Hi, horses can teach other, that's how they learn a lot of what they know, and the one things they know very well is if one runs they must all run! However, if the horse has a good relationship with its human you can override this impulse and the horse will choose to stay. This is a privilege and a gift that we should never underestimate. So, the issue as I see it is not "Are the other horses being taught to run?" but "Why does my horse not choose to be with me?". As you said, you ar making progress with her but it sound like you are under pressure to progress as others are making comments that may/may not be correct. Can you tell us some more about her behaviour when you try to catch her, how old she is, what's her history, how long you have had her, and what you are doing so far to improved how she catches. I'm sure you will then get lots of support and information from others too :-)

I picked up this mare last August out of a meat pen. She came from a breeder that needed to thin out her herd. She chose mares that were open that season. My mare is most likely turned 5 this year based on her teeth. Her last adult incisors just came in this spring. She was basically untouched. She is a beautiful well bred horse and I wanted to give her a chance. She is now halter trained, leads beautifully, picks up her feet. I have lunged her, long-lined her, she has worn all kinds of equipment. I have ridden her in a round pen, however we had some bad goes and I fell off and she became frightened. So in that respect I have taken her back a few steps to get her more comfortable and confident before we go there again. She is very sensitive and quite nervous and not super trusting of people but each day I feel her coming around even more.

I have also recently done a couple of join up sessions with her in an indoor arena.

Hi Alana. Sounds like you have the right attitude to help this mare. Horses do teach one another. Can you describe your Join up experiences in more detail, please. If we know how she reacted we can advise you better & help you both to progress. Cheers, Jo.

I feel as though if I were to describe all of my attempts to show her that when I approach, I have no ill intentions I could write a book of short stories. I know I have made some mistakes in my journey with this horse that have elongated the process for me to gain her trust and willingness to accept human contact. As for join up she gives me the 4 signs relatively quickly. I can get her to follow me in the indoor arena within about 5-6 minutes. She gives me all four signs. She is still not a huge fan of me rubbing her forhead. I can rub the center of her nose as long as I am looking between her front feet. If I move the slightest bit too quickly she backs her head away and brings her shoulder into the area and she is comfortable with me scratching her shoulder and her neck. The diffiulty I have in the pasture is that she is in a herd of about 10 mares. She is near the top of the hierarchy, she spends most of her time with the mare that seems to be the leader. This mare is also a problem child for her owner to catch. I have had her approach me in the field as long as I do not have a halter and she will let me scratch her forhead or shoulder easily (as long as she approaches me and I do not try to approach her). As soon as I walk into the field my mare, whose name is Aura, lifts her head and stays focused on me as I move around the field. I own 2 other mares in the field and even when I am walking toward them to catch them she has her eyes on me. When I attempt to get close to Aura, I walk in her direction but I try to place my body so that I am coming toward her at an angle that would take me to her shoulder. I keep my eyes focused on spots on the ground and do not look directly at her. Once I get a certain distance away she will turn and start to walk away usually to the nearest mare. I will change my angle to try to stay in front of her or at least moving toward her shoulder so she does not feel I am stalking her. If she turns to look at me at all. I stop moving. I may even turn away from her or walk slightly to the side. If she stays still I try to bring my shoulders across the front of her at the 45 degree angle to see if I can get her to step toward me. It rarely works. She usually turns back away from me and either continues to the same mare she was trying to get to, or she turns the opposite way and makes her way to another horse to hide behind. Once again as soon as she turns away I try to get myself in front of her motion again so she does not continue to walk away from me. She will pick up whatever pace is required to keep a certain distance from me. If I can get in front of her motion she usually choses to change her direction away from me and walk in the opposite direction (like in a round pen when you purposely change a horse's direction). I am not sure if this is correct on my part, but I like her reaction as of late when I do this. As she changes direction so do I and try to get in front of her again. After a few of these direction changes she will turn toward me again. At which point I will turn away from her again. Sometimes she stays standing facing me and I can start slowly walking toward her shoulder and she will stand still and I can put on a halter. Other times when I turn away she also turns away and starts walking to another horse or to a spot where she starts to graze in that way horses do, where if you think that means you can approach they prove you wrong and run off. If she does either of the two latter I put a little pressure on her to walk and they try to get her to turn and face me again. Sometimes she chooses to trot vigorously away from the entire situation. Especially if her favorite mares to hide behind are far away. If she puts great distance between us I try very hard to resist the urge to walk purposefully behind her to catch up, instead I try to get closer at an angle by walking up to and petting and talking to the other mares in the area she is moving toward. When she decides to use another mare to keep between myself and her. I can walk up to the middle mare and pet her and Aura will stay where she is on the other side and watch. However, if I try to go around the other mare she just goes to the opposite side like a kid playing catch me if you can around a coffee table. When she tries this I just put some pressure on her to get her to walk away from her buddy. Sometimes she just walks away and I can go back to trying to get in front of her and have her look at me. Other times she trots off to her next hiding buddy. I feel as though it is a game to her. Whether it takes 10 minutes or an hour eventually she will stand still plant her feet and let me approach. I still cannot get her to take steps towards me in the field. I also feel as though join up in the arena works well because I am her only friend there and while she may have some trust in me, and she may even accept me as a member of the herd, the other members that she is out there with 24/7 that clearly speak her language are better friends to have and trust in than I could ever be. On aonther note: I try very hard to not lose my temper and chase her and I try to approach as many of the other mares that I can and give them a little scratch because I do not want them to fear me or become nervous with my presence because Aura feels the need to flee from me. I am very cautious not to negatively influence any of the other horses to human presence in the pasture because I do not want to create issues with any other owner's ability to catch their horses. However, there are 3 other mares in the field that are very difficult for their owners to catch. 2 of which were already in the pasture (and there was a forth that has since left) prior to Aura being put out there. Thank you guys for your support.

