Best way to teach a hard-to-catch horse to not run from you?

[SnicklefritzG]

My horse comes from the far end of the pasture when I call his name. I’ve never had to actively go out and get him. Here’s how I did it.

I first taught him to answer with a neigh when I call his name.

Step 1: Let him see me in the barn, then hide somewhere.
Step 2: Call his name. If he answers with a neigh, then come out of hiding and give him a treat. If he doesn’t, continue to step 3:
Step 3: put a handful or two of feed in a bucket and shake it until he answers. then come out of “hiding” and give him the feed.

Once he was confirmed in that, then I repeated the process except out in a big pasture. This step didn’t take too long because he realized that when I call his name out if he walks over then he gets a treat. Gradually over time, I decreased the frequency of the treats so instead of doing it every time, he gets a treat maybe every 10th time or somthing like that.

The only issue I really have now is during parts of the year when the grass is very lush. Then he might take his time coming in from grazing. He will look up, see me and start walking down to the gate, but will stop for a few bites of grass, continue walking and so on. What I did there was to turn around and leave. First time I did that, he came running! He did not want to miss out on his treats. lol. He learned very quickly that the sooner he reponded, the quicker he got his reward.

Now it’s a piece of cake to get him to come in from the pasture. Not that it was ever that difficult, but with this new process, I don’t have to do anything other than just stand there.

[King_s_Ransom]

Just throwing my opinions / observations out for what they may be worth to the OP. I am not a proponent of chasing – if it does work for some, they must be way way better at it than me, perhaps its an issue of timing. I have only seen this make matters worse.

I think Guilherme and Bluey have the right idea - I think the reason most people don’t want to do it that way is they want an immediate result and are not willing (or maybe not able if they are in a boarding situation) to put in 30 days of work with the horse in a smaller enclosure.

I have had two horses that were hard to catch when I first got them, one was more difficult for me to reform than the other but both did come around.

My first hard-to-catch horse, I just spent time with him. Lots of time, because I had it and I enjoyed it. We became great friends and he went from being hard to catch to running up to the gate at the sight of my car driving up the road.

My second hard-to-catch horse came later in life when I had less time to devote to him. I tried chasing – wish I had not done that! Two things worked for me – I followed Guilherme’s plan (which I think he may have posted back when I was working on this) and that gave me a catchable horse. Not one that came happily, but one who could be caught.

With time, however, we have bonded. Lots of grooming, tending wounds and illnesses, trailering, riding, treats, baths, feeding and yes even getting in my hugs when he didn’t seem to really want them. We are now friends, too. He not only trusts me, he genuinely likes me and enjoys my attention and the time we spend together. I would not say he is the first one at the gate, or comes running from the far field like King used to – but he does come when I stick my head out and call him.

I would never withhold water from a horse, I think that is barbaric and lacks fully formed intellectual insight.

Personally, I also would not ever chase again. Like I said, maybe I was doing it wrong, but it only served to reinforce my pony’s attitude that people are unpredictable, annoying and dangerous.

What worked for me suits my personality very well. I try to let my horses know who I am – a person who can be trusted, who is reliable, fair and consistent … and ultimately a lot of fun. I have a lot of fun with my horses, and try to make sure they have some fun, too, and not every interaction is just me making them work.

Hope there is something helpful there.

[aliceo]

I try to let my horses know who I am – a person who can be trusted, who is reliable, fair and consistent … and ultimately a lot of fun. I have a lot of fun with my horses, and try to make sure they have some fun, too, and not every interaction is just me making them work.

this. this is very important, whichever method you try.

[cholmberg]

I have never had this issue longer than a few days with a new horse. Put treat of choice in pocket. . .go to pasture, if horse runs away, walk them down. . .however long it takes. . .not fast, not chasing, but not stopping either. Once horse lets me approach, give treat, scratch. . .and go away. Lather, rinse, repeat. At some point, I no longer have to go to the horse, it comes to me very willingly. . … if a horse is only caught to be put to work, they naturally don’t want to be caught. If horse knows there is a chance it’s just going to be scratches, grooming and possibly a treat… . they come. I just got a mini the other day, and she ran from me once. . . . .I caught her, gave her a treat, and she is a quick study, she hasn’t run from me since. She isn’t coming when I whistle yet like my other horse, but she’ll get on board eventually.

[ApolloJakeNWill]

I second the advice of catching, petting and giving attention for a couple of minutes, then releasing. Also, just visit without haltering. As far as treats, that depends on your horse. Some are fine with treats, others aren’t.

[FoxyRoxy1507]

I think first you have to figure out why he doesnt want to be caught, which will determine how you should work to remedy the situation. Some horses dont want to be caught bc they dont want to work, some just like other horses better.

For instance my new horse is an OTTB, he has no interest well didnt in any kind of treat, did not care to be with humans, nor did he care to be around the other horses.

The good thing about him was that he was curious, so i used that to my advantage, i would go and catch my other horses and ignore him until i wanted to actually catch him. I then would try to walk towards him if i saw he might walk away i would turn the other direction and keep walking, at that point i got his curiosity and he would then come to me and i would love on him. Some times i would just catch him and let him go, other times i would take him out just to groom him, or we would work. But always kept him guessing so he would want to find out.

He has now gotten to where he enjoys grooming and will eat certain peppermints and i will every now and then give him one and just take him out and groom him so he’s happy. Which seems to be working really well.

The chasing the horse idea i have found just instills more of a fear of humans than trust. The other thing you can do is just randomly go sit in the pasture and wait for him to come to u, especially if you have a small paddock with only him in it and when he finally comes over just love on him but dont catch him. This teaches them that we offer something nice without consequences which teaches trust.

[HiddenAcres]

Jumper ears are the fly bonnets that are so “in” in the jumper ring, I think.