|
|
 I am Woman hear me Roar
Posts: 3395
   
Location: Choctaw, Oklahoma | I purchased a 9yr old gelding in may. Love love love this horse. We have already pulled a few checks and he is so easy to ride and is just a lot of fun. But to catch him is a nightmare sometimes. He gets very wild eyed like I'm trying to hurt him. I have to pen him up to feed. He has a stall with a 30 ft run, so it's easy. But to approach him and halter him is a task. He snorts gets very stiff and will flee. So I have to make him run around the pen till he stands and looks at me, then I can halter him. Some days is worse than others. I've tried multiple things to help. Lunge line, round pen, ect. I'm not liking this game. But once he is caught he's ok. Occasionally he will snort and look at things funny. But once under saddle he's a gem.
Is this just how it will be with him? Help! |
|
| |
|
 Dog Resuce Agent
Posts: 3459
Location: southeast Texas | Have you tried giving him a treat when you catch him? |
|
| |
|
 A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | Sounds like every time you catch him you work him/ride, Sounds like you never bonded with him, catch him and just brush and clean on him give him a treat so he knows its not all work. Dont ride him everytime you catch him. |
|
| |
|
I am Woman hear me Roar
Posts: 3395
Location: Choctaw, Oklahoma | I give him treats, I've groomed him and let him be. I've tried just sitting in his pen, and he will come up to me, just heaven forbid I try to put anything on him. |
|
| |
|
 Veteran
Posts: 113
Location: Tx | Between my sister and I we currently have 5 horses. We have them out on over 100 acres so they come when we whistle and we give a treat every time we catch them. We will catch and groom them all and then pick and choose who we work or ride or pony. None of them ever know they are going to be worked until we are actually doing it. sometimes we saddle them all and then only work 2, while the others just stand saddled or just groom them and turn them loose in the round pen to play on their own. Or we jump on bareback and just ride down the road... we never do the same thing 2 days in a row.
ETA: We did have a horse that we owned for 25 years that was pure HE*L to catch sometimes. we had to pen him up the night before we wanted to haul him anywhere because when turned out he would run for hours on some days. Other days he would jump in the trailer on his own... but others it was awful... he never ran from us in his run in though. It was 15x30. it was only if he had a few acres to play that he would run.
Edited by Next to Heaven 2014-11-01 11:39 AM
|
|
| |
|
 Veteran
Posts: 222
Location: Texas | If all tricks with grooming, treats etc work. Use them first!!this is last resort only. I had one horse that no matter what she would NOT catch in anything bigger then a stall. I got sick of it after a year of trying to fix it. So I hobbled her out in our 1 acre stud pen with what I call "walking hobbles" ( turned out with our old can catch in a million acres brood mare) she could walk in them and not run. She had hay and water . She had to catch to get grain. After a week of living in those suckers. She was 100 times easier to catch. She was still goofy but I could catch her no issue in a pen after that and if she thought about being dumb I just brought the hobbles out and hung them on the fence. 99.999% of horses will retrain with treats grooming spending time walking down etc. this mare was a rare hard case. I spent a year trying every this else.
ETA this was an extreme case and I would exhaust all other options first
Edited by Married2Rodeo 2014-11-01 12:26 PM
|
|
| |
|
 Money Eating Baggage Owner
Posts: 9586
Location: Phoenix | Honestly, they just have to like you. My horse likes me so much that he will run other horses away from me so I'm the only one who will catch him. I do different things each day. I do a lot riding outside of the arena. Sometimes hard workouts, sometimes easy rides, someone's bareback. It sounds like he needs a routine, and a lot of bonding time. I'd also do some round penning 1-2 times a week. |
|
| |
|
I am Woman hear me Roar
Posts: 3395
Location: Choctaw, Oklahoma | Thanks ladies! Glad to hear he isn't the only one. I'm wondering if it had to do with him being off a ranch. He is blind in one eye and was used on a ranch till he was 7, a lady got him after they confirmed he was blind and she trained him on barrels and poles, and I got him in may.
We have the big pasture opened up for the winter rotation. So with all the green grass, he's not too tempted by treats now. |
|
| |
|
 Expert
Posts: 5293
| Some are just like that. And I think its a sign of a great horse. All the great ones have some quirk, pull back, can't catch, hard to load etc. Lol. As long as you can run him in a stall to catch I say leave it. |
|
| |
|
Veteran
Posts: 231
Location: Nashvegas | You may already do this, if you do then nevermind me. :) Walk to their shoulder while looking toward their hip not right their head and not looking directly at his face. I feel like especially if he is blind in one eye walk toward the good eye shoulder and look toward that hip. I just think horses find it less threatening. Oh and I am all about cookies along with this. :) |
|
| |
|
Cold hands and Warm Heart
Location: oklahoma | Is he a little chestnut named Chester? If you run him a few times, he'll turn and face you and you can catch him easily after that... We had 3 people on the job so he couldn't rest in the corners. All it took was once. eta, he's too young to be my Chester
Edited by CurlyQ 2014-11-01 3:45 PM
|
|
| |
|
 Total Germophobe
Posts: 6443
Location: Montana | Bucket of grain works the best for me...or an apple...or banana. My horses are little piggies and want to eat, eat, eat. My new horse just loves attention so he comes up, no chasing there, and my old horse is jealous (she can be the hard to catch one) so now she is the first one at the gate any more! LOL. Makes it a whole lot easier! I can't believe the 2 y/o is teaching my 13 y/o some good behavior, LOL. |
|
| |
|
  Twin Sister to Queen Boobie
Posts: 13315
Location: East Tennessee but who knows?! | I've had several horses like that. Horses learn by repetition and they develop habits by repetition.
