Need help. Can't catch my horse.

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Charlotte&&Prince

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I have a 3 year old welsh pony, taken off the moor 18 months ago. Since coming off he was kept in a herd of 5 horses but they were owned by the same people so they all came in at the same time. Now I've bought him and moved him to a different yard he's become a little terror! He's in a same sex herd of 4 horses incl. him. He started off fine for a couple of months, easy to catch and bring in but then the yard owner moved some other youngsters into the field next door and he became sour to leaving the field. The yard owner has now moved the horses so they aren't in sight and he got a little better, enough that I can get him into the double gated area with a bucket of feed. If I go anywhere near him in the field he will gallop around, chase the other horses and wind himself up so much that there's no chance. The only thing that works is waiting for everyone to bring in their horses before I get mine, but with winter upon us and no lights in the field that's proving to still be a nightmare. I've tried food, which works but he's starting to rely on that to come in, I've tried making him work if he runs from me once but with a field that big it's pointless, I've sat in his field for two hours and he's come over but as soon as I go to touch him he spooks and runs away, I've also left a headcollar on him but that caused some really awful rubs on his face even with it as loose as possible. I can't even loose school him because he does this. I'm at the end of my tether, it's to the point where I've had to consider selling him as I haven't got 2 hours a day to run around a field after my horse. Individual grazing seems the only way to fix it but the yard owner doesn't offer the option. I've considered getting someone who specialises in natural horsemanship to come out but that costs money which I don't have to spare with winter coming! Anyone have any more ideas?
 
I've had same with sasha, but she got better with patience and bribery. And a field safe headcolar , padded sort , left on her. She was with a heard at old yard,now it's two per turnout, so if I fetch other one in she begs to go in too. But for first few months she played up rotten. I've left her out and gone in in tears at the start of summer when we got her. I did some natural horseman work with her, it worked to an extent(we have round pen) it's difficult if you can't have small turnout, cos in a heard any horse will resist being caught if it has a mind to! And half doz horses all galloping about in excitement is dangerous . Ou have a small gated area to bribe with food, do you always catch when you feed? I left mine for a while week, just went there , fed a few carrots in bucket, in confined area, and then gave her a rub then left alone. So she never associated a bucket feed with allways being caught.
 
I'm not expert, but i had this problem...

I used to fill a bucket with a small scoop of fed shake till horse appeared, clip the lead rope on and put the bucket on the other side of the fence (so he couldn't reach it) and give a polo from my pocket and a scratch.

Took a while and he used to play up occasionally but when he saw my hand near my pocket he was next to me! (he loved polos!)

Bx
 
Aerborn make soft webbing headcollars and even cheap and nasty leather ones usually have padding on the nose and behind ears. Leave it on in the field. Get him into the small gated area so he's separate from the rest, to make your life easier. Wait by the bucket with one of your arms across it, so he has to come past your hand (with the lead rope in) for the food. As he does, clip on the rope.

Eventually you'll be able to catch him in the field by just having a handful of feed in one hand, held close to the arm of the other hand which will have the rope in, and again as he comes past the rope for the food you clip it onto the headcollar, no fuss. It's easier if you crouch down and let the pony approach you, so you have a better view of what you're doing with the rope and headcollar. It eliminates the movement of a hand/rope coming towards them which is the cause of them spooking and running off, they're caught without even realising its happened.
 
I have used the "join up" type method in a pretty big field with a fast Tb who didn't see why she should come in..... it did work, but you need to set aside a couple of days to work on it - Sat & Sun? Also find that walking slowly up to them backwards can help, have pockets full of goodies & don't try & put the headcollar on in a "sneaky" way, if you know what I mean!
Good luck :)
 
If you're going to use food to teach the horse to be caught, it's better to use it as part of a training approach rather than as a lure.

Have a look at the approach in this video, as an example (and remember, using this kind of approach has interesting additional effects - as well as being taught how to have a headcollar on, how to "follow you" and how to touch targets, the horse also learns that you are nice to be around, so they're more likely to co-operate with other things you want them to do.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_Wvr5YO1vVE
 
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