Problems catching horse- Very aggressive response

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shoniedaspony

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Aug 22, 2003
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Hi,

Need some advice really. Have never had trouble catching my horse, but over the past few weeks he has been giving other a bit of greif when they try adn catch him. As they move the headcollar towards him, he puts his ears back, tosses his head, then turns his bum towards them. I told them to just chase him away, and it seems he has always been fine to catch after that.

On saturday I turned him out and tried to get him in 1 hour later (not ideal i know, but i've done this before with no problems). He did as above, except wouldn't be caught, and I ended up doing this 4 times in a row, with him running further away each time when I chased him off.

The 5th time, he approached me ears forward, i didnt move headcollar towards him at all but suddenly he put his ears flat back and launched at me- before I knew what was happening and could react, he had my whole arm in his mouth, bit down hard, then ran off, kicking out as he did, narrowly missing me. He then went and chased off a few of the other horses, and was in a thoroughly grumpy state, just head tossing etc walking round.

I was trying to work with it as just a one off, and he was fine sun/mon, but today he turned his bum at me again (YO had just put hay out in field, however I have caught him many times before with no problems when he is munching hay). I am quite worried he may attack me again, and I am not sure of the best way to respond.

***He has a VERY bad past, and still occasionally gets very frightened and aggressive in response- in a kind of 'i'll get you before you get me' way. I don't want to be overly aggressive with him as I don't want to get us all the way back to square one, but i really don't know what to do.

The plan for this week is to catch him in for a quick flick with a brush and a big bowl of feed. I think the behaviour is just him saying that staying in the field is preferable, and he does learn very quickly when he can get what he wants through force...

So I suppose I'm looking for advice on what to do that doesn't totally terrify him and screw up our relationship, but that means this behaviour wont be repeated. As I said, I have never ever had an issue catching him before now, and nothing has really changed workload/feed wise, so I don't know where this has come from...

HELP!
 
I would try going up to him in the feild as often as you can and just giving him a treat and a rub then you walk away, it really works as they soon look forward to you aproaching them and don't see you as always brandinga head collar. it takes time and patience but really works x >>> never heard of chasing him off! wouldn't that be a bit confusing as one time you want to catch him then you send him away;) just a thought :o
 
I mean chasing off once he reacts aggressively to me?

Two out of the past 4 days he has been fine, good as gold, the other two as soon as i move the headcollar towards him he reacts negatively-so it isn't me, its the knowledge i will catch him when the headcollar moves towards him...
 
In an ideal situation (my personal opinion of course) i would start doing ground work with him. Then you can play the catching game which basically means, you mirror his moves, without catching him...if you get me. really hard to explain. If you are into it, I would fully reccomend getting a NH person to come and show you the techniques. NH has done wonders for me, and i think it answers a lot of problems.

i recently had troubles catching, and doing the catching game has also worked wonders. i think him launching at you, shows he is in charge, not you and shows he has no respect for you....sorry :( I used to think NH was weird. but by doing nh ground exercises, your horse will respect you more and i believe NH itself is so miraculous!
 
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Take a chair and a book, go and sit in the field for a min of 30 mins a day and read, for 7 days. TOTALLY ignore him! Dont catch/stroke/look at him! (kinda hard I know) He will get curious and come over etc. But let him touch you not the other way around. This will make his mind inquisitive! "how come she is here and yet doesnt want to touch me"?

Gradually introduce you doing some of the approaching. Maybe with a treat or find his itchy spot he cant reach and give it a good scratch. Go slowly with things. Make it so you are a good person to be with and are totally non aggressive/dominant to him. Try and turn it around so it becomes HIS idea to be caught.

Once you have reestablished being able to catch him, get to grips with some groundwork to make your bond better and him see you as a trust worthy leader.
 
one of mine can be a pig to catch and has always been the same, i find by puttin a lead rope around his neck first can help as iv got him then and he knows to give up. sorry to hear you are havin these problems and hope u can sort it, nothing worse than havin a pig of a horse to catch x
 
My only issue with a slowly slowly approach at this point in time (i mean potentially not catching him for X weeks), is that he needs to be fed-he isn't a great doer, and without a big feed each day will end up as a bag 'o' bones....?
 