Thank you Alana - Much clearer idea of your problem. Firstly, I believe you are doing all the right stuff. You clearly have a good grasp of Monty's methods! Aura is lucky to have you. I suggest turning her loose in the school &, having performed Join up, bring her to a place where a bucket with a little amount of food is waiting for her. Let her eat & repeat the loosing, leaving a while & catching to bring her to the bucket with food. Within a very few repetitions she should be seeking you & you can then progress to turning her loose in the field. You'll probably need to allow a whole afternoon for this as you need to catch Aura, set the pattern in her mind & move the behaviour from the arena to the field. Good luck. Cheers, Jo.

Thank you. I may give this a try :)

Alana, she might be taking the movement towards her shoulder as a move away sign, try instead when you approach her rather than aim for her shoulder, make an arc circle around towards her head, when you've overstepped her shoulder look across your shoulder at her face and she should stop,then drop your eyes down, still heading in a circular direction towards her head. Rather than turn away, if you are approaching from the right hand side of her body bend your head over your left shoulder looking down towards her front right foot, as you do this turn your body towards her head and offer your right hand as a muzzle with your right shoulder slightly lowered, this will invite her into you from a forward motion. Do not go fully into her space, stand with your hand about 6 inches in front of you and wait for her to come into you. She should come in an muzzle you. Now give a slight glance up to her eyes with a relaxed smile on your face and eyes, blink once with a slight nod of the head, look gently into her eyes again. This in Equus is an acknowledgement. Then look down towards your hand bowing your head slightly. she should then let you rub up her face and in between the eyes. If she lets you do that, do the turn to invite her to follow you. She most probably won't at this point, so then slowly turn back and reassure her. She should then let you move you hand towards the side of her head to put the head collar on.
The 'she turns the opposite way and makes her way to another horse to hide behind' seems like unhanded foal behavior. If you feel comfortable around the horses she's doing this with you need to use the join up process to separate her from the one she is hiding behind. So strong eyes on eyes and hold your rope up to create a barrier between the two horses and send her away. Imitate her movements and position yourself in the driving area just behind her to the side and keep eyes on eyes and your head down slightly as if you're cross. Anticipate which direction she is going to turn make a turn before she does. If you want her to walk around to the right move out of her line of sight so she has to turn her head right to keep an eye on you, in doing this she'll turn right. Visa Versa for left. When you've got her away from the ones she hides behind release the pressure and start to make an arcing movement away so you can over step her shoulder asking her to stop, so over stepping the shoulder and looking across your shoulder directly at her face. Think of it that you're posing for a photo across your shoulder. Once she stops use the process above again to join with her.
Hope that all makes sense :D

Mel
x
Taking Equus a step further, lets talk to the horse and it'll talk back!