picklerazzi asked:
I just bought a new pony and you can’t catch him at all. You can follow him around all day(believe me, I’ve tried) and he never tires of running away from you. He doesn’t care if you take all the other horses away from him and he won’t follow them or come for food/treats. Any suggestions? He is a Paso Fino and a great horse once you catch him. All my other horses come to me.
I have tried to bribe him with food and he seems to snatch it up and bolt away.
I am not sure if he was abused but he shakes when he is tied up. We always speak calmly to him and rub him all over. He is a little skittish when ridden but not super spooky. Maybe he was broken by a cowboy?
We think he is around 19 years old but he acts 5. He is still full of life and 100% healthy. We have no info on his history other than the brands on him. I event and I am a first time Paso owner.
Thanks for all the help! I will have to try some of these techniques
did you try putting a mouthful of grain in a bucket and shaking it, then giving it to him when he comes a s a reward?
Are you wearing something that scares him? Try thinking like him. If this doesn’t work then maybe you need to call a professional. Also did you rescue him? Was he abused before? I need more info to help you out completely. If and when you do catch him, give him a pat for me. All the best!
-Rissa-
The best thing to do is leave him alone in a pasture (preferably a smaller one) and bring some sweet feed (or other goodies) with you. Don’t bring a halter and stuff to catch him with just yet, but bring a brush with you. Just stand (or sit) in the field with the feed beside you and eventually he should come up, horses cannot resist sweet feed. Then when he does come up pet him and brush him. When he is finished with the feed just pet and make all other him. Then leave. Come back maybe a hour or so later and repeat. Then leave and come back and repeat. After a couple times bring a halter and halter him while he eats. Don’t lead him anywhere, just put the halter on and make over him again. When he’s done take the halter off and leave. You may have to do this several times so that he thinks you aren’t just going to work when you come out to the field. Then finally go in with a halter and lead rope (with feed and etc) and actually halter him. Let him eat then take him in and reward him for coming in. Then take him back out to the field. Just keep doing this over and over, always rewarding him so that he doesn’t think that every time you catch him or come out to the field means he has to go to work. He probably learned this habit from his last owner’s and it is quite a hard habit to break. It is going to take some time to fix but you have to devote that time to fix it or it’s just going to get worse. I hope this helps.
Paso Finos are quite the little buggers when they want to be.
Even still, since he is a new barn with anew routine, right now he isn’t to keen on coming when he’s called or even being caught, especially if is brought in to work. He needs a set routine so he knows what time he’s expected to come in and go out. But until then he needs to learn to be caught…
What I find is that if the horse doesn’t want to do something, they’re not going to do it. He wants to stay outside, fine, let him. Leave him out for a few days and only give him hay and water in the paddock. Completely ignore him while catching other horses, giving them lots of treats and praise for letting you catch them. Even take a horse out there and ride it in the paddock (if he’s the only one out there).
If after a few days he still isn’t buying into it, make it more work for him to be outside. If the turnout he is in is fairly small, you can use it as a big round pen, moving him around in a circle, changing speed, changing directions. When he realizes you are the one in control, he may be more apt to let you catch him.
Also, put a grab strap (eight inch piece of rope on the bottom ring of the halter) on his halter and leave it on him if he is hard to catch. If you can feed him a quick handful and grab the strap before he takes off.
Good luck!
This is a big thing with me, I hate horses that won’t come in the pasture. I’m currently teaching my horse to come without a fit! are you the only one that goes out to catch horses? take a few people and corner him, but don’t scare him. I never catch my horses with food, it can make them bratty and spoiled (depending on the horse of course!).
My favorite move to pull, is the crawling technique. Horses are naturally curious animals. If your comfortable, get down on your hands and knees and crawl. Most like;y, he will come over and sniff at you let him, but only for a moment. then turn and snap the lead line on his halter. (If you don’t keep the halter on him, you should until he will let you catch him!)
Happy Horse Catching!!
-Nov
Make sure you are hiding the lead rope and halter behind your back.Also don’t chase him by running.Hold out treats with your other hand.If this doesn’t work stop following him and just sit down in the middle of the field,arena or whatever,and talk in soothing tones to him.Hold out the treats(still making sure he can’t see the lead rope and halter.)He might just come to you.(LOL, I know it sounds weird,but it does work.It also depends on the horse,so it might not work for you..)
I am sorry to say that it sounds like either he was abused or is extremely insecure. Do you have a round pen or a small pen that you can get him to run into that you can close off behind him. If you can get him into a smaller pen it will make him easier to catch, and it will take a while before he trusts you completely but it will help you to get close enough to start the bond and relationship that is going to be needed to let him trust again.
Try asking his former owner!
The one I’ve seen work the best is the one where you ignore him and work him in the pen. But, here’s mine:
Get the halter and lead rope and keep it under your shirt. Don’t let your horse see it. Come into the pen and get down on all fours and start crawling around. Have your halter be unbuckled and ready to go. Once he comes towards you and sniffs you, sit on your rump and begin petting him with the halter and lead still hidden. As you pet him then, once he’s relaxed, whip out the halter and quickly snap it on! The lead rope should already be attached so once you put the halter on, he’s caught.
The trick is to get him to the point where he’s relaxed where his eyes are shut and he’s leaning his weight onto one foot like horses do. That way he’s comfortable and thinks of the halter as a good thing, and you can put it on before he can react or see the halter!
Also, once you get the halter on, don’t take it off until he’s broken from this habit! If my trick works for you or any other person’s, take another answer’s advice and put a strap on his halter so once you get him over you can instantly grab it before he runs off.
Good luck!
Do you have a small paddock to put him in to work on the problem? Otherwise, it’s pretty difficult, as he gets too much time with no pressure from you. Coincidentally I worked with a paso about 3 months ago, who, in his 15 years or so of life, had never been catchable. The owners would run him in chute and into his stall to catch him to ride him, then he was fine to ride. The first day, I spent 2 hours (in a medium sized pen) to get to where I could stand next to him, then reach up and catch him. Patted him, then let him go) The next day it took 20 minutes to get to that point. Patted him, walked him around. Let him go. The next day, about 5 minutes. I’m done working with him, and the process takes too long to write out, but if you want to email me, I’ll try to describe it. It usually does not take anywhere near this long to get the results (ie. to let you walk up and catch the horse, or get him to come to you). I’ve done this many times over the last 30 years, and learned it the hard way!
My horse doesn’t really come to me either. What you can do is make him run though. If he runs from you don’t let him stop running just because he is a safe distance from you. Yes you have to run to but today I sent my horse out to the field to see if she would let me catch her. i came back 45 min later and she ran from me even put her ears back and what not. What I did was follow her and when ever she trotted I would start to jog. it only took 5 min to catch her where as it usually takes 30 or more. Also IF you get frustrated don’t. To keep me from staying un- frustrated I listen to my ipod while going to get her. it keeps me from showing her that i am getting frustrated and angry and it helped a lot. I don’t like the bribery thing I think it’s just an easy way out and they will eventually catch on that even if they give you a treat they still have to work and will eventually ignore you. You can try ignoring her and give all the other horses treats but for some horses (like mine) ignoring her doesn’t work. Good luck.
hmm… sounds like a brat! if you are able to catch him once, try leaving a halter on him for a while so you just have to grab his halter when you are out there. There really isnt a whole lot to do about running horses, they are pretty much unstoppable if they want to be! Good luck =D
well. the feed thing. dont let his nose near the bucet until he is caught. so quickly grab his mane or put the lead rope around him.
or keep a halter on him. so when u go into the paddock all u have to do is clip it on.,