Catching my filly?

Question

i have a filly she is a year and half old and we can pet her and walkup to her as long as there is no rope and/or no halter. we really need to chatch her so that we can worm her and vaccinate and trim her hooves and all that fun stuff. we also have a lil colt that is about a month and a half old we could pet him and chatch him until my dog attacked him now he is scared of us how can i help him get over his fear and show him we wont hurt him for anyone that wants to know the dog was put down a couple days after words.

the dog was trained just fine. he had been sent away and brought back and after he attacked the horse we found out that he had been chasing deer while he was away.

we had problems with the fillys sister also but not this much. she is very high strung and likes to try and get her way.we had her caught last fall but i wasnt around to give her attention and no one else did so now she dont like to be caught cause she likes to have lots of attention. how can i show her i'll still give her attention when she wears a halter and rope?

i do spend time with her everyday but i can only get close when i dont have the halter or rope i've tryed putting it behind my back but it dont work the greatest cause the other horses follow and play with it sumtimes.

Answer 1

The way I "trained" my gelding was to always have a carrot or apple, something yummy for him. I would whistle, and eventually he would come any time I whistled, expecting a treat! Just like Pavlov's dogs. Keep the rope or halter behind your back, or tuck it in an inconspicuous bag until you get the filly trained. The colt will likely always be afraid of dogs, but you should be able to use the same technique on him. It just takes some patience, and offer plenty of treats without attempting to catch them, so they don't catch on. They're awfully smart, you know! Good luck!

Answer 2

It sounds to me that your poor filly is afraid that every time she gets taken out she is going to be prodded and poked by a vert or ferrier. Which sounds like the case!

You should take her out and groom and graze her sometimes too, that way when shes gets taken out it's not always a scary or bad experience.

Have someone hold the other horses and sneak up on her with the lead. Give her a treat-- pet her and put on the halter with the lead rope already attached so its quicker and easier..... Make sure that you always leave the halter OFF when not working with them.

Lead her around for a few days and she will realize that the dog isnt on the premises anymore. Then she will be less reluctant to leave the pasture.

ALSO, go up to the other horses and halter them right in front of her and if they dont run give them treats (make sure the foal can see them) and be very nice to them and heavily reward... she will see them and go OHHH Ok, so THATS why they want to halter me! TREATS!

I have always liked the idea of turning the pature into a free longe lesson and making her work-- that the other poster mentioned-- it works great however, i only use it on my older horses whos behaviour is because of STUBBORNESS and not out of fear like your foals is. I think she is too young to do this with-- and if the problem persists when shes older THAN try that. But the things i said should clear it up!

Answer 3

okay, I had this problem with the last colt that I bought. I got him at about 5 months old and he had never been handled. The closest anyone got to him was when we loaded him up on the trailer for the first time. Well, I was younger then and didn't have a job or anything else so I worked with him for about an hr at a time giving him about 30 minutes between each hour. First thing you need to do is get him in a lot by himself, away from any other horses. I'd go out there with just a cup of sweet feed and walk out with some in my hand one small, very small step at a time being ready to jump back if he should decide to kick. Every time I got out there, I could get closer and once he figured out I had the sweet feed, he would allow me to touch him...while he was eating the feed out of my hand. That began the trust.

Then, as I worked with him more, I would take a rope out there with me and just let him sniff it and see it. He would nibble at it and the like then I would gradually touch his neck with it and rub him with it (all the while he is eating grain from my other hand.) This took a couple of days total to get the rope just laying over his neck without him jumping and running. After that, I would take the rope and have it tied around his neck like a collar and lead him (with grain) and have him walk beside me. By this time, we have built a relationship. Then I bring out the halter and let him check it out...same ole thing all over again, then slip it on maybe the next day. Be sure and keep grain, speak softly, don't be nervous, they can sense that, and move slowly. Breath in his nose, let him smell you, touch you, and the like. You really have to treat them special. They have a mind of their own and wilol do what they like. Good luck

