Can't catch horse!!

[Voltageinside]

Recently purchased a horse from Moore’s KB in PA. So I don’t know his history. I’ve had him for two weeks so far.
He was in a QT pen so he was easy to catch. Now he is in field/stall board but we just can’t catch him.
I’ve tried it all. He has his halter on so we can just clip his lead. We’ve taken in the other horse, I’ve spent time with other horse instead, ignored him, tried the grain bucket, tried chasing him off, tried beckoning him, EVERYTHING. when I catch him, he doesn’t work - just gets grain and petting. I’ve tried catch and release, pressure and release, anything. He just will not let us catch. We had six of us in the field the other day trying to wrangle him but he wouldn’t have it. Five hours later, we gave up.

Help! I don’t want to fight to feed my horse!
Only thing that works is withholding food and getting him next day.
He is skittish, but I am very slow, non threatening, easy and quiet talk. No reason to run. He won’t let me get close in the field, let alone catch. So “pet him and walk away” is OUT of the question.

[kcmel]

See the similar threads list on the bottom of this page. I think you just have to outlast them. Good luck!

(Your user name intrigues me, by the way).

[Voltageinside]

Trust me, been reading every single thing I can get my hands (and eyes) on. Hard to outlast a horse when he will run from you for more than six hours - I don’t have the time to do that every single day! It’s already been two hours and I’ve simply been sitting here with a bucket of grain, letting him get to approach, but he won’t even come to the food - just sprints off as soon as he comes close to me.

(Thank you - the idea is to “believe in the voltage inside of you”, that is, the energy that can crackle up and break the walls we build and become something more than you are )

[beowulf]

Only solution I can see is to put him back in a smaller enclosure until he is better acclimated to daily handling.

[tikkamasala]

Have you tried riding another horse into the pasture and then catching him then ponying him in?
Also one thing I have done with an impossible to catch horse in an 80acre field was get 50 feet of rope, lure horse into corner, then “fence” horse into the corner with rope. It’s a two man job. It was scary initially for the horse but she stopped getting freaked out after the third or fourth time. (Grooming and feeding followed)

[HPFarmette]

Tikka’s suggestion reminds me of my experience with dealing with some basically feral horses that were part of a neglect seizure. 96 horses had been being “cared for” on less that 14 acres, breeding randomly, Belgians/apps, some real lovely animals (not) with some really sad round bales. Oh and 14 of them were in foal…anyway, the way those animals had to be moved was to use a good size crew, not fewer than six, people making a wall with the flexible plastic snow fence, the orange stuff you can get in rolls, similar to the rope method Tikka described. I think your guy needs to be in a smaller paddock, and needs more time…bless you for trying to help him.

[LookmaNohands]

If you can get him into a smallish enclosure (about a double sized stall.) Sit in a chair (if you think that is safe) and read a book. A couple times a day for at least 15 minutes. On the second or third day bring carrot and apple snacks for you. Noisily and sloppily, snack away. You might start by giving some to the other horses if they are near. Most likely this will draw him in. Don’t go after him. Don’t try to pet or touch him. Give him a piece if he is close and begging for some. Don’t let him be rude. If he gets pushy, shoo him away. Give treats only if he is polite. Use lots of patience. Set it up so he wants to come to you. Be hesitant about reaching for him at all. Touch him on his terms at first.

This method really works! You can find more info at: https://www.carolynresnickblog.com

[dungrulla]

Humans are persistence hunters. You don’t need to chase them. Even an out of shape human can outwalk a horse, who will run away and tire himself out FAR before the human is tired.

Just follow him and follow him until he doesn’t have the energy to run away anymore. Yeah, this might take several hours, but don’t let him rest for a second. Keep steadily walking after him, swinging a lead rope, and force him to move at a constant steady pace. He will get tired before you do.

[jetsmom]

If there is another horse in the field, give treats to him, and randomly walk around and stop to give treats. Walk as close to horse as possible. And bend or squat down facing away, and mess around with treats on ground. Usually, the horse will get curious and approach. Don’t look at horse, and when he gets closer, move about 5 feet away, and continue to mess around. Toss a treat over your shoulder to him. They will then usually come up to you.
Once caught, put in a small area, and spend time just being in there, giving treats, patting him.

[horsenut_8700]

You either need a smaller enclosure or helpers. We had this issue with a Trottingbred pony we were given. Poor thing hadn’t had her halter off in 20 years because she was “hard to catch”. He told us to never turn her out in the big field or we would never catch her again. So we turned her out and took her halter off. When it came time to come in, she didn’t want to be caught. So we each took a corner of the field and gently encouraged her to keep moving. If she wouldn’t be caught, she had to work harder. It took about half an hour before she realized it would be easier to get caught. That was 10 years ago and that pony has NEVER given anyone a problem since.

[jeano]

When I bought my gelding nine years ago he had been turned out with a biggish herd with a tiny nylon halter that had rubbed his jaw raw. He was literally trying to grow new skin around the webbing, very nasty. To catch him his former owners would stampede him into a stall in their barn.

These idiots also had a 6 and a half foot tall 19yr old son who taught him the proper way to be mounted, by running along side him and vaulting into the saddle. Just the training for a horse purchased by a 52 year old re-rider with bad knees, right.

Head-shy and uncatchable, oh my yes.

