Hard-to-Catch Horse

Learn how to earn the trust of a horse that's hard to catch so you can stop this problem before it gets out of hand.

- WARWICK SCHILLER, JILLIAN SINCLAIR 

Over the years I've worked with a lot of horses that have developed bad habits or behaviors, and it's always interesting to look further into the problem and think about why they might have developed that behavior. For the most part, horses aren't inherently mean, and they aren't behaving poorly just for the fun of it. It always helps if you look beyond the behavior and get to the root of the problem before you try to fix it.

An employee at my ranch has a mare that has always been well behaved and easy to catch in the pasture. Recently, she's been on oral antibiotics twice a day for a few weeks. Like most horses, she hasn't enjoyed taking the antibiotics very much and has started to become difficult to catch. Like I said, this isn't her normal behavior, so I have to assume it has something to do with not wanting to be given the antibiotics.

In this article, I'm going to show you how I have been working with this mare to rebuild her trust so she will willingly let us catch her without causing any problems. A horse that's difficult to catch is not only a nuisance, but it can be dangerous if they buck or kick out when you get close to them. So, keep reading to see how to safely work with a hard-to-catch horse.

Play Copycat

Horses have fight-or flight instincts so when you come near a horse that doesn't want to be caught, he's going to flee.