the escape artists

[Jacquieb]

Hi,

I just quickly wanted to say what a wonderful forum this is. I browse these pages often and I always find such wonderful information and stories. Thank you so much for sharing

Recently my little mare made an escape. Luckily she is so very simple to catch. However, this made me wonder..and worry.. about one of my larger horses. Whenever my minis escape, I'm able to get their attention by asking them to perform a trick..they do anything for treats. My little mare will lay down if I give her the signal even if she is way out of reach (this gives me enough time to run up and lead her back), and my other mare will trot back and rear up when I give her a verbal cue. However, one of my larger horses has not been trained to perform any tricks. There is a very busy highway along side their paddock. A man just had a horse get hit last week, what a terrible story.

Does anyone have any interesting ways to catch a loose horse? I'm curious about your ideas or stories. I'm sorry if something like this has been posted before, and I thank you for your time and for reading

 

[chandab]

I live off the beaten path, so don't have to worry as much about traffic, but I'll share what I know.

It really depends on the horse and how hard they are to catch in the first place. Easy to catch horses, should let you catch them. But, under tense/scary situations, it might just be best to bribe them with their favorite treat in a bucket, so they are more willing to come to you. You may even want to make it a habit to shake their bucket before you feed them, so they associate the rattle in the bucket with food. [Trust me, they know the difference between their favorite feed and a few little rocks rattling in the bottom of the bucket.]

I'm sure someone will come along with more ideas and possibly even better ideas. Unless, my husband's horses get them going, I can usually catch my horses anywhere, anytime.

 

[dangerranger]

All of our horses have tended to run to us , especially if they are scared. we got our first "wild one"last mothers day.My biggest fear was that she would escape, and we couldnt catch her. we kept her in a dry lot inside a pasture so that if she got out she was still contained. Just now she has started letting us catch her .DR.

 

[Jill]

The other morning for the first time ever, we had one of our horses get loose and off our property. It has been one of my worst nightmares that that could happen...

In this case, it was my show gelding, Bacardi. A tree had fallen on part of the fence of his lot and he got out but none of my other show horses did.

My husband yelled that we had a loose horse when he went out to give the morning hay and I ran for the door and just as I got to it, I see Bacardi galloping towards the yard gate that H was opening!

Apparently, you can call Bacardi anything you want as long as it's not Late For Breakfast. He was very ready to get back where he belongs and I thought it was smart of him to even know that the yard gate was how he could get back to his lot since he's only been through it on foot 1x, and that was last fall when he came here (but he has been hauled through it in a trailer).

If we ever have loose horses again, my first instinct is to grab a bucket of grain. We have had horses get into lots other than their own a couple of times and the bucket of grain has been the quickest way to get them back where they belong.

 

[Miniv]

All of our paddocks and fields eventually end up in our driveway area by the barn, but we have several gates between several of them. However, we do have a couple of paddocks that are directly off so as a precaution we have our driveway set up so we can close it off with three ribbons of Safe Fence that hook onto a post.

In addition, all of our horses know the "magic" sound of a grain bucket when shaken. :bgrin

MA

 

[Bess Kelly]

:lol: the grain bucket, what else?

Mine come as soon as they see it or hear the call.......had a man stop one morning about 6AM to advise some of my horses were out and would I like him to stay and help catch them? Said thanks and I appreciated the offer but, felt I could get them all without any trouble. He must have felt I didn't know what I was talking about as he said there are several of them out! :new_shocked:

Yep, about ten mares. I head to the barn, he sat in his truck sure I'd need him.

:

Little grain in the bucket, shake and yell "come on girls!" up went a head -- shook the bucket again, she started home, the others in hot pursuit :aktion033: Not only did they run home, they went directly into their pen thru the gate that was open. I said thanks, again....he left....they got fed.

:lol: the grain bucket.......a miracle training device.

 

[Jill]

Yep yep... I think of grain as the currency of horses.

 

[dannigirl]

YEP-grain bucket for all of my 'kids' The only ones I have ever had a problem with are just weaned little ones and they have a tendency to stay close to the others in the pen, so it is usually just a matter of working them along a fence until they get to a gate. I got some wilder mares a couple of years ago, but it did not take very long for them to figure out what was in that 'little white bucket'.

 

[ibquackers20]

with mine I whistle a batovan (sp) song just the first 4 beats and they come running in from the pasture, my son gets mad that I do this because at 18 he can not whistle. lol also when they see the white pail sends them running in as well - and yes mine to know the differance between rocks in the bucket/pail - they can be very smart. I have pad locks on all my outside gates especially after loosing 3 to a car killing them at the end of last winter (stranger opened up the gate and let them loose - never did find out who )we also now have cameras as well. hubby said fort knox here

 

[Bess Kelly]

: The little "white" bucket..........I use WHITE for the feed, also

:

They know the difference in the color !!!!!!!! I can take black or green and walk on thru with only an occasional come-see. Take WHITE and I am surrounded in a few seconds :lol:

Of course, in the dark, only the "shake & call" is tell-tale, so it has to be the SAME call. Works on all the animals.

 

[nootka]

If you train for Liberty, it helps to use that "cue" to "come up" if you can.

My stallion/gelding that was clicker trained for this purpose, was always easy to catch. Sometimes he and the mares would get out and they would just be in a "lark" and tails up, prancing around, sampling everything they wanted to.

All I had to do was say, "GTO, come up." and he would either walk over to me or stand waiting for his halter, at which point, he would get a click/treat and off we would go to the pasture, usually with the mares following behind and glaring at him traitorously.

Grain bucket is a number one priority to have in hand whenever I am addressing a loose horse situation (we sometimes come upon them as we are out driving around, and stop to catch/get them from the road), and then it is good to have also a length of some type of lead rope or baling twine, whichever to form a quick halter if you don't have one with.

If you are near a road like that, you would likely want a failsafe backup fence if possible, though I know nothing is 100% perfect.

Good luck!

Liz M.