Reader Dilemma: Catching A Horse in the Field
11. Oct, 2009 
30 Comments
Maybe you can help. I’ve already added my two cents as to how to proceed, but I know there are many different ways to go about helping this reader catch his horse in under an hour. I totally understand the frustration, too because I once had a particularly playful gelding whose idea of fun was protracted games of hide and seek in the field. Once we missed a trimming appointment entirely because I couldn’t catch him. Here’s the email I received:
I need some enlightenment about catching Tally in the pasture. As a believer in letting a horse be a horse, I board her at a great pasture facility with community feeding in the evening so the horses have some human contact daily. Since early July, Tally has been more and more difficult to catch. Bribes and treats don’t work. In fact one day she didn’t get fed because she wouldn’t let me catch her to put the feed bag on. With evening darkness coming on and her being a black horse, being able to catch is becoming more of an issue. And of course the 45 minute – hour times to catch her are not fun. Once you catch her and put her in the round pen or indoor, she responds to her learned cues – “Tally, come here” spoken softly, kissing sounds, and hand motion. She did get moved to a smaller pasture this PM, so I am going out every evening this week, weather permitting to work with her. I would love to hear readers and of course your on possible why’s. I am quite honestly to the point of moving to a facility with stalls.
More about Tally: she is a 12 year Percheron Cross (probably TB) whom based upon the freeze brand on her left shoulder is probably a Canadian PMU mare. All I really know about her is that before I bought her unbroken two years ago, she had two foals in Kansas (no ruby slippers). We have worked through lots of issues including an incredible flat buck with no warning. She has a wonderful walk and trot and will be cantering by spring and hill-topping next fall. For a Percheron, she is a little short at 16’2”, but oh what a butt and quickness.
First, since you are relatively new to this blog, I suggest a start by reading what the Parellis have to say about catching horses here.
Second, here are a few of my ideas, borne of what feels like eons wandering around in hummocky fields waving carrots and hoping to catch a gleefully evasive Perch/TB gelding named Buster.
It strikes me that a Percheron mare missing a feeding isn’t a tragedy. If she’s like any Perch I’ve ever known, she’s an easy keeper, and a little slow to see the consequences of her actions. Enough missed dinners and she might start coming around. If not, try this:
• Don’t even “feel” like you have a goal of catching her when you walk through the gate. Think more like you’re going in to say hello. In fact, go in a few times just to say hello. Sometimes, carry a carrot and bestow it upon her if you’re lucky enough to make contact. Give her a few long strokes of appreciation and turn around and walk away. Don’t take her a treat every time. Don’t even take in a halter every time. You may have to do this for a few weeks. Seriously.
• Eye contact or no eye contact is kind of controversial. Personally, I think it’s what you communicate through all your body language, not just your eyes. If you walk in full of purpose, she’ll know. Look her in the eye a few times and see how she reacts. If she moves off, that’s a sign that next time, you should try focusing elsewhere.
• If you are successful a few times at making contact and getting to rub on her, make sure you enter, rub and leave a few more times before bringing along a halter. Next time, take the halter and try to ease it onto her head. If you even think she might pull away, withdraw the halter and walk away before she gets the chance. This part could take a few tries, too!
• Repeat the halter process as long as it takes, using a carrot only on occasion. If you keep changing it up, and keep your intention focused on making contact only, and not on getting the mare into the shed, you will succeed. Because it’s all really about contact and wanting to be together.
Now I’m sure others will have better ideas. Let’s hear ‘em folks.
© 2009 enlightened horsemanship through touch and Kim Cox Carneal
blogposts
I can teach anyone how to catch any horse (considered psychologically normal) in under a half hour. It’s pretty easy to teach in practice in person — but in a post I’ll have to create some diagrams to make it clear. I will post something on my blog today or tomorrow — and let you know when its up.
Bonnie
I have a post in my blog about the method I use. She will need to spend some time re-training this horse one way or another and it’s about sparking the horses’ motivation to be with her -
http://commonsensehorsemanship.wordpress.com/2009/06/06/dealing-with-a-hard-to-catch-horse/
Hi!
I think that enlightendhorsemanship gave a couple of very good tips.
It will take some time to turn her around or it won’t. Depending on the reason.
But since Tally can’t speak, we won’t really know why she’s doing what she’s doing.
