My 4 yr old rescue gelding slipped his headcollar in early December and I'm getting increasingly concerned because I cannot catch him.
I've always kept a head collar on him as I suspected he might be difficult, though never had a problem on the odd time he lost one before — some days when it took a while for him to let me catch him over the 2.5 years we've had him, but never anything seriously naughty.
The first day after he lost it, he let me make an impromptu halter out of his lead rope but, stupidly, I pulled a little to hard on it and it slipped off over his ears. Ever since it's been a nightmare trying to get to this stage again. The last time I tried, he managed to rear up and 'take off' before I managed to finish making an impromptu halter. Getting near him isn't the problem. He's usually pleased to see me, he comes up to me and going through all of his 'tricks' — 'smiling', bowing, walking backwards/sideways etc, doing forehand turns, lifting his feet etc. it's just that the minute there's any sight of a halter or rope now, he bolts!
I've tried every trick I know I've even tried wearing him down by following him around from morning till dusk, making him 'walk on' if he wouldn't let me near. That almost worked the first day: he kept stopping and turning as if to ask me to stop and almost let me catch him with a rope, but I didn't want to frighten him so didn't force the issue. However, the following day he'd obviously learned something from his experience, and started hiding behind some of the other horses, winding them up by initiating play fighting then shunting them sideways right into me! My last hope was hoping for a prolonged cold snap to try tempting him into his stable by some hay/nuts by a turn in the weather but there's still plenty of grass out there.
I think part of the problem is that he stopped trusting us because he really didn't enjoy his experience at a small livery over the summer (I don't know what happened there, but the lady went from absolutely doting on him to suddenly refusing to see to him at all as had been previously agreed). I think he's probably worried we might make him go back there again now that he's back with his all old friends in the large area of shared grazing next to our home. He's a 12.2 Section A type that needs to have his grazing restricted, I'm worried what will happen if I can't catch him before the grass starts to grow. I had actually contacted a couple of people to help work on backing him just before this happened, I sure I'll have to call them into help me but I'm feeling hugely embarrassed about it all.
I've always kept a head collar on him as I suspected he might be difficult, though never had a problem on the odd time he lost one before — some days when it took a while for him to let me catch him over the 2.5 years we've had him, but never anything seriously naughty.
The first day after he lost it, he let me make an impromptu halter out of his lead rope but, stupidly, I pulled a little to hard on it and it slipped off over his ears. Ever since it's been a nightmare trying to get to this stage again. The last time I tried, he managed to rear up and 'take off' before I managed to finish making an impromptu halter. Getting near him isn't the problem. He's usually pleased to see me, he comes up to me and going through all of his 'tricks' — 'smiling', bowing, walking backwards/sideways etc, doing forehand turns, lifting his feet etc. it's just that the minute there's any sight of a halter or rope now, he bolts!
I've tried every trick I know I've even tried wearing him down by following him around from morning till dusk, making him 'walk on' if he wouldn't let me near. That almost worked the first day: he kept stopping and turning as if to ask me to stop and almost let me catch him with a rope, but I didn't want to frighten him so didn't force the issue. However, the following day he'd obviously learned something from his experience, and started hiding behind some of the other horses, winding them up by initiating play fighting then shunting them sideways right into me! My last hope was hoping for a prolonged cold snap to try tempting him into his stable by some hay/nuts by a turn in the weather but there's still plenty of grass out there.
I think part of the problem is that he stopped trusting us because he really didn't enjoy his experience at a small livery over the summer (I don't know what happened there, but the lady went from absolutely doting on him to suddenly refusing to see to him at all as had been previously agreed). I think he's probably worried we might make him go back there again now that he's back with his all old friends in the large area of shared grazing next to our home. He's a 12.2 Section A type that needs to have his grazing restricted, I'm worried what will happen if I can't catch him before the grass starts to grow. I had actually contacted a couple of people to help work on backing him just before this happened, I sure I'll have to call them into help me but I'm feeling hugely embarrassed about it all.
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