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Can't Catch Him

3K views 17 replies 13 participants last post by  JessXxX 
#1 ·
My horse is an absolute PAIN to catch! If I go out there without a halter, he's perfectly fine and I can pet him all day. However, no matter how good I hide that halter, I can get right up by his neck, but as soon as I'm about to get the rope around his neck, off he goes! Makes it very hard to work with him when he does that. :-x Anybody got any solutions?
 
#2 ·
Annoying isn't it? Sorry, my only method for catching horses is to take treats so I would take a treat with me and he would only get the treat if he put the halter on first. My horse sometimes runs away if he sees the trailer being hooked, he knows he is going to lessons, but when he sees the treats in my hand, he can't resist.
 
#3 ·
There are a lot of threads on here about catching horses, and using a technique called, "Walking down a horse".
May I ask , how large of a paddock/pasture is he on? is he with other horses? Has he always been hard to catch? how DO you do it then? and do you have other issues with him where you suspect he may not be paying your the respect he should?
 
#4 ·
I just got my horse a very few weeks ago, and have the same issue. As long as I hide the halter/lead behind my back, and approach her with my hand held out with treats, she lets me get close enough. She does try to jerk away, so I have to hold the treat in my left hand and throw the lead part of the halter/lead over her neck, holding her that way. I have approached her in the field a couple of times without the halter and given her treats, then walked away, and I noticed the next time she walked to me the last few steps... but she was still wary. Guess it just takes time?
 
#5 ·
Personally, I never wanted to have to sneak or bribe my horse to come to me. When I first brought him home, some days he'd let me catch him and some days he'd give me trouble. I consistently made him move his feet and made him think it was my idea. When he'd trot off, I'd swing the lead rope and just keep him moving until he stood and looked at me. When he faced me not moving, I'd turn my back and walk away (release the pressure.) After about three or four times of this, I never had a problem again. I do give him treats, but never at the same time or for the same thing so he doesn't come to expect a certain action with getting a treat and get pushy.

Now when he sees me, he starts walking towards me (unless fresh hay just got put out!)
 
#7 ·
That's how I end up catching him, but it yakes him forever to give in! Guess it's just that dang mustang spirit lol
 
#8 ·
Food for thought....in reading your post a phrase stuck.out at me "no.matter how well I hide the halter"....take a moment and consider how you approach that. If you are like many dealing with this issue, you likely secret the halter and take great pains to *sneak* it up on him. In doing so, our instinct is to be as stealthy as we can and then, when we get close, to spring it on them. To a horse this reads as a predatory approach and the springing of the rope/halter at the end (even when done sneaky rather than just fast) confirms that this is not safe and he/she must get away. You don't have to be thinking predator to come off as one to them.
 
#9 ·
I walk up to him like normal, usually pet him once, and then try to get the rope around his neck, and most of the time he gets the heck outta Dodge before I get it around him.
 
#11 ·
I never try to hide the halter or rope. If I have it, I want him to know it. Then again, I also NEVER go into the pasture without it, so he doesn't know if it's a "be haltered and brought in for grain" sorta day, a "be haltered and worked" sorta day, or a "be haltered and given a cookie and then set loose again" sorta day. Or even sometimes even just a "Hey, I'm here catching up another horse entirely, Go Away!" sorta day.

Makes it easy when he knows that I always have the halter and he always will have it put on, but that it doesn't always mean things he doesn't like are going to happen.

Sounds like you go out and pat him, yes? Do you got out and feed him or bring him in for food? I would make the halter just part of the routine. If he wants food and/or attention, then getting haltered is part of the package. Now, if he's on 40 acres of grass, he might not care enough to change his behavior.
 
#12 ·
I go out there to pet him, catch him, or call him in to feed him. The thing about catching him for feeding is that we don't, we just call him and the others in.
 
#14 ·
Exactly- so he knows that halter=work/things he doesn't like, and no halter=good things like food. You need to make halter=good things like food, getting to rest rather than run, and whatever else it is he likes.

If I was retraining a horse like yours, he would have to be haltered before he was allowed to come in to his grain.
 
#13 ·
I have a couple that when on pasture are pains.. I take a piece of baling twine. rub and pet them put the string over the neck then lead them to the halter or lead rope. If they see the halter off they go . They are old and know the tricks.
And will stay just out of hands reach.. so I use the twine. treats only after the halter is on.
 
#15 ·
This is one of the very first things I expect from my horse: You WILL come to me in the pasture. He may not run up to me, but he will NOT run away from me. I expect them at the very least to be walking towards me when I call. There are lots of good ways to accomplish this, starting by walking them down if you have to. If you expect them to work honestly with you, you don't try to sneak anything over on them. Would you trust someone who tried to "trick" you? A halter means we're going to be spending some time together and I expect you to come.

IMO, I don't care how valuable your horse is, how beautiful, how much money he's won, or what wonderful foals she throws. If you can't catch your horse, he's worthless.
 
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#16 ·
My gelding use to be a huge pain in this area too. He made a game of letting me get close to him..and running off. I fixed it though. I had him in a smaller arena...and would go in with his halter in full view...as I approched him, and he ran off...I decided to chase him and throwing the end of my lead rope at him whenever he stopped. It took awhile, but he finally decided he was NOT going to run anymore. I was able to walk right up and halter him. It took a few times doing this. But I made sure whenever he decided to run off, I would keep him going until he was totally done. Taught him that running off was WAY more work than letting me halter him. Now when I walk in to get him, he usually walks up to me first.
 
#17 ·
;-) My mare was this way, it kind of cracked me up because I wouldn't say that she put me through it. When she would give in, the way she would do it was sort of like she would stop and turn and look at me with a ok just get this over with look. I always walk up to her from the side and stand about 10 feet away and when she looks at me I start to walk forward, I don't chase either if she walks away I just calmly keep walking her way, I always keep the lead rope halter in my hands. I try to play to their own natural curiosity it kind of gets them all the time. I might go up to another horse and have a pet and that really gets them to come over. I don't want to always have to remember to bring a treat or hide the halter and worry about how to unsneak it out to catch. I had a friend whose horse put up a two hour fight not to be caught, I would never want that.
 
#18 ·
I had this problem with my horse and it's still a work in progress unfortunatley I can't do the lead rope round his neck thing as he actually dragged a 6ft guy over once when he tried to help me catch him (and hes only 14.2!) :\ But basically I use food I know it's really bad and they learn to expect it but as long as you teach them manners and respect they shouldn't mug you I went into the field with a whole carrot in my hand the other day and not once did he mug me for it, also phase the treats out once you can catch them. I think also lots of ground work will help you I'd say at the moment he doesn't respect you. This is the problem I had with my horse heres a great list of bonding techniques you can try Training Tips and once you have done those you should do some groundwork, get his feet moving, thats the most important thing to get a horse to respect you because a lead horse will do exactly that they will move herd members where they want them to go. So practice backing up until all you have to do is move into his space and he backs up perfectly every time. Then get him leading at your shoulder only. Never in front never behind and he must also stop at your shoulder, if he doesn't back him up sharply then wait give him a stoke and start again he'll get the idea and once he sees you as leader he probably wont be so difficult to catch :) Also good ground excercises are turning on the front and hindquarters. Hope this helps!
 
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