What do you do about not letting you catch it?

Question

There is this horse where I ride and she will not let me catch her. When I get close, she runs and turns her back towards me, like she is going to buck me. I have tried treats, but I can't seem to get the halter on when I am giving them to her. Thanks!

Answer 1

This happened to me over the summer. Every time I went to get the horse he would turn and trot away. What I did was after it took half an hour to get him I would lead him in to my medium sized riding ring and let him go. After 15 mins. I would go back and get him. (In the ring he didn't run away) I would give him a baby carrot and then let him go. Then again I would keep repeating that. Then take him down to the barn brush him and turn him out. Then the nest day I would go out into the pasture with him and teh other horses and just greet each horse. Walk around the pasture. I did this to let him know that just because I am out here I am not out here for you. Then two days later I would then do it again but I would carry a lead rope around and greet each horse. I would slowly get close to him and then greet him and attach the lead rope and just follow him around the pasture with him for about 5 mins. Then after he gets comfortable with you out in the pasture with him bring him in to the barn and just brush him and let him out.

Get him to understand that just because you are getting him that it doesn't mean you are always going to do work.

It does take some time, but now the horse I use actually comes up to me now instead of away.

Remember
* Horses are prey creature and that means when they feel threated that flee. If you look big and tuff that may make them feel threatened. When you go out to get him walk in a large zig-zag line and slouch your shoulders and look down.



You might want to turn the horse out with a halter. If you can't bring a lead rope and when you can put the lead rope around the horse's neck. So you have a way to control the horse.

Answer 2

Horses are some of the most curious animals in the world. Definately use that to your advantage. I have worked with a lot of problem ponies that have had bad experiences with humans and so they become very hard to catch, and even some that are just stubborn or want to get out of work. First you need to determine if the horse is scared or stubborn. If it is scared then you need to take your time and teach it that when you catch it nothing bad is going to happen. SPend some time sitting in the field with some treats and every time your horse aproaches you give it a treat, eventually put the halter closer and closer and let the horse understand that you aren't going to hurt it. This will take time but as most things with horse a quick fix is only temporary.
If the horse is stubborn try leaving a leather or safety halter on it that way when you aproach it and give it the treat you can grab onto it or clip your lead rope. The key is the safety halter that way if it gets stuck on anything in the pasture the halter will break and the horse can get away. If you are not comfortable keeping a halter on the horse or if the horse rids the halter spend some time just catching it and letting it go giving a treat each time. This way the horse will learn to associate treats with being caught instead of work. Let me know if this works! Hope I have been some help!

Answer 3

Trust is a huge issue here. Spending time with the horse-not trying to catch her is important. Get to where you can give her treats and walk away. Let her "want" to be with you. Once she welcomes you to the corral, field or wherever she's kept, start bringing the halter. You don't neccessarily need to put it on her, just let her know you have it. After a few visits with it, start with petting, than put the halter around her neck. She needs to learn that just because there's a halter involved, doesn't mean she's gonna have to work. Once she's comfy with the halter on her neck, put it on correctly, then take it off and leave. Suprise! She didn't have to work! In no time, a week or so, she will welcome the halter for those treats and you guys will be good to go. This technique worked well for my 3 horses and now they'll even drop their heads over the fence to accept a halter.

Answer 4

It will take some time to correct this habit but you can with some time and patients. I would suggest starting in a round pen and turn the horse loose. When you approach the horse walk to the shoulder. If the horse starts to walk away tell her to whoa. If she does not listen, make her work. Lounge her until she is willing to stop on command. When she stops, put her halter on. At any point she is is resistant, make her work. Once she is caught then give her a treat and praise her. Repeat several times and try it in different locations. She just needs to learn that she is going to work if she ignores you. just try to make sure that she is caught often and that she is not worked every time. Just catch her for feeding time or grooming and then turn her out. Make being caught enjoyable and avoiding being caught unpleasant and eventually she will become better about being caught. Hope this helps and best of luck to you.

Answer 5

Sometimes go out in the pasture and don't take her inside -- Just spend time with her. That way when she sees you coming, she will know that it's not always to bring her inside.
When you do go out to bring her in, though, put the halter and lead rope behind her back and hold your hand out to her so she can sniff it. Pet her for a minute and talk to her, then quickly put the leadrope around her neck (when she's not paying attention---don't do it so fast that you spook her, though). Once you have the lead rope around her neck, you have control of her and can put the halter on her. Give her a treat once you're done.
If this doesn't work, when she runs away from you, don't chase her. Instead, turn your back to her. All of the horses I've dealt with HATE that and they'll eventually come up to you -- They want the attention. Always praise her when she lets you catch her so she knows that she pleased you.

Hope this helps:)

Answer 6

well first of all dont give the treats till AFTER you have the halter on. but this sounds like more of trust problem or she knows what you are going to do. do you just catch her ride her and then let her go. she knows that the only thing you are good for is hard work. try catching her and grooming her and paying attention to her but not riding. she has learned that you are a bad thing and when she comes to you she has to work. make being with you an enjoyable experience and she will want to be with you

Answer 7

If this is not your horse, get the owners permission first before trying anything :) But what I generally do in situations like this is make it easier for the horse to come to me than it is for them to run... Meaning, if they turn to walk away, drive them away at a trot or a canter and keep driving them forward until they recognize you (either turning to you, stopping, etc). Once they do that, give them a chance to either come to you, or to stand to be caught. Repeat this process until you have caught the horse. This works best in a small area (as it can be hard to keep driving when they are on the other side of a 10 acre pasture), and it can take a while, but it generally fixes the problem pretty quickly. When you finally catch them too, make the catching a fun experience. Don't ride, rather graze or groom them and turn them back out. Make the catching process a good thing by making them wonder if you're going to groom them, treat them, massage them, take them on a trail ride or (ughh...) work them in the arena (probably why he/she is running in the first place). Best of luck!

Answer 8

make catching her a game bring the halter and the lead out and go up to her and talk and when u do catch her put the halter and lead on walk her around then let her go this will keep her wondering what ur going to do then a few mins later go up to her then catch her then lead her out never do the same thing each time do different rotines it will make catching the horse fun and there always want to know what u are going to do that day! i use to have the same probably i made a games out of it! i use to use treats with the games i played lol i would catch him walk and trot him around show him a treat let him go and walk away and he would stare at me lol then id go back and he would just stand there trying to figure out what the heck i was doing i would give him a treat then walk him to the barn i did different things each time i tried to catch him it made it fun! eventually he would just come up to me! hope this helped! xx

Answer 9

you need to work on the trust some horses think everytime you come out to the field to catch them its so they have to work and they decied to give you a hard time. You need to go out and catch her for no reason, just to groom her, give her treats, or whatever. It's the same as only bring the dog in the car to go to the vet. It will take time, but I would spend some time going out into the field to halter her and walk her to the gate or just halter her, maybe sometimes with treats other times not. Also I would do some round pen work to build trust and leadership, a horse that looks at its rider as a herd leader will come.

Answer 10

Keep working with her, bring her some hay, something larger than a treat so that she can see if from a distance. Be patient and wait her out. At first, don't try to halter her, for a few days feed her the hay and snacks. Then introduce her to the halter, let her sniff it but don't try to halter her yet, let her eat. A few days after that, rub her with the lead rope and drape it over her neck while you pet her and she eats.

A few weeks working with her like this, she will eventually let you halter her.