One guess would be that she might have some blockages that give her some discomfort when being ridden…
Maybe it’s a good idea to let a massage therapist or chiropractor take a look at her neck and Sacroiliac joint…. many mares have blockages after giving birth and need help…
That’s just a guess…
It might also be that she “doesn’t trust” your leadership abilities.
I think that many of us make one big mistake when dealing with horses, we make eye contact too often.
Making eye contact to horses can be threatening in some degree. We are shouldn’t act as predators, we should act as leaders.
When walking into the pasture, try ignoring her, read her body language but don’t let her notice it. Walk into the pasture with no agenda and pretend doing something else.
As soon that you see that she is interested in what you are doing or where you are going, walk towards her, but don’t look her in the eye.
Take it easy and don’t overdo it.
Put your focus ON HER HIND LEGS. That is the part of the horse that you want to be able to controle.
Don’t try to catch her, instead you play a little game with her.
Drive her around a little.
I would always focus on that exact spot where she is at. I would just go there and TAKE THAT SPOT as yours.
It will make you seem self confident.
At some point she will decide to follow you because that is what she wants, what she needs.
When you are able to walk up to here and she doesn’t leave, try to push her hind end around a bit.
Again, take her SPOT and make it YOURS.
Well… you will notice when she is ready.
Another trick that might work is, to “take the place” of other horses in the pasture. Especially the ones that are “higher” in ranking in the group as she is.
She will notice your sovereignty.
I did that with some stallions the other day, pushing them away from the gate a couple of times.
A friend had trouble catching her gelding, he was running up and down like a maniac.
My approach worked and he joined me at the gate where I could put a halter on him.
Well, I could go on and on…
Hope you will be able to solve this challenge to your satisfaction anytime soon.
Good luck!
HBFG
I had a mare I was leasing for free last fall. I royally pissed her off, and it took me nearly a month to catch her again, a month spent sitting in the pasture with her letting her get to know me and get comfortable with me.
Caroyln Resnick is a big proponent of spending time grooming your horse at liberty in the pasture, scratching all those itchy spots. I find this is a great way to build and maintain trust. I don’t like all of Carolyn’s stuff, but I do really like her first 2 rituals sharing territory and saying hello. Sharing territory is similar to the Parelli concept of undemanding time. I have articles on my site about each of the first two rituals:
http://stalecheerios.com/blog/2009/05/waterhole-ritual-1-sharing-territory/
http://stalecheerios.com/blog/2009/05/waterhole-ritual-2-saying-hello/
With my little mare, the main problem was there was nothing in it for her. I’d catch her, ride her, then throw her back out to pasture. Time hanging out with me wasn’t nearly as fun as running with the other horses, so why should she bother letting me catch her? I had to figure out how to make myself more valuable to her and how to make our interactions more positive.
Once I built enough trust to be able to catch her, I started using a lot of clicker training with her. Two months after starting clicker training, she would CANTER to the gate when she saw me. Clicker training gives the horse something positive (for my horses, treats and scratching the really itchy spots in the summer) that they are willing to work for.
Think about it this way–would you go to work every day, 40 hours a week, if all you got was a pat on the back at the end of the day, no pay check? My goal in my training is to find things that make my horses want to come to work, to create horses that eagerly approach me in the pasture.
The horse is always going to be asking “What’s in it for me?” If the answer is always not a whole lot, the horse will always probably be hard to catch. Here’s an article about motivation that you might find interesting:
http://stalecheerios.com/blog/2009/03/orca-part-2-steve-martin/
I do also recommend you have some one do a thorough exam on the horse and make sure there aren’t any pain issues.
Mary
Turn around and back up to her. Not head on (back on) but at a slight angle to her shoulder. I tried this once on a particularly hard to catch filly that the owner swore could not be caught. The owner had tried every method mentioned here and swore I could not catch her horse. I caught her horse and I use it all the time now, even on horses that are relatively easy to catch.
Slowly start backing across the pasture towards your horse. When she starts to take a step away, stop take one, two steps forward until she decides not to run, continue until you are standing with your back to the horse. Turn, scratch the horse, put the halter on and walk off. The look on the horse’s face is priceless.
