Still can't catch him

Unfortunately fixing these things all take time. The day you only have half an hour is when you won't see them for dust. It often makes me question our choice in hobbies!

Does he need to be caught right now? Can you do a visual check on him until exams are over? They need your focus and then once they are finished devoted full days to working with the horse (the hope that if you have all day it takes an hour...).

Do the other two in the field ever get brought in? If they do can you time being there and catch yours when hes on his own and likely closer to the gate if the others are in.

Everyone has been there if they've spent any length of time with horses. There is always one! An uncatchable is amongst the most frustrating.

It sounds like other demands on your time have meant he's reverted to feral. You had him catching and doing all sorts before so no reason why you won't again. Exams are a stressful time and every chance he's picking up on your mood; time pressured, exam stress and nerves/worry that he won't catch.

If his headcollar isn't a field safe one I'd take however long to catch him and either replace with a field safe or just remove it. Continue to visually check him and don't put pressure on to catch him right now. You will probably find when you know you don't have to catch him and you're going into the field without a halter that he's easier to get near and put hands on (go to shoulder not head). Give him a scratch and you release first by walking away from him if you've got the time.

Once your exams are over and you have more time there's advice in this thread that will help and you'll be able to action it better when you're not feeling so overwhelmed. Good luck
 
Okay, presuming that he'll let you get near him if he doesn't see a lead rope, then this might work. Wear a coat or jacket with loose sleeves. Feed part of the leadrope down through one of the sleeves so that the clip is positioned just inside the cuff. Fasten the coat so he can't see the rope. Pretend you're only there to feed him treats or give scratches, etc. and then clip the rope on whilst scratching his chin.
 
cundlegreen said:
If all avenues are exhausted, try this. Short piece of stirrup leather fastened around one foreleg, just above the fetlock. Piece of plaited baler twine approx 2-3 foot long. tie on end to the stirrup leather, drill large hole through a 2 ft piece of 4x2 timber and tie other end to that. The idea is, as he goes to walk off, he stands on the timber and that stops him in his tracks. I cured a feral exmoor pony in one day with this method. With hobbles on, he just cantered off. So, no pressure, but once he's stopping, get hold of him, reward, let go, and repeat. He'll soon get the hang of it. Now waiting for the animal rights people to come out of the woodwork!
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Its similar to how old horsemen halter broke and taught foals to catch. They left them with a headcollar and a longish length of rope attached. The foals stood on the rope and taught themselves to yield to pressure. Its not how I would do it, but there is no doubt whatsoever that it works.
 
Leo Walker said:
Its similar to how old horsemen halter broke and taught foals to catch. They left them with a headcollar and a longish length of rope attached. The foals stood on the rope and taught themselves to yield to pressure. Its not how I would do it, but there is no doubt whatsoever that it works.
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Neither would I in normal circumstances....
 
I think any way of trapping or tricking him (as with the leadrope in sleeve) is only going to work once or twice, at best. My first pony was a complete nightmare to catch, like four hours of seven people in a field kind of bad, so I massively sympathise but I also made it my mission to get this sorted ASAP with my last two horses who have been bad to catch. They sound a bit like yours, i.e. sensitive! If I've read your post right. It's not totally clear why you think he has changed, unless I missed that? But worth addressing that in itself.

With help from behaviorists, I sorted this with the last two bad-catchers (and used same principle on some terrified rescue ponies) by giving myself a few weeks of not expecting to actually catch them - I started off just going up near them, dropping something tasty on the floor and walking away a bit. Obviously depending on how bad the horse is will depend how close - you want to make sure they know you have something, and drop it, BEFORE they move away. Then you move away. Then repeat. Don't try and catch them. Just go back every day and go slightly closer (you can do this several times per yard session, e.g. when I went to the yard sometimes I'd do this, then go have a cuppa, and then do same again). Then one of the steps would be scratching their neck, give treat, walk away. Work gradually towards the head in another few steps. One of the steps might be holding a leadrope in your hands, not clipping it on. Practicing rope around neck. Etc etc.

You could also clicker them touching or putting their nose in headcollar, leadrope etc if you want to add in something else positive for them. That works pretty well.

Then once you do catch them, don't just take them and do something hard. Maybe the first time just bring them to the other side of gate, feed and put back. Long term, make sure whatever happens in the yard is rewarding/pleasant/not stressful etc, and keep doing the same, just sometimes going up and giving a carrot, putting on headcollar - then removing headcollar and just walking away.

I know its a pain not to catch them for a few weeks, but it massively pays off long term.
 
Jinx94 said:
Over the last month and a half, I can count the number of times I've caught my pony on one hand.