Took him home, soaked that halter off his head, promised him I would NEVER turn him out in a halter again, turned him loose in a ten acre field with two or three other horses. Got peppermint and a rope halter. Walked him down, caught him (looped the lead rope around his neck) gave a peppermint, haltered him, gave another peppermint, took halter off immediately, then repeated the whole sequence about five times. First time catching him took maybe half an hour. By the last repetition he could be caught in about two seconds because he was almost glued to me.

Ever since he can be caught by anyone, including the very unhorsey Mr Jeano. Mr J told me the horse also showed him HOW to put on the rope halter.

[snowrider]

An old friend had one like this for about 20 years. They came in for breakfast every morning and if they needed him for anything that day they just kept him in. Once or twice a year someone would declare they could cure him and spend a few days on it then give up. One teenage girl reportedly spent an entire weekend trailing him around, like 10 hours a day. She never caught him. You could pet him and feed him but he wasn’t an idiot, once he saw any kind of halter he was out. Fine to ride, had a great job as a hunter and husband horse. Spoiled rotten really. He was just uncatchable.

So if you can train him to enter a pen for food, that might be a good compromise. Thinking about it maybe he trained them? Grain for being caught.

[TheJenners]

Leather halter, long ass catch rope. Sorry I can’t help more, but anything you’ve walked down for five hours without catching is probably not something you’re going to fix. Longest I’ve walked down was 1.5 hours.

Unless you have an option of a teeny paddock??

[x]

Also, a drag rope can help. But I would keep him in a smaller pen. Using a round penning technique until the horse is used to being moved=I need to stand still and face owner until it comes can work as well.

[Pehsness]

[QUOTE=snowrider;8433299]
An old friend had one like this for about 20 years. They came in for breakfast every morning and if they needed him for anything that day they just kept him in. Once or twice a year someone would declare they could cure him and spend a few days on it then give up. One teenage girl reportedly spent an entire weekend trailing him around, like 10 hours a day. She never caught him. You could pet him and feed him but he wasn’t an idiot, once he saw any kind of halter he was out. Fine to ride, had a great job as a hunter and husband horse. Spoiled rotten really. He was just uncatchable.

So if you can train him to enter a pen for food, that might be a good compromise. Thinking about it maybe he trained them? Grain for being caught.[/QUOTE]

This is my mini. Brutal. I’ve had him for about 18 months now and finally had to resort to leaving his halter on him, which makes him catchable. But without the halter it was impossible, and not something that was being fixed - he’s just too smart. So I had to lower my standards. Halter gets checked 2x/day at feeding, so while I do worry a little bit, I was worrying far more that I would have the need for the vet or something and not be able to catch him at all in the dead of night in the winter.

[Posting_Trot]

I agree with TheJenners. Any horse that you and five other people have already tried to walk down for 5 hours probably isn’t going to be walked down in 10 hours, and he’s probably seen every rope trick, grain trick, etc. in the books.

Your options probably are either keeping him in a smaller pen, but long-term that may not be a great solution, or (as Snowrider suggests), if he is coming into a pen or stall for feeding, just keep him in if you want to work him. If he isn’t now coming into a pen or stall for feeding, maybe you can try to initiate that as a practice.

Good luck. This may be way he ended up at a dealer’s barn.

[BeeHoney]

Set up a “catch pen” and put feed in it, close the gate after the horse enters. Use it as a feeding station without catching the horse as well.

Use a motorized vehicle to follow horse around at a more rapid pace to speed up the “walking down” pace and process to more of a “trotting down” pace.

It always helps to remove all pasture mates from the field when catching a difficult to catch horse.

Turn out in a round pen until more easily caught.

[onelanerode]

Set up a small pen and put his only source of water in it. He’ll go in when he gets thirsty, and that’s where he needs to live until he’s less feral.

Do make your initial interactions with him short and pleasant. He’s had a tough time and isn’t inclined to see humans as anything good. Work on changing that perception.

[2DogsFarm]

2 weeks is hardly any time at all for this horse to learn you can be trusted.
If in that short time you have tried all the methods you describe in your post it is no wonder he won’t come to you!
Leave him be for now.
Why must he be caught at all?
You say you can get hold if he’s left out w/o feed - assume he has water still, right?
LEAVE him out, catch next day and repeat until he realizes being caught = being fed.

My pony was near-feral when I got him.
I took off his halter & let him explore pastures & barn.
My horses are out 24/7 with free access to stalls when fed.
I put his feed in the stall, snuck up behind him while he was eating then, when I could, closed stall door & access to paddock and stayed in the stall with him.
At first he fled the stall & came in only if I left him to eat w/o being in with him.
Gradually he would eat with me in the aisle outside the stall, then in the stall, and only after he got comfortable with me in the stall & stall door open did I halter him.
Entire process took months not weeks.
Even now - some 5yrs later - he sometimes gets a wild hair & won’t be caught in pasture.
But at least he obeys “Get in your House!” command & will go into his stall.
Where he will then wait for me to halter, lead, groom or do whatever I want.

Slow Down!
This horse has no reason to believe you are anything but a Traveling Freak Show coming at him with so many different approaches in such a short time.
Patience, Little Grasshopper.

[SMF11]

Love your username, esp. with your explanation. What a powerful idea.

I can’t add much. I had a feral donkey arrive; we could not get within 10 feet of her. I did keep her in a small paddock and just spend time in it with her, very gradually getting closer. It took months. However I suspect you’ve considered the smaller pen idea, and don’t have one. Good luck!