Answer 4

Horse can tell by your body language when you are being "sneaky" and creeping up with a halter behind your back. They get tense and then it's even harder to catch them. Treats are ok, but don't bribe your horse with them, if anything, give a treat after the horse has accepted the halter being put on. My advice is, have her in a small pen. Visit her daily. Just hang out. Don't always go straight to her and try to put the halter on. Don't hide the halter and rope. Carry it around with you at all times and she'll get used to seeing it, it won't be anything suspicious to her after a while. Rub her head and ears alot, and eventually with the rope and straps. If she moves away, move with her, follow her around until she stops moving then back off to show she did right by stopping. Always show confidence, like you know what you're doing. Eventually you will be able to put it on. When you do, just let her relax. Take it off and put in on again. Talk nice, rub her, give her a treat. Do it over and over and over several days. Don't immediately do all the unpleasant things like vaccinate/worm/trim as soon as you get it on the first time. Make sure she doesnt associate being caught with discomfort. Eventually, if you are consistent, you'll be able to walk up to her in the middle of a field with the halter in plain sight and she'll drop her head for you to put it on. You just have to spend time, be consistent, be persistent, & be calm.

Answer 5

Hiding the halter or rope behind you with a treat or food in front of you ought to get you close enough. when you go to put the rope around her, use your body to block it from her vision and come up under her neck/ throat latch and then over. That's how I would do it. The element of surprise should get her caught. I think you have a little more work to do though. If you only catch a horse to do vaccinations, trims and what not, then their experience with you every time is an unpleasant one. If you spend time with her... lunging, grooming. or even just walking around on a lead eating grass- then she will be more willing to be caught. At her age (if you want a good horse) you should be working with her every day, even if it is only for a few minutes.

Answer 6

depending on how old they are. Take out some grain or a treat she likes AND the halter. When you approach her, take notice of when she gets uncomfortable. (watches you, wals away, etc.) Neal down on the ground and wait for her to go back to grazing or what ever she was doing. When she has relaxed slowly get up and walk closer. Back off if she gets nervous. Shake the bucket of grain or treats, and talk to her in a soothign soft gentle tone. Completely ignore the fact that you have the halter on your shoulder. keep doing this until you get close enough, or she comes to you, and just pet her and give her love, let her eat some treats, then walk away. If she follows you praise her and give her a treat. Show her the halter by very slowely, while shes eating, put it infront of you so she can see it. If she starts to back away, then you back off too. Wait for her to approach you again. When she has done so, maybe put the halter on the ground, let her examine it, or hold it for her to examine. If shes not interested thats okay. this process might take awhile. If shes doing good dont push it, give it a break and come out later. Now try to get the halter on, if she backs up you back up to...this basically shows her that your not trying to hurt her and you respect her. She will eventually give in and let you get the halter on. At this point rub her down and feed her and give her ALOT of love. lead her around and if she does good, take the halter off and let her go play. Keep this process going until she easily comes up to you and allows the halter. Be very gentle with the leading, you dont want her to become sour. Now you can take her out and do somethign fun FOR HER, and put her back, so she sees that the halter doesn't mean bad things. Keep this up and eventually it will go smoothly. I would suggest moving her out of pasture until she gets bettter.
Hope this helps!