I've had him for four years, from weaning, and catching was complicated up until the start of the year before last. He was foot perfect until I went to uni for a weekend at the start of Feb.

He did have a fear reaction to the rope initially, this doesn't seem to be present anymore. The softly softly approach has not worked, walking him down is not working. He's happy turned out on his own and has proven previously that if cornered, he'll jump whatever is in his way.

If anyone has decent advice, I would really appreciate it ("native Americans used to spend days walking wild horses down on the plains" will not be well received).

I love this horse and have worked so hard with him, but I don't know where to go from here. I can't keep doing this.
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Few articles or videos on you tube

https://www.yourhorse.co.uk/advice/horse-behaviour/articles/2016/4/18/catch-the-uncatchable-horse
https://www.equi-ads.com/respect-catching-horse-field/

https://www.horseforum.com/horse-training/naughty-pony-help-31799/






My suggestions

Not the same league but one livery can be a biotch some days and keeps running off, owner has a few things she does And One of these works EVERY time mare never learns.



1, we have a grass round pen in the field which is kept closed so grass grows, the other day we led my mare into it and the livery ran round and went in so two owners two horse, yes mare ran round the 20 m circle for 5 mins then gave up
2. she lets her go into the back yard and closes gate then the mare has no where to go
3. we have a very long blue rope attach to fencing and gradually corral her into a smaller area or the back yard
4. she puts a muzzle on the mare on the days she wants to ride and sometimes that works as mare is hungry and wants it off.
5. she gets someone else to try

These are what works for her.

a ) I would try putting some elect fencing up in a corral say 20 metres and start feeding him in there, then close it and spend time doing some join up or untill he learns to be caught keep him in a 20 meter circle, and do a 2nd one beside with an opening in each so you can move him one to another to rest one

b) If your land maybe actually do post and rail or electric paddocks small so not giving him a big area


c) have a smaller one in the gate way where you can tie him up ( once caught|) and bond with him


d) leave a head collar on but this wont work if he runs off

e) get a calmer in some feed to make him chill a bit more

f) have a good to catch horse with him and stand with him giving him an odd treat in front of naughty pony, he may see he is missing out


G) Have an area where his hay goes within an enclosed area so you can restrain him in a smaller enclosure

2 hrs is a very long time and I think you need him in a small manageable paddock

hobbles and peg tying would not be an option for me
 
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Morgan123 said:
I know its a pain not to catch them for a few weeks, but it massively pays off long term.
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Usually. It usually pays off in the long term. *glares at companion pony* Sometimes they never improve, and resorting to increasingly inventive trickery since nobody else will agree to your perfectly reasonable suggestion of using sharpshooters is all that's left.

Anyhow, the OP has indicated that in this scenario it's the lead rope which seems to be the issue, and that she intends to attach a grab handle to the headcollar once caught. That means that the trick only needs to work once.
 
I haven’t got anything to add to all the advice above but once you do catch your horse, an idea would be to turn them out wearing a muzzle so they are hopefully more interested in coming in for hay. This may mean a routine change but bringing in for the day with hay to eat then turning out in the afternoon/ evening may help.
 
Dart it?;)
To be honest, you are on a hiding to nothing in an 8 acre field with other youngsters. Is there nowhere you can corral your horse? I'd be seriously considering looking around for somewhere which could offer a small yard where you could keep/work with this reprobate pony, even if it's only a temporary move. Easier said than done I know, especially if you are short of time.
 
Landcruiser said:
Dart it?;)
To be honest, you are on a hiding to nothing in an 8 acre field with other youngsters. Is there nowhere you can corral your horse? I'd be seriously considering looking around for somewhere which could offer a small yard where you could keep/work with this reprobate pony, even if it's only a temporary move. Easier said than done I know, especially if you are short of time.
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I would certainly look for somewhere else to keep the pony, although I know this yard has a group of youngsters, which should be ideal for him. I remember that this pony was good to catch until the staff had to get him in for the farrier. I would be wondering why that has changed.
 
Hi all, thought I'd give you a quick update.

After my hysterical meltdown on Monday (feeling a bit ridiculous about that now..), I went with TPO's suggestion of just doing a visual check for now as this week has been particularly manic. Funnily enough, after the first day he started following me around the field. I've avoided interacting with him until today, when he marched over while I was fussing over another horse.

I briefly gave him some scratches, walked away, he followed and I repeated this twice more. His head was left well alone and I didn't make a big deal about it.

Thank you for all of the advice you have given, I'll be hanging on to it!!
 
Good stuff!

