you then does a prancy 'aren't I pretty trot.' :rolleyes:

He is in at night but out during the day, sometimes I ride in the morning but normally he is ridden around 4ish.

We can't bring others in as a couple don't have stables and there is a field right next to his so I don't think he would really care that much. I go out with either a handful of food or a carrot when I catch him then I'll give him a treat when I get him in the barn and a haynet.

Sometimes when I go to get him he trots away I say 'OI' and he looks at me and comes back being very apologetic, he's never done this before though.

I could give him the week off and see how that goes, should be interesting when I get back on :eek: :p


ETA: Can't leave in until we go out as we didn't leave yard until 1ish and he would have been the only horse in the barn which would have upset him.
 
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