@ Denise Crane… that sounds like a very nice way of getting the horses trust. I will try it next time I’ll run into a situation like that…
We really put too much pressure on our horses with our body language…
Nice!
I think the frustration of spending what feels like hours trying to catch your horse is one of those common experiences all horse folk share. My “trick” came from Dr. Robert Miller and uses pressure and release. It really works, even in a herd on 40 acreas. You should see me, I must be hysterical to watch. I crouch and hiss and stalk as Lyra runs away. Sounds crazy? This instant she stops or even flicks an ear in my direction, I stop. Bye Bye predator. Moving away? Predator returns. Any movement toward me, predator disappears. Miller shows this strategy on one of his DVDs. I have used it in many different situations. Lyra’s story is here
http://babayagasmirror.blogspot.com/search?q=lyra&updated-max=2008-07-31T14:19:00-07:00&max-results=20
Many great suggestions. The horse I ride most of the time will come when I call…the horse I am line driving makes me work a little harder. Making contact and walking away works some of the time, but better yet, when I go up to another horse instead of her, she gets curious and comes over. I look forward to looking into some of the recommended posts.
wait–you can teach them in under a half hour or they catch the horse in under a half hour? ;-P
I look forward to your post. PLEASE comment here when you have put it up because I’m going to be out of town and might miss my chance to read your blog and link to it.
ah—”sexisim” in the horse world.
This is actually a gentleman. See the photo above.
I really appreciate your taking the time to post a link to your method. We can all learn something from these responses, and I for one will take home a lot of knowledge. You are very practical and I always believe I can practice what you teach.
Tally
Thanks for bringing up that there may be pain issues. ONe of my mantras is that there is often pain or fear of pain behind every behavioral problem. I just didn’t want to flog, er, um, the horse.
In terms of establishing trust, I like your comments as well. I’d like to flog again by suggesting Tellington TTouches for Trust, which can be done in the field, a la Carolyn Resnick and Parelli. Touch is the ultimate communicator.
I appreciate the time you have taken to give such an in-depth answer to our gentleman’s question, and I”m sure he does, too!
Hi Denise!
It’s nice to have you here.
Backing up to the horse is one that I’ve not heard. It’s worth trying!
Lori
This is a great idea!
We’ve only ever had that issue with one horse, the dam to our pony, who we leased for about 6 months back when we still boarded.
Her owner told us she’d always been difficult to catch, so we started from day one by going out many times during our barn time just to rub her, give her a carrot, put the halter on and take it off, etc. My son used to take a book out and sit with her and read out loud.
By the end of the first week she was as easy to catch as our other two were.
(and now it’s rare we have to go out and get any of them – they will for the most part come if called, and the way our barn is set up they can come right into their individual stalls and often do so if I’m in the barn doing chores, etc.)
I would spend time making a connection that is based on other things than riding, and see if the dynamic shifts.
Mary
Most excellent response. I’m sure our reader will find answers here. Once I posted a question, “What’s In It For Your Horse?” this was the kind of answer I was looking for. We have to make sure there is something in it for them each time we ask something of them.
Your ORCA post is awesome and I encourage anyone following this series of responses to check it out.
I think the best thing we can give them is our attention. TOUCH works best for me because it accomplishes so much all in one package:
1. horses are tactile creatures and respond well to touch
2. we can use it to assess their condition and find problem areas
3. some forms of touch, such as Tellington TTouch, can rapidly increase the bonding and training processes
4. as you say, it works in getting your horse to come to you.
That’s what’s in it for them!
Good reminder to get the mare checked for pain issues. Resistance is so often an indicator that there are problems we don’t know about.
Mary, this is a great response.
I suspect it’s why we don’t have trouble catching our horses. We generally do grooming, hoof picking, and visiting when they’re out.
I often walk out to give them treats, or just to say hello. We keep folding camp chairs in the barn so it’s easy to grab one and go sit with the horses wherever they are.
They love this – their grazing is so much a part of their day and their life – it probably means a lot to them that we are willing to share that.
OK. I started blogging my approach to this. I will serlialize it over the next few days. Go and take a look see.
Bonnie
I’d love to read about your approach, Bonnie.
What is the address for your blog?
http://alderlore.wordpress.com/
I’ve set it up in a series so that hopefully people will participate in the process!
