07/20/2021
Something that’s come up a lot in the past week or so is hard to catch horses and how to “fix” that. So I wanted to lay out some of my tips and techniques I utilize to help those horses feel a lot more okay about being caught.
First off, take inventory of yourself before you go to catch your horse. Are you anticipating that they will run away? Are you in a hurry, or on a deadline? If your horse is a bit skeptical of being caught anyway, these emotions will just make things worse. Take some deep breaths, and practice getting in a frame of mind that says “if all we do today is work on making getting caught positive, then today is a win”. Work on catching when you don’t have somewhere to be like a show or a vet appointment.
Put your halter and lead rope neatly up on your shoulder where you can get to it easily when you need it, but it’s not dragging behind you or flapping around or getting tangled and tripping you. I do this for any horse I catch; it’s a small piece of good horsemanship to have good haltering skills. I might try to do a video on this soon! Also I recommend having a treat your horse likes in your pocket. You are not bribing him with it; this treat is for after you halter him. A small “thanks for being caught” treat can go a long way!
When you enter the pasture, paddock, or even stall (although I don’t recommend working on this in that small of an area), be aware of your horse. When he stops what he’s doing and turns to look at you, stop your feet. You’ve just hit the outermost edge of his bubble, and showing him you noticed that is important! After a pause of a few seconds, continue on. If he turned away or went back to grazing, approach again until he looks at you again, then repeat the pause. Remember to be approaching in kind of an arc towards his head and neck, not towards his hind end.
At some point your horse will say “too close!” and move away. This is when you start mirroring. No chasing! Just walk the direction he goes, keeping the same distance you had between you when he moved off, if possible. If not, just follow until he stops and looks at you, then pause and show him you see his concern. Rinse and repeat as many times or as long as it takes until he’s no longer running but perhaps walking a small arc around you. Matching steps at this point is great! You are literally mirroring his front feet. Match your steps to his front feet and go with him. If he changes direction, you change, etc. Be careful to not get yourself up against the fence or in a corner, and don’t corner your horse either. This is communication, and we don’t want to leave him feeling trapped.
This process will take as long as it takes, I’ve spent 2+ hours working on it in one session. At some point he will start getting curious about what you are doing. Offer a hand and let him smell you, and if he stays, see if you can pet him on his face, neck, or shoulder. Pay close attention here to signs of him being uncomfortable, turning his head away or shifting his weight away. It turns into a bit of a dance here, if he turns his head away take a step back, you are pushing him beyond his comfort zone. Play with it until you can pet him and he stays with you. Depending on how long you’ve been at it and how big his concern is, you might choose that point to give him the treat and just walk away. Show him all you wanted to do was give him that treat. Then next time see how it goes. If it hasn’t been very long and he’s pretty relaxed, see if you can put your lead rope around his neck and then halter him, give him the treat, maybe walk him to something good like good grass, the water trough, or his friends, then let him go and call it a day.
I like to keep track of how long I spend catching. I find that the first time might take an hour or more, but the next time maybe 45 minutes. Then 30. Then 15. Then 5. Then before you know it, he’s looking for me when I come and is happy and willing to be haltered. THEN you can start all your other work. If you can’t catch your horse easily, there will be issues in your other work. Maybe minor, maybe major, but if he’s so unsure of you that he doesn’t even trust you to halter himself, you can’t expect him to trust you fully in anything else you do.
A last note, I don’t leave halters on a hard to catch horse. Too many risks. Put in the time to get them comfortable. I also don’t bribe with a bucket or feed. The most I do is a treat, and if they start getting nippy or pushy, I quit the treat. Now if we have an emergency, yes I will use feed or whatever method I need to get them caught, but I will later work on fixing this issue so it’s not an issue any more. Also, all of this pertains to a horse that has been handled, halter trained, etc and is simply unwilling to be caught and has likely learned that if he runs for long enough, he doesn’t have to get caught. Different methods (although with the same core mindset!) would apply for an unhandled, untrained horse.