Dont feel bad, we've all been there when things have mounted up and tipped us over the edge.
 
Jinx94 said:
Over the last month and a half, I can count the number of times I've caught my pony on one hand.

I've had him for four years, from weaning, and catching was complicated up until the start of the year before last. He was foot perfect until I went to uni for a weekend at the start of Feb.

He did have a fear reaction to the rope initially, this doesn't seem to be present anymore. The softly softly approach has not worked, walking him down is not working. He's happy turned out on his own and has proven previously that if cornered, he'll jump whatever is in his way.

If anyone has decent advice, I would really appreciate it ("native Americans used to spend days walking wild horses down on the plains" will not be well received).

I love this horse and have worked so hard with him, but I don't know where to go from here. I can't keep doing this.
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I helped look after a well bred rescue mare at grass 24/7 that was almost impossible to catch due to her nervousness.I spent as much time as I could near her mucking out the field etc.but not trying to catch her.She lived with a herd of other biddable horses but she could bolt across the field at the slightest thing and was very wary of the halter.I would bring some sliced carrot for the others but not feed her. At last she would come near me and I would turn and ignore her .After a few weeks she would follow me take some carrot and I would stand just talking to her but not touching, gaining her trust. Eventually she was following, me with the halter/carrots in hand I would wait until she was really close, me standing side on, no eye contact gently put the halter on while she had her reward. She accepted that was what was wanted and had gained her trust.After that it was pretty easy as long as I followed these rules and had her caught in a few minutes most times. Patience and calmness is important ,they seem to sense if you are in a hurry and the moment is lost.
 
I CAUGHT THE REPROBATE!!

It turns out, a rope around the neck isn't a problem. A rope running from his headcollar to my hands provoked a total hissy fit.

After a good few feet :rolleyes: he stopped throwing himself around and I brought him in for a feed. He had some handling and a thorough check over, and (after a lot of reluctance on my part) is now back out with a good length of leather on his headcollar.

No clue if I'll get near him tomorrow, but we'll see.
 
Oh well done!

FWIW, one or two of mine were *impossible* to catch on a 9 acre field. 2 hours + to catch, jumping out, missing lessons etc... When they moved to 2 1/2 acres of poor grazing & one field narrowed to a point - problem solved overnight. I have moved to somewhere with more land & currently have a v shy NF that simply won't be caught, but if I catch the Shetland in first & leave the other stable open with food in it, the NF will go straight in & from then on handle like a normal horse. I had a behaviouralist here recently to help me back her & mentioned the catching issue. He said that he could show me how to catch her, but if I could manage just by catching the Shetland in first, just to keep doing that. Not sure of the reasoning. Not sure if any of this helps, but I would imagine that a lot of horses would be hard to catch on 8 acres!
 
I feel your pain as I am sure I am going to have this issue with my new lad. Ours are corralled in the winter with hay. He was tricky on arrival being caught even in a corral but I have done the carrot catching thing - it irritates me because I have never ever had a horse difficult to catch. However, every day he has a catching carrot for being caught (in the corral) and this seems to have worked (in the corral!). All the horses on the yard are on a strict routine - during winter they are corralled during the day and in at night, during summer they are out in fields during the night and in during the day. All of the horses know the routine and even when out on grass are ready to come in and have a lie down, haynet and rest from the flies. I have tried to just be consistent - catching carrots in the corral have worked - he now walks up to me to be caught, but am not sure on grass this is going to work at all!!
 
Sjp1, will your yard put up with him being left out if you can't catch him? Maybe keep up with the carrot and hope for the best?

I didn't catch Tris on Tuesday, but have just managed two consecutive days o_O he's taken less time on each of those, no more drama.

Not quite sure how to feel if I'm honest! Trying not to get too excited/hopeful just in case!
 
Thats good..try and get him to come you especially as he is being rewarded.I would only be rewarding as the headcollar is going over his head.When he gets back to the yard a haynet can be a reward as well ,its something he will look forward to. A woman who kept a horse at the livery yard I was at, treated her horse as a commodity and expected it to oblige her every command.It was difficult to catch in the field because it knew there was no reward for it when it was brought into the yard. It was tacked up right away and jumped around a course for too long.The poor thing had heart trouble as well.
 
Well done, and looks like what you are doing is working..
when we bought my sons 2nd ex polo pony for his Polocrosse use, we discovered she had always been brought in from a huge field in a heard, and all into a yard together. When we tried to catch her on her own, well no chance unless she was left till last, field safe head collar and a length of rope, and by the end of the first summer we could catch at will. She was always ok in individual small turnout, it was the big heard field she was a problem in .
 
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