Bonnie
The key words for me are: “since July”. Basically, since July the avoidance behavior as worsened. The horse is putting a lot of effort in no being caught. Even willing to miss a meal. Why?
The first place I would look is pain, soreness, discomfort. I would do a thorough check for saddle issues, briddle and bit issues, look for abscesses far back in the mouth, look at feet pain, look at the training and if the horse feels overwhelmed by it.
Looking at the pic, I see a horse with no loin strenght, the back is dropped between sacrum and saddle, it may be that Percheron or not, she is not strong and conditioned sufficiently for what is required and rather then being rude and fight under saddle, she is avoiding the ride(r) altogether. She is parked out a bit with her hindlegs behind her and her belly flopping.
I have never have a horse I could not catch. Mine will all trot or gallop over when called. My “technique” is simple, I call out loudly, and they eventually end up neighing back, they get a treat when they come over, and then not always, they get a a lot of praise and bodywork when we are together and they are ridden fairly.
I am chagrined that I did not look more closely, but then again I have not been trained as you are. Readers, take heed! It pays to look closely. For a Perch cross, this horse is indeed underdeveloped in the hind end, and has a dropped back. I do also see a bit of parking.
This is a serious consideration and I think it would pay handsomely to address these issues and the idea of pain and discomfort from these perspectives. If you have further questions as to how to do this, there are a lot of answers. Let’s explore them together.
Thank you Caroline!
First of all I want to thank everyone who responded. I was amazed by the quality and quanity of responses.
I read though the posts and sort of pulled bits and pieces from many of the postings. Here is a brief update of what has happened so far: Went out yesterday in my best unattached to outcome mode, not an easy place. Tally was standing at the gate of the pasture waiting for supper. The barn owner put her into the small pasture, couple of acres, as a companion for an older horse who needs to be blanketed so we could work on this catching thing. I went into to her, stood a couple of feet away, gave her the cue and she came, gave her a cookie and walked away. Did this several more times, but not always with a cookie. Once with the halter. All the tries where successful. Finally after I bush and turned her back out. I gave her a little bit and walked across the pasture to her to about 15 feet away and she again responded. Besides the non-attachment to outcome and smaller pasture, the other issue is that she wasn’t with her harem of geldings. I am going to keep doing the same thing, catch and release and let go for a couple more days and then ride on Thursday.
Thanks again to everyone one on this great blog.
Randy
Randy
So glad you found solutions here.
I am thrilled at how readers cam to your aid.
Thanks all!
Please keep us apprised of your progress. We will definitely want to hear how things are going.
Wednesday Update on Tally and Me and Catching in the Pasture
This evening was awesome. It’s like Tally’s body has been inhabited by another horses. Don’t know if its being in a smaller pasture, with only a 34 year gentleman gelding and two goats as companion, all your good ideas and thoughts, but tonight was so different. The second time I came out of the tack building and headed to the pasture, she started walking towards me from the middle of the pasture.
Basically what I am doing is first of all, doing my best to be non-expectant of the outcome (the hardest part for me); minimizing eye contact until she has made contact with me; walking up with a sense of leadership and yet acknowledging her space (try doing that). Spent a little just walking with her in the pasture then leaving. Tonight on the second round we did some groundwork in the indoor arena. All went well.
Tomorrow I am going out to ride. Still trying to decide whether to go out right after lunch or wait till evening feeding time which is when I have been going out but leaving on doing the evening thing since that has been working and also darkness will act as gentle reminder to stop.
Thanks again to Kim and my fellow bloggers!
Randy
*big whoop of delight* I am so thrilled for you both! Hope the success builds and builds. May it carry over into your riding as well.
Thursday Report
Just got in from the barn. Everything went great do. Walked into the pasture, caught Tally, did our warm up groundwork and rode. Put her back in the pasture. Did a couple of chores. After about 20 minutes, i walked back into the pasture just to say hi and she said hi back.
Happy Randy
Dear (haha) Happy Randy
What a change!
When and if it comes time to put her back in the big pasture, just keep at it. If what you’ve been doing doesn’t work, try something else!
You’ve got enough alternatives here in just this one post to keep you in ideas for a long time!
So glad things are improving.
Hey Billie
Good to se you back! Great idea–time spent with horses doing anything at all is never time wasted.
YAY! Coming over now.