My horse did this when she was scared instead of flight she would fight. I figured out that she was scared of the other horses and when I shooed them away she was better but it took a lot of work to get her to trust that I could take care of the other horses. She had to know I was boss of her and the others. And that didn't mean that I had to tell them off. She is great now and her trust in me has made her stronger.
 
i know excatly what you mean shona, my friends pony used to do the same thing, she would hide the head collar behind her back, up her top everything but as soon as he saw or heard it he would react like yours. Leave the headcollar out of the picture for a while.get him used to the treat and the rub on the neck (if you can get close enough safely)THEN walk away and leave him. It will really confuse him to start with. but if you can spend a day or two just repeating this then take the head collar, let him see it, give the treat and walk away again. do this until he seems rlaxed. next step is to put collar on, take it off and walk away. It sounds Nuts, and is very annoying if you want to ride bring bim in etc but it really works and once he knows that you're not actually bothered about `catching' him he will relax and eventually do what you want. Be patient it will pay off in the long run x x x xgood luck
 
sorry edited to add...i think he is probably behaving like this because he is in charge and does not have much respect for you. if he had respect he would not come into your personal area, let alone try to kick you. i think you first need to establish your boundries and show you are in charge, you can do this in many ways but groundwork NH style is a good place to start. it does wonders for horses and relationships and i fully believe in it as it has done wonders for me. i used to think NH was weird....!

once you have established the boundries catching will become easier, but like i say the catching game will help you no end. sorry i wish i could show you all of this, so tricky to explain :o NH is brill, no whips/force nothing. reccomend getting someone out to show you the basics
 
My only issue with a slowly slowly approach at this point in time (i mean potentially not catching him for X weeks), is that he needs to be fed-he isn't a great doer, and without a big feed each day will end up as a bag 'o' bones....?
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If he is that desperate for food then he would be running to you by now!

Dont worry about the feed. Getting him safe to catch is more of a priority...

If you can do the exercise I suggested several times a day - that'll speed things up a bit.
 
Hunger doesn't always reflect the need for energy...and if he sees me with a bucket, he comes cantering over!

My difficulty is based in his past, where people being dominant over him has involved much force, and caused him to lash out-hence he is extremely defensive...

Will see what i can try of the things you suggest over next few days, thanks
 
exaclty why nh would work for you ;) if you cannot get someone out to show you some nh things, you can look online at ground exercises, parelli catching game or look at some books etc. it will seriously work wonders. i wish you the very best of luck x
 
im so sorry, ive still not replied to your pm..

about the catching.

your neddie is either

a, seeing you/humans as a threat.

b, trying to dominate you.

has anything changed atall? horses, people. anything.

this may sound total nuts, but are you wearign a different scent? different washing powder?

i ask, because one day going to get snapper, i smelt of white spirit, her reaction was totally un called for, she was taught to put her nose in the head collar, yet was going for me over a gate.

if your answer is no to all of the above.

1st of all leave a head collar on.

work first of all in a stable, headcoallr left on, go in, clip on a rope, give a fuss or a treat (im not a lover of treats, but sometimes i do belive they are useful.) unclip walk away. dont speak or fuss more than to do what you need to, do it over a course of a day. many times.

next day. just go and stand and hang over the fence, ignore your neddie, id but money on that he will come up to you, when he does, give a treat and walk away, dont touch dont talk.

same again next time, but when hes coming upto you fequentley, clip the rope on, treat unclip walk away.

i hope your getting my jist,
im no lover of parelli, in my experiance, horses that have had a bad time are insecure, they defend them selfs, normally by agression. time will solve this nothing else, they will still have bad days, even weeks, but you learn to understand them,.
 
jaydevon said:
a, seeing you/humans as a threat.

b, trying to dominate you.
Click to expand...

This was my quandary- essentially i was chasing him away, and i kept following him across the field when he was running off after i had chased him, and eventually he had enough and went for me...

Not anything else you mentioned has changed really. The only other thing i could think of in relation to this was a week or so ago, we were loose schooling over jumps in the school, and YO came and drove tractor right up next to school, and starts lifting soil and stuff. Pony hates tractor, starts charging around with no regard for anything but getting a way, and i had to flick out at him a few times to stop him running me down...

Thats a minimal association between fear and me chasing him i guess, but i just don't know with him. He doesnt tend to be outwardly aggressive just for the sake of it, but tends to have moments where he just flips out, mostly fear related...?
 
i wouldnt say you need to worry about chasing him away, but if you do it dont look at him, as in in the eye, if you study how wild horses act, the leader will chase away. but will go a few strides, then stop, not carry on.

id go back to the getting hes trust again, get him in a stable, where its safe.

i know its hard but dont rush, you need to let him come to you., let him decide that your safe.

i think the thing to a rememer is a horse/pony that has been badley treated, and shows aggression,. may very well always be like that,

snapper, somedays shes such a cow, its not worth even looking at her, other days, shes so cute, and such a character, you as the owner, like we humans have good and bad days. just need to learn how to read the signals, and also respect your horse.

some days its on your terms, others its on hes.
 
Ha...thats depressing! I kinda figured that that was likely to be the way things would be, as things seem to be great for a while, then something else pops up...

Typically, time is not currently on my side (have 30% of my degree due in the next 3 weeks), but will do what i can....
 
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