Horse and Pony Info

Catching difficult horses and ponies in the field

A new pony reminded me this morning of how horses and ponies which are difficult to catch can waste our time. This 128 cm gelding arrived in my yard, having been sent back to a seller because he was unsuitable for a six year old girl. He is a nice looking, Connemara type pony with no apparent serious problems except that he is very nervous. He doesn’t trust humans any more and this, naturally, makes him difficult to catch.

The first thing I do, in this case, is put him with a companion who is well-behaved and easy to catch. I then bring in the quiet pony to the stable and leave the reluctant one to think about things for a few minutes. I did this today and, guess what, the new pony couldn’t wait to be caught by the time I got back down to the field. He was galloping up and down, whinneying frantically and came straight up to me.

It’s not always so easy, however, especially if you have a field full of horses and ponies. The following tips might help:

  1. I always feed horses and ponies in their stables when they come in from the field, unless they are about to be ridden or worked. This makes them look forward to coming in. Bring them in early so there is plenty of time for them to eat and relax before riding.
  2. I bring food in a bucket to the field for very difficult horses but I don’t usually have to do this for long if they get used to being fed in the stable. Taking a bucket of food into a field full of horses is not a good idea as you can get pushed about by them. I usually leave the bucket outside the gate and feed them by hand until I can capture the one I want.
  3. You will find that the more work you do with a difficult horse or pony, the more he will trust you and become easier to catch. Ground work, such as lungeing, loose lungeing or in hand, helps a lot.
  4. If all else fails and it is safe to do so (i.e. the field doesn’t open onto a busy public road), lead a quiet horse and let the one that is difficult to catch follow behind loose to the stable yard. Be careful if you do this that you keep everything under control and that the difficult one doesn’t gallop off and upset the one you’re leading. You need an extra pair of hands to help with this option.