by April Corvino

Created on: January 09, 2010   Last Updated: January 10, 2010

I will say this is a frustrating one but if you lose your cool you will lose your horse. I have a not so easy catcher or he used to be a lot harder. One thing is to me don't take the easy way out. Some of those ways are to leave the halter on or quickly throw a rope my horse has proven these to be no match. To even bribe to me isn't useful. I have found an easier way or for some it can be hard when you would really like the quick fix. Many horses do it for different reasons mine does it for fun or because he is trying to see if I am going to take control and be his leader not meaning in the harsh way. Sometimes the horse is tired of being ridden. I know right, why would he be? Think about it if you don't make it fun for him to be ridden then why should he come to you. My horse if I really don't want to play I show him the saddle and he comes right over he knows we go out. Even when we do vigorous work either western or dressage he comes to it and after. If you don't respect the horse for what he gives then why should he respectfully come in?

Horses are an animal that does great with respect but I have seen people who want it to be a one way street. I believe the horse gives us respect only when we give it in return. Has anyone heard "do unto others as we would like to be treated" or am I wrong. I used to have issues getting other horses before I learned that if I treated them unfair the last time they don't usually want me to work with them. When I respect them they are more inclined to come to me.

Treats, I don't have anything against treats as long as it is given at the proper time to get a horse to take a treat just so you can put a halter on it doesn't prove your leadership just proves that you are a sneaky person. Riding shouldn't be a primary means of reason we love our horse. Sage my horse has proven the bribing theory that some horses get too smart. Before I got him he was used to someone giving him his feed with a halter in the bucket so while he ate they would slip it on, well Sage got smart and as soon as he saw the halter in the bucket he refused to eat. Treats in the hand so he would come over he had the snatch and grab technique worked out.

The best way to get a horse to come to you is stop thinking ride think partnership. Every time you go out how about saying hello to your horse so he doesn't always think you want to ride. If you treat him like a part of your herd he will appreciate that you came to pay attention to him. Some horse like to mess with you my way of dealing with this without hurting their feelings since they are just trying to have fun with you not understanding you can't run that fast. I usually just stand and wait and then walk up to them from the side and sometimes what can help is to almost walk backwards I know sounds off the wall but it works if your horse is kind of weary. My horse has done it to me once when something happened while we were gone and he was trembling he saw us pull in and started backing but not like if he was to kick he lined himself up against the fence and walked kind sideways but backwards with hind quarters not facing us.

These are some ways of catching your horse by being respectful to your horse and make it a lot easier for your horse to understand you instead of using means to which just can become out smarted or leave you with a horse that doesn't want to be a partner. A partner is what we are looking for in a horse if they don't want to come to us then we have done something to make them not want to come in. Sometimes though it can be for fun but those are normally easier to control if you do it correctly.

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