Come to Call, Meh, Or Run the Other Way?!

Flipo's Mum

Flipo's Mum

Heavy owner of a Heavy
Aug 17, 2009
9,611
1,492
113
Perthshire, Scotland
I wish my horse was consistent.
If it's winter and he's getting bucket fed twice a day (I split his usual dirty bucket because the Arab has to get fed more often) he will come up for his feed. Albeit at a leisurely pace with a few stops and stares inbetween.
If I arrive like last night, in the pitch black, and call for him, then walk through the field searching, he'll let me get to within a few metres and then he'll make the effort to walk over.
If I arrive, open the boot of my car and take out my headcollar, he turns and bolts to the bottom of the field. I then trudge down, stand a metre or two away from him and he'll walk over.
I think the running the other way when he knows work is involved speaks volumes. The fluffy bunny in me wants to make him happy so he always comes running over but that will never happen.
So how do your horses react, are they same every time?
 
In summer he'll sometimes just stand pretending to eat, but I can usually provoke a response by walking so far then turning back.. his reply to that is usually "Where do you think you're going!?" To which he'll either walk up at a quick pace, trot, or on the odd occasion canter.
In Winter, he's usually hanging around waiting for me or who ever is bringing him in, he loves two things, hay and a nice dry bed :smile:
 
gosh he doesnt even come running when a bucket of feed is on offer? i dont think i would bother feeding him then as he obviously doesnt appreciate it lol!

im so fortunate, when mine see my car they gallop up the field....though that is very annoying on the times i am just popping in to see a friend or drop something off, i then feel uber guilty for not giving them any attention lol
 
My horse will initially look up and stand on red alert when he sees anyone coming. As soon as he sees that it is me, he puts his head lower and will walk a couple of steps towards me and then waits for me to get to him. He has only ever run away from me once and that was last winter when they had just put fresh hay out.

If it is anyone else, he will gallop off and around the field and most of the time is very difficult to catch. He normally allows one of the yard staff near him if she has a scoop of food, but he has become an expert of getting the food and then spinning round just as soon as the handler goes to clip the leadrope on.

It is fair to say that my horse is not a popular one to bring in!
 
I am lucky, I suppose because I bring Tobes in twice a day winter or summer, and he never gets fed in his field he is always more than happy to come in and is never hard to catch as he doesn't know if he is coming in for a small snack and groom, or to be ridden. In the winter, much more eager to come in - galloping down to be collected.
 
Mine seems to hear me walking up the lane as she's usually waiting by the gate or on her way over (not fast, she does like to take her own sweet time.) She doesn't know whether I'll just be feeding her or working her though, so I guess she's prepared to gamble that it's feeding every time! She knows I'll give her a treat and a groom anyway and she likes both those things.
 
Rubic never used to come to call. I'd shout her and she'd look up as if to say "oh hi mum!" and then she'd put her head back down and eat. When I first got her and she went out in a field with some other horses she'd run away, sometimes she'd let me start to get her headcollar on then pull her head up and gallop off:stomp: she occasionally reverted back to that.

However, after all the drama with her being injured, stuck on box rest, in a tiny paddock etc, she is now back out in a strip of field (sometimes with friends/sometimes not as we have had to split the horses up to stop the fields being so trashed). She comes to call. Mainly in walk with the occasional trot. I don't usually do treats but now I've started clicker training I make sure she gets a click and a treat for that. It is so much easier to go to a field, shout and have your horse come straight up to you, than to try and find your horse in a field in the darkness! She's turned into a right sook!:giggle:

ETA my horse can be funny with other people. She is a bit better now (probably after having so many people deal with hr at the vet school etc) but she is still wary of people she doesn't know. She escaped from her stable one day when she was on box rest (friend had opened her door to stop he kicking it and Rubic sneaked under the stall guard while friend went round to get her horse from the field...). The YM went to catch her but Rubic wouldn't let her get close enough to get the head collar on and when she did she started to put the head collar on and Rubic just lifted her head up and trotted off... bad pony!!!
 
Last edited:
When the yard staff catch my horse, he always comes in to a few hours in his stable with a haynet (although small holed and soaked!!) and no-one else works or rides him. He seems very happy to be in his stable for a few hours when he is there, but has never shown any willingness to go in the first place.
 
Hit or miss, sometimes come galloping up the field, other times he looks up then carries on munching! Doesn't make a difference if I have a bucket or not.

He does always walk back up with me though whether I have put his headcollar on or not. Often at his own pace and his own route, and he will canter the last wee bit to catch up!

Since the dark nights have started he has always come galloping over, which is handy!
 
