I am having a few issues with my pony mare and wondered if someone could give me some advice/ideas...
I have 2 mares - one is 13yo, 14-2 and was broken to saddle but had not been ridden/handled for years when I got her. Usingth "Catching your horse in the pasture" vids I have gotten to the point where I can walk up and put her halter on without issue.
My other mare is 3yo and was halter broken as a foal and then turned out and relatively unhandled. Using the same methods I had gotten her to the same point.
However, this morning I went out to catch them both, big horse was no problem, tied her to the rail (always easier if I get her first) but the little one was being a brat, kept running under the big horse's neck to avoid me, so I turned the big horse out into the big paddock (they are confined to a sand paddock overnight as they both need to lose weight)
Despite an hour of trying to do a makeshift Join-Up with the little mare in the small paddock, I could not catch her, she just got more and more agitated. I even left her for a while to calm down but still couldn't get near her... In the end, due to the heat I had to let her out which means she was rewarded for her bad behaviour, so I need to start teaching her properly.
Now the only thing I can think of that has triggered this bad behaviour is that for the past 2 days I have put a fly mask on her, which she absolutely HATES. I thought it would a) protect her from sunburn (she's cremello with white blaze and lots of pink skin) and b) would get her used to things touch her head as she was headshy.
The other thing it MIGHT be (I realised afterwards) was that I was wearing a bright red shirt. Are some horses sensitive to colour??
Andy advice would be appreciated... thanks :-)
Hi pinkie,
There may be exceptions, but most horses don't seem to see red as a color. Red seems to give them the same shade as green does, where yellow and blue are said to be seen by horses.
The flymask might have give her an unpleasant experience, since the heat cannot escape that well. Would sunblocker be an option? Only on those pink skin parts of her face...I know she's headshy, this is another issue you could work on with her, maybe another time.
Now to your catching-issue: you might have come into the paddock with a tension, you knew there would be heat soon, you might have anticipated her hating to put the mask on, you might have started you action as if you "only had 15 minutes, and it took you all day". This is only a suggestion. Your mares have been on a sandpaddock all night, they had an empty stomach, bad temper and (even ulcers) can change behavior.
So I suggest you start you catchingsession with all time in the world, maybe an a weekend. Then first let both mares eat some hay, and stay with them while they're eating.
Sit with them and relax. Don't take the older mare out, but start with touching the younger one and then walking away. Do this several times, so she'll see you as not-preditorial. Breathe well and don't expect....
You might even bring a brush in and start some grooming, only if she's the type that likes to be groomed. Let her forget about catching and most of all, you should forget about it.
Now when she trusts you to be her friend, she could be much easier to approach, always with the "equus"-method you've mentioned above.
Good luck and let us know how things go,
Miriam
super advice miriam as always. Pinkie, did you put the fly mask on & then leave it on for the day? i wouldn't try to put it on until you have a good bond between you & you can catch & handle her all over. Re introducing the fly mask later on, do it incrementally; gain her trust with handling her head gently then slowly work to putting it on BUT your job isn't done once it's on, you then need to take it off again, then on, then off etc. What you can't do is scare them by putting it on & leaving it on when they're very frightened of it.
When i first tried to put one on my mare, she was terrified, this was just a fringe type fly fringe, not a mask, i just worked very slowly & managed to get it over one ear, i spent a lot of time calmly stroking her until i was able to get it over the other ear - she spent about 20 minutes with it dangling off one ear! Once it was on, i thought,got to get it off again now, that went better, then on again, off again & finally on; it probably took about 30 mins & she never had a problem with it again. She had been handled since birth, but was worried about having her ears touched, i was told that the man i bought her from used to grab her ears & hold them because she didn't like it and so setting up problems for her future instead of taking time & being gentle!
As miriam said, take your time just sitting with them, you have all the time in the world & don't try to do something new when you haven't got plenty of time.
best of luck.
Oh Pinkie - I can really relate to this! They go backwards so easily. My palomino mare, Tricka, now 8 has had a similar issue which I now must deal with . I bred her and broke her in myself and ever since she was a little foal she has been perfect to catch. I do always have a carrot reward to give her once her halter is on and that helps. Monty does not agree with food rewards as he fears it encourages horses to bite but he does use honey on a bit for head shy horses. I have quite an opposite view as I was brought up on a rough country property and we always used a piece of bread to catch our horses and they never thought of biting us. I use carrot rewards to stop a horse from biting. Getting back to the topic. Tricka has always been fine with the fly mask but does not like the one that extends down over her white blaze on her nose - she tends to spend the whole day trying to get it off and continually blows her nose so the last few summers I have given up using it and use Filterbac instead. However last week was our hottest week on record 40C + each day so I decided that she should have the extended mask back on. First day fine, second day resisted, third and fourth day I had to put her in a small yard before I could put it on. Then the weather changed to cooler cloudy days so no longer any need for it. Yesterday I went to catch her to take her for a ride and guess what? She said NO. She is quite a spirited horse so she is a challenge when she decides enough is enough. I bribed her and my other horse back into a small yard with some hay and finally she allowed me to put her halter on. So same problem you have! I will now throw away that fly mask and only use sun block on her nose which she doesn't like much but accepts. I will spend some time just calling her down and rubbing her face and chest without putting the halter on. At least she still comes cantering down to me when. I call her. I will take a few days to get her back to where she was but that is the challenge of horse ownership. Identify the problem and then think carefully about how to best solve it. The traditional trainers would say put the fly mask on and leave it on continually until your horse accepts it but as caring owners we need to think of kinder more considerate solutions. Had a similar problem with my big fat warmblood with her muzzle but she is a gentle and accepting mare she would just turn away from me in protest but then stand and allow me to muzzle her - I felt so mean and luckily now the grass has dried up so she no longer needs it. Got carried away here as I had this challenge yesterday. Excellent advice above. I would leave the fly mask off now until she is older and just concentrate on regaining her confidence. Just feed her and walk away for a few days until she accepts you again. Plus just spend some time in the paddock. I would just walk past her and drop a bit of carrot on the ground - don't look at her while you do this and each time you go out do the same thing but try walking a little closer. It won't take long until she starts to follow you looking for the carrot on the ground. Not Monty's way but it works. She will be very wary now after your attempts to catch her so give her time and patience. I will be working on my mare too but a far easier task than yours.
Plus spend time with your older mare - the young one will soon come looking for some attention too.
Great advice from all :-) Don't worry Pinkie, just take a deep breath and start again. One of the wonderful things about horses, thank goodness, is that they are very very forgiving, learn from it and off you go again, it will be fine. Good luck.
absolutely agree with all - were always making mistakes, none of us are perfect & thats the joy of learning together.
As you now go back & take more time, you'll grow a better bond & revel in it. Enjoy your horses & don't worry how long it takes, in a couple of months, you'll look back & be amazed at how far you've all come!
Horses, just like us, grow and explore! Do remember that we Love Our Horses - and find the fun in how our horses is trying to school us! After all, the more we understand EQUUS the higher the demands get - on us! Horses knows ;) Find the fun in it and remember that every time a horse is actually trying to communicate You and Your horse will learn something from it, and hopefully the trust gets higher and higher after every time! Keep On Equus All Warmest CI Ann Lindberg