Pain To Catch!

by Finley in Haynet Forum · 3 months ago · 16 Replies · View last reply

Finley

Just seeing what everyone's views are about horses wearing headcollars in the field? We have a new Welsh Section B on the yard who is a complete pain to catch! I am having to bring him in a couple of nights a week to help out my friend on the yard? It was discussed this morning about putting a head collar on him but I am not keen. However I am pushed for time in the evenings and my horse is a breeze to catch and then I'm running around after this pony! Has anyone got any magic solutions?

finlaysmum

I take you've tried the usual treats/bucket trick? Does it make a difference if he has a head collar on? I mean, are you getting close enough to get a hold of it? I used to have this problem with a horse I looked after whilst a groom on a hunt yard. He was a cob (funny that lol) I would be running around in the dark up to my knees in mud while he was kicking up his heels having a great time. I got so fed up with it, one time I just left him out all night! He soon changed his tune and was looking rather sheepish the next morning. In fact I would say down right sorry of himself. After that, when I went to catch him and he ran off I just walk out the field and sat out of sight, he would soon be standing at the gate in fear of being left out again! lol Im sorry I dont have any quick fixes for your problem. I dont turn out in head collars but other liveries at my yard do.

maddiandoscar

Take a carrot with you every time you bring him in. I used to bring in my old loans' owners other horse (Does that make sense) It was a 4yr old TB that would run round like a loony when you went to catch it and if it was left out so I had to catch it first. I took a carrot with me every time and within a week I had it coming up to me in the field. Really pissed it's owner off to because she couldn't catch her! (Mwahahaaa)

Shy's Adventure

Shy was impossible to catch when I first got her. Like it took 2 hours and 6 people to catch her at first. I had to use a little grain to get her to come near me. I also kept a halter on her with a little catch tab. I faded out the halter quickley because I dod not want to keep it on her. Eventually, all I needed was a peppermint to catch her. She would hear the crinkle of the wrapper and stay put for me to walk up to her.

The newest development is that she will come to me from the back of the pasture when I call her!

. . .but it has taken 7 months for this.

Lorraine Jennings

Sweets, carrots, apples bananas! Anything that will bribe and corrupt works for me :) I hate having to walk miles and always encourage mine to come to me. I'm not averse to headcollars in the field either.It won't take long if you always have something in your pocket.

Good luck :)

SamiHob

Definately food! Again I think it can be a bit taboo treating and rewarding horses for behaviour but if you can get a pony to come in with a carrot, what is the harm? I've always treated Zeb and still do. I know I can get him to almost do anything if I have polos in my pocket. This ponies are clever little monkeys (I'm being polite! LOL) and if they know they will get a reward for coming in, I'm sure the running around will stop.

Edz

I've left headcollars on horses that were hard to catch before with no ill effects - I have heard horror stories but have never had a problem. We had one pony who used to have to have a piece of twine hanging off her headcollar to catch hold of.

I'm also a fan of food - I shout from the gate & mine come running in the hope I'll have a treat :)

I'd reccommend, if you have time during the day to just pop in with a treat catch them, give them the treat & let them off again - that way they don't always associate getting caught with coming in

horsecare

A favourite treat will do the trick once he realises he'll get one everytime he lets himself be caught, I'd also do the letting him go again bit so he doesn't always associate you and the treat with doing something he doesn't really want to do. I sometimes give the really akward ones a carrot as we're walking back to the yard as well, takes their minds off where they are going!

magniola

I disagree with everyone.... I have dealt with this, and YES treats do work, but why not just teach your horse to be easy to catch without bribing? It is a bad habit and after you do taht for awhile, your horse will be expecting something every time. Instead you a different technique, and AFTER you catch him give him a treat that was hidden in your pocket instead of bribing him with it.

So after you use one of these methods and you catch him, give him the treat, but dont show it to him or let him know you have it until you catch him. Also NOT every time you catch him, sometimes after you catch him, instead of a treat, just give him a good petting...The treats spoils your horse. I must admit though, I did it for the longest time because I didnt have time to do either of these. Unless your in a hurry, take one day to do one of these methods(Whichever you like best) and then from then on you can catch him.

Solution #1 When you catch your horse, dont work him every time. A lot of times you just need to get him out and spend time with him...

Heres another solution,

http://horses.about.com/od/commonproblems/a/catchhorse.htm

magniola

Correctment^ I said it would take one day, for these I believe that you just need to have a day once every month to do those, because those have time spent with your horse, not working him, etc...

Also, another thing is, dont let your horse get bored with your riding.. Change things up in your riding, dont do the same thing all the time.

Paul

When we moved ours at Christmas we had head collars on for the first week until everyone, including them, knew the knew routine. Now they are off during turn out

Finley

Thanks for all the replies!! We have used treats sometimes this works and sometimes not! This is one clever pony. Perhaps we might leave a headcollar for a short test period and see if we can catch the monkey!

Mark Patterson

It is potentially very dangerous for your horse. The halter can get caught on fence posts or other hazards. Horses have been known to get their feet caught in a halter. My father feeds his mule in a small catch pen every morning, so if he wants to ride that day he just shuts the gate behind her when she comes in to eat. Before I left the halter on I would put the horse in a smaller paddock or stall and focus on making it easier to catch before releasing it to a large pasture.

Jooles

We had a Section A who was a very wily character and would never catch if she was in a large field with other horses - we had to herd them all into a pen in order to catch her!

With another pony we had more recently who wouldn't catch, we used to go out to the field and get as close as we could before he took off and then turn our backs and start picking at the grass and generally ignoring him. It worked a treat! He would come up to see what we were doing. Tehn sometimes we would catch him and bring him in and sometimes we just gave him a pat and left him. After a few days he caught every time..

kate

I don't use food to catch horses. I don't use halters in turnout unless they're breakaway, and prefer not to even then. I find the "cut-em-off-at-the-pass" method of catching a difficult to catch horse usually works like a charm - but you can't be in a hurry when you do it since persistance is what wins the game.

All there is to it - as the horse heads off somewhere, you just head to where he's going - cutting off the corner. Keep your energy level low - keeping things at a walk makes this a lot easier, and you're not "after" the horse. If the horse turns in a different direction, just change your path to go where the horse is now going. Do not stop until you catch the horse - it may even take an hour or more the first time if your field is large. After a while of this, most horses pretty quickly stop and look at you and after a few days of consistently, persistently, not stopping until the horse is caught, they're catchable - they pretty quickly figure out it isn't worth the trouble since all they're doing is delaying the inevitable. I also agree that with the comment above that you should mix up what you do with the horse when you do catch him/her - grooming one day, a walk another day, hand grazing, whatever - not just all work all the time.

maddiandoscar

I read that if they walk away stop and turn. Because that's the last thing they expect you to do. And then walk with them but not towards them, say if you're 10 feet away stay that distance but walk parallel with them because they don't expect it and if you keep turning away they get confused and come in :P There was more to it than that but I don't know how to explain it :S

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