The biggest thing that seems to help is getting on a solid routine. Do the same thing every day the same way at the same time. They learn when its time to come in and get feed and they know what to expect so they can relax a little bit. Horses like routine -- they relax more because they know what to expect and that makes them feel safe.
You can round pen all day but if your timing is off or you're pushing too hard you're not going to make any progress. Sometimes it takes them a while, but when you start getting it right is when they'd rather be with you than somewhere else. That's when the catching problems fix themselves.
Another thing is that you can round pen in an open field when you can't catch one. You don't have to be right up on one to direct their feet and keep them moving. You just use the same principals and keep their feet moving.
Another thing is to pay close attention to the small details of your body language. |
|
| |
|
Expert
Posts: 1543
Location: MI | If it is just the halter, with a mare of mine I put the lead rope around her neck first, she hates it going over her ears when I put the halter on. Is there a neck collar that has a break point in it (so it'll break if they get hung up)...could you keep that on him for a bit to see if it makes it easier to catch him? Or desensitize a lot to the halter or ropes over/around his face when round penning? |
|
| |
|
I am Woman hear me Roar
Posts: 3395
Location: Choctaw, Oklahoma | If I'm more consistent in catching him and riding daily he is calmer. I've done the look at his hip thing and that does seem to help. But trying to catch him out of the arena, or pen is impossible. In the round pen and lunging he is excellent in responding and easy to read. I guess I was just looking for affirmation that he will never change, or there was hope! Lol
He really is a great horse. Just different, and defensive until you get a halter on him. |
|
| |
|
Nut Case Expert
Posts: 9305
Location: Tulsa, Ok | Maybe just a matter of time and consistency. We have a gelding that you could not catch in his 12x12 stall when we brought him home. He would snort and roll out the whites and just act stupid. Perfect gentleman once in hand. He was a real pain to catch in the round pen. We would end putting the dog on him and pushing him until he finally faced up and let us come to him. No way could you send him to the pasture if you wanted him back within the month. Eventually he bonded with our family. started relaxing and nickering when we came around. Eventually he seemed to trust us and started coming to us. Now you can't get him out of your pocket. |
|
| |
|
 Chicken Chick
Posts: 3562
Location: Texas | SC Wrangler - 2014-11-01 8:37 PM Maybe just a matter of time and consistency. We have a gelding that you could not catch in his 12x12 stall when we brought him home. He would snort and roll out the whites and just act stupid. Perfect gentleman once in hand. He was a real pain to catch in the round pen. We would end putting the dog on him and pushing him until he finally faced up and let us come to him. No way could you send him to the pasture if you wanted him back within the month. Eventually he bonded with our family. started relaxing and nickering when we came around. Eventually he seemed to trust us and started coming to us. Now you can't get him out of your pocket.
I had a mare that acted the same way. Really a danger to herself and me when I tried to catch her. Once you got the lead rope around her neck though she was great. She tried to jump fences and everything. She wan't mean, but she was willing to risk life and limb to get away from you. I started haltering her before I fed her, every time. It took a lot of patience the first few days because she didn't understand and I wasn't all about getting hurt to catch a horse. Once it clicked that you have to be caught before you can eat she was the most eager out of all of my horses to be caught. Once I could catch her easily in her stall/run I turned her out with the other horses. They came in to eat but she wouldn't let me catch her (which I expected)... she stayed just out of reach and kept trying to get by me to get to the other horse's food. She didn't eat that day. The next day she had a different plan, and wanted to be caught. Never had a problem with her again. She knew that as soon as that halter went on she was getting food. I was actually the only person that could catch her. She didn't trust anyone, but she learned to trust me because if she didn't then she didn't eat. Food was definitely the way to her heart lol. Before anyone gets crazy all of the horses had access to a round bale all day. She only went 1 day without getting grain. I'm not saying starve your horse so you can catch them lol. I also didn't bribe her. She didn't even see food until her halter was on. It just became her routine. Every day she got caught, she ate, I brushed her or whatever I was going to do that day then I let her go. If my other horses started acting like they didn't want to be caught I would halter them before they ate for a couple of weeks. It usually lined them out for a year or two. |
|
| |
|
I am Woman hear me Roar
Posts: 3395
Location: Choctaw, Oklahoma | Thank you guys!!
I have him a mile down from my house at a boarding barn (no room for him at home, and the facility is nice and cheap) so it's hard for me to be consistent every day and with working 12 hour shifts 3 to 4 days a week it's even harder. I have the guy that feeds, pen him in at feeding time to erase the hassle of playing catch if I want to haul or plan on riding. Now that I have my 2yr old, I'm hoping he will bond with him and learn I'm a nice person, lol.
He used to be worse: bolt out of the trailer backwards, set back at the slightest movement, snort at everything, scared to death of fly spray, no woah, and very stiff all over. He is now the total opposite of that, but still hard to catch and a little snorty |
|
| |
|
Blessed 
Location: Here | Cookies Without halter till he follows you around Then lead rope over shoulder more cookies don't use it till he is comfortable Then put it on him give a cookie take off same thing with halter Won't take very long |
|
| |
|
 Take a Picture
Posts: 12841
| Mine get caught twice a day to eat. You don't want to get caught--you don't eat. They learn real fast. |
|
| |
Folks on-line