I give up!! How do you catch a moody mare in season from the field??

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Gucci_b

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This is a joke!! but not a very funny one! I can't catch my moody mare who is in dreaded season again, from the field. Every one @ my yrd has tried today, and failed. with feed and treats and a lot of patience even bring in her buddie to try to get her in. and NOP... she an't having none of it. what do you do with a moody mare (if you have one? need her in as the farrier has to reshoe her (today), he's coming back tomorrow with a bottle of wine to who ever can catch her... we have tried it all.. all day. LOL
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We all tried to corner her and she went into a right moody mare strop, she was rearing, bucking then thought she was at the race track and starting to gallop around like red rum, so we left her to it, and tried a little later.
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been having probs with my boy for 3 weeks,have found the best way to catch him when he's being silly is to keep him moving,dont let him eat,keep walking behind and push her on do not let her stop,she will get fed up eventually and give in like my boy did,dont corner her as she wil feel threatend and get silly
 
Agree with the corner thing, thats why we walked away, but after 7 hrs what else can you try!!
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The thing is i will get billed from the farrier if horse is another no show tomorrow as wasting his time, I would have left her in the stable, had i have known that my new farrier could come out today to pop a lost shoe on that my old (sacked) farrier does'nt want to no!!! grrrr
 
standing with your back to her,it should get the better of her eventually and she will come over or sit in the field with something interesting she mite fall for that
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been having probs with my boy for 3 weeks,have found the best way to catch him when he's being silly is to keep him moving,dont let him eat,keep walking behind and push her on do not let her stop,she will get fed up eventually and give in like my boy did,dont corner her as she wil feel threatend and get silly

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That's called 'walking the horse down'. I agree with the above but I'll add a little
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When you are following and she does stop, reward her with a 'good girl'. If she moves off when you approach just keep following quietly. Don't let her eat grass - run at her if you have to and then follow her again quietly in walk. Keep this up for as long as it takes for her to give in (It took me over an hour last week!). When she finally stops and lets you approach, walk up to her and give her a pat, say good girl, don't catch her and then walk away! Hard to do I know when you've been walking for so long, but it has to be done (The confused look on their faces is priceless when you walk away!) I've sometimes been followed back to the gate by the horse, but even then I didn't catch them. Go back in after 20 mins and do it all over again! This time you can bring her in but it works best in the long run if you walk them down, reward them for stopping and then walk away and bring them in after the 3rd or 4th go. After a few days or weeks it will only takes a few minutes for the horse to give in as they know it's not worth it! Trust me, it does work!

PS Walking a horse down works best if you are on your own. Wishing you good luck!
 
lol agree with the look on thier face when you walk away,my boy didnt know what to do lol i felt quite sorry for him he looked lost lol i thought it serves you rite mate for being silly
 
This works for me with moody mares, Mares with foal at foot and dressage horses that would rather eat grass than come in and work! Horses are remarkably nosey so walk up to them to the point they turn away then turn away from them and rustle some crackly paper in your pocket (I used to smoke and it was the wrapper on the packet!) They cannot help coming over to look so walk away again. If this fails and you feel safe doing it, get down on your haunches and find something REALLY intersting in the grass they are so nosey they will look over your shoulder so can put a rope over the neck, put on a headcollar and walk in with them. Make sure you give them a little something to say thanks! Will you send the bottle of wine if this works?!
Good luck, stay calm, be patient. (and kick the stable wall if all else fails!)
 
I agree with the "walking the horse down" theory. I used to have to catch a TB and he was a b******! Extended trot on a lovely outline with his tail in the air doing circles around us. We took all of the horses out of the field, we went in with buckets and lunge lines to no avail! One day I just went out and kept walking him around the field and not letting him eat. He eventually let me catch him I gave him some polo's and patted him telling him he was a good boy. It worked! If I were you I would turn her out in a headcoller and give her treats whenever she is turned out and brought in, I found this to be the best method. Good Luck!
 
We used to have a chestnut mare who one day decided that she didnt want to be bought in....

They used to graze with the grass liverys so it was impossible to bring everyones horses in just to catch her, so we left her out for days, totally ignoring her. After about the second day people were coming back from the field saying, 'we could have caught her, she was standing by the gate'.....

but we told them to leave her!

.....on day four we were able to walk up and catch her, no problem and we never ever had an issue since as I think she decided it wasnt worth being forgotton about!!

We were lucky as there were other out and if everyone brings in their horse I understand that you cant leave them out on their own.
 
At last.... I caught her this afternoon
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and brought a safety headcollar, so from now on she goes out with the safety head collar on, what a chuffing relief. farrier here at 5 pm.
 
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