Answer 7

I would not recommend attempting to catch your filly until you get her moved into a small, confined paddock, preferrably one she can't jump out of. You will have to herd her into this- she isn't going to allow you to lead her or halter her. Once she has been confined, keep her in that space for as long as it takes for her to tolerate your approaching her with a halter in your hand. When she tries to run away from you because you have a halter, then turn the lesson into a free longe lesson and MAKE HER WORK !!! DO NOT let her stop to eat, keep her moving until you have her attention on you and she is tired. The message you are sending to her is" if you want food, affection, treats, attention, etc, then you must let me approach you and halter you. If you try to run or evade, you will work until you are ready to cooperate- and it doesn't matter if this takes all day". I suspect it won't take much of this tactic before the filly will give up and let you approach her- and at that point, after her halter is on, you can praise and reward her.
One of the bigger questions I must ask is why did you wait so long to start working with either of your young horses? Both the filly and the colt should have been handled from the moment they were born- don't you know that training begins at birth? Also, as far as the colt goes, why were you letting your dog run loose around him? ( I hope you had the dog tested for rabies after he was destroyed- horses can contract rabies and die of it, and the usual way it is transmitted is through a bite- and it's also worth mentioning that a foal the age of this colt is too young to have gotten any vaccinations yet, and he is extremely vulnerable to rabies as a result of what he went through. I would be keeping a VERY close watch on both that colt and his mother, unless you can prove beyond doubt that your dog did not have rabies.) The poor colt no longer trusts you, that much is obvious, and at a guess, I'd say it's likely his mother doesn't trust you either. You will have to be very patient and spend lots of time with the colt and his mother- just sitting or walking around with them in their pasture. Don't try to approach him- let him come to you. Have treats available for him when he does. Pay lots of attention to his mother- groom her, rub her, and walk with her. The baby will eventually get curious and want some attention as well- and it is at that point that you can do things like pet and brush him gently with a soft brush. Let the foal sniff you, and be sure that you move slowly and quietly when he is near you. If you keep this up long enough, you will be able to put a baby halter on him and lead him- behind his mother at first, so he gets the idea to follow, and then eventually away from her. There are a couple of things to remember with this, however- one is that you need to keep the lessons short- only about 15 minutes or so at a time. The other is that you NEVER leave a halter on a young foal for any length of time if you are not working with it. It is too easy for the foal to get it's back feet caught in the halter if it scratches itself on the ears, or for the foal to get the halter caught on something like a fence and break its neck. ( I worked for several years on a breeding farm, and halter training for the babies was a major part of my job every spring during foaling season. During my time there, I saw several near misses from cases where someone had left a halter on a foal- and the results can be very serious and even deadly.) Good luck, and I hope this helps.

Answer 8

If you have access to and can get her into a round pen or small arena, paddock, corral or something learn how to "Join Up" with her, this is a Monty Roberts technique though others use forms of it too. It will build her trust and you will find her to start singing a whole different tune. I have a TWH 12 years old that has suffered some abuse and when I brought him home he would not let me catch him, he would rear when we did catch him. This technique changed our relationship completely, though he has some issues, I have gained his trust and we work thought the other issues. I can walk up to him anywhere with a halter and lead and he lets me approach and many times comes to me! Good Luck! Many good trainers out their who are interested in relationships build on trust, I think it's the only way to go!

Answer 9

Have halter with you and a bucker designated specifically for food. Go into the pasture and try to walk up to her. If she runs off, stand where you are and just stay there.
Eventually, she will get curious and come over for food and to see why you are just standing there. when she comes over, pet her, and while she is eating, slip the halter on. Lead her for 2 steps, then take the halter off. This session is done. Keep doing that until she come up on her own for the treats even when you have the halter.

Step 2: take her outside, but only do fun stuff. Let her graze on some grass, run free in the arena, etc. Try to rotate fun stuff with work so she thinks going outside is fun. Work 10 min on leading/lounging and then go eat grass- keep it in short spurts so she stays interested.

Step 3- reduce the treats until she just gets one after the halter is on, and then no treats.


With the colt- same thing- just go out and sit in the pasture with some treats- he should start to be interested in grain or grasses by now-and wait for him to come to you- sometimes it takes a couple weeks. Go brush momma and then scratch his butt if he gets near (baby itchy spot). Just move very slowly and give him time to trust you again.

Answer 10

Routine fixed this problem at my house. Do you have stalls? Bring her in to feed daily and then mess with her at that time. I still have a couple who avoid the halter if they are out loose but all I have to do is open the door and wiggle the feed bucket and they can be had.

Invest in a breakaway halter and leave her haltered at first will make her more approachable/controllable in the field.