Our pair are like clock work!! lol very rarely do they change. They both come trotting down the hill as soon as they hearthe truck or if I've been at the house they see me emerge from the back door they call to me and dutifully line up at the gate. I worry they are abnormal! They seem to have a low boredom threshhold and get sick of grass and fancy coming in for a change!!! Even most days when Storm knows she will be ridden she still comes to me - unless she has a goldfish memory....
 
Mouse usually comes to call - he'll meander over in his own time though, he's not really the cantering-in-the-field type, way too lazy for that! There are some days he's a bit lazy and just stands there waiting for me, though he still enjoys his cuddles when I get there. However, he is very happy in his field with his little group of friends, and inevitably there's the odd day here and there when I get to him and he's like "oh hi mum" and walks away. When he gives me the brush-off like that I just let him be, he is allowed to be left in peace if he wants to be.

That's only if I'm just visiting him though - if I have a headcollar in my hand he will ALWAYS come over, because he knows it means he's going to go and do something. He doesn't get fed for the majority of the year, and I don't do treats, so if he comes to me it's because he wants to see me - I like that! In the winter months when the field-kept horses get a daily feed, he comes charging over but I don't fool myself into thinking it's cos he's desperate to see me, I know he's just thinking of his stomach!
 
Last edited:
If the weather is really bad, Rusty will walk quickly to me. If it's nice out, he doesn't run away, but will turn his bum toward me and then keep eating. Then I have to walk over to him, and put the headcollar on, and lead him into the barn. He's a special boy!!
 
All of mine come to call without fail, does not matter if they get fed, not fed, worked or not, etc etc.... which can be annoying but at least they are consistant :happy:
 
Today she is feeling better so few paces of trot. If I am honest if I went into the field and any run off, legged it I would question my relationship with them. Even the horses that I have no interactions with don't see my halter and avoid me.
 
newforest said:
Today she is feeling better so few paces of trot. If I am honest if I went into the field and any run off, legged it I would question my relationship with them. Even the horses that I have no interactions with don't see my halter and avoid me.
Click to expand...

Yep NF, I do question it, hence looking for other opinions on it. Back checked, saddle fine, teeth getting done on Monday. Been going on for a year or so. Thinking at the moment is that it's arthritic changes as he's slow when we first start our hacks. Otherwise it could just be that he's a lazy arse and loves his grass.

Julie, flips bucket feed consists of turmeric, biotin, slimline naf and chaff, not very appetising tbh, grass always wins, even compared with hay.
 
Flipo's Mum said:
Otherwise it could just be that he's a lazy arse and loves his grass.
Click to expand...

Do not question something very normal FM. If you posted that on a more popular forum with more people on, loads of people would say that there horse walks off when they get the tack out the car. I have had horses do it, with no issues, just wants to slope around and eats grass.

It does not undermind or make your relationship questionable, what nonsense! We humanise the reactions of our horses too much.
 
What is the tumeric for, I hear a few people using it?
Not a flip problem but mine is reluctant to come when in season so I do have days of actually having to go and get her, she comes the last few feet. Its the "big stuff" as she seems unable to stop stuffing on during her cycle.
Done physio, back, teeth, farrier, bloods some times her immune system is compromised.

Nat17-i don't think a horse running when they see a head collar is normal, its frustrating for the owner for one thing. All horses love grass, some more than most are lazy and would happily not do a dam thing. Mine is just this type. Less is most certainly more, she is placid and would stand all day just being groomed. But I wouldn't want to walk around twenty acres getting her. I don't think what I said was nonsense, I said I would question MY relationship, its up to others if they see a problem or not. But to me if I can't catch the horse its a problem, for me.
 
Last edited:
newforest said:
Nat17-i don't think a horse running when they see a head collar is normal, its frustrating for the owner for one thing. All horses love grass, some more than most are lazy and would happily not do a dam thing. Mine is just this type. Less is most certainly more, she is placid and would stand all day just being groomed. But I wouldn't want to walk around twenty acres getting her.
Click to expand...


Its not abnormal though, many horses with good relationships with their owners do it, whether its frustrating for the owner does not matter, its irrelevant, the horse does not care that its frustrating.

Not catching is a totally different problem to walking or trotting off when seeing tack. If the horse walks off then stops and when your close allows you to catch it then its different than chasing it around the paddock.

IMO - Saying there is a relationship issue because a horse walks off when it sees tack or a headcollar is humanising the reaction and nonsense.

Everyone is entitled to an opinion, just ignore the ones you do not agree with
 
Last edited:
newrider.com
Top Bottom
Back