[tabinmaine]

I would section off the pasture so it's alot smaller and easy for you to run around in...section it off with some electric fencing....
Once she is in a smaller area I would approach with the halter and lead rope like any other day....the second she starts to turn away or run away send her off...I mean chase her... swing your lead rope and halter at her and chase her....then once she stops.... try to walk up to her calmly again...the second she starts off again ...send her away again....and don't stop this until she realises that letting you catch her is ALOT less work for her.... this can get exhausting but it needs to be done...make the pasture small so you can do this and not get too winded...
Eventually she will just stand and let you approach and put her halter on. However it's a game and you have to show her that if she does not let you approach and put the halter on you will make her work... they think they have won because don't have to run around the pasture if they just stand still.... it's a mind game...question is...are you up for it ? hehe

The other thing you can do is make her change directions alot... if she starts running one way.... go the other way and head her off with your lead rope and halter swinging.... make her stop on her haunches, turn and run the other way....do that a few times and then quietly approach her, don't make eye contact, keep your eyes lowered and approach on an angle...not directly in front of her.... if she stays still...put the halter on.... if she runs off.... make it look like it was your idea and get after her !!

[Gare]

Tell your friend she needs to work with her horse more !!! But she also might take a lawn chair and put it in the middle of her pasture and read a book . It will take some time but the horse will come to her with out her trying. Have her ignore the horse and some apple jack waffers sure would be nice to give to the horse when it approaches

[sqshers]

Originally Posted by Gare

Tell your friend she needs to work with her horse more !!! But she also might take a lawn chair and put it in the middle of her pasture and read a book . It will take some time but the horse will come to her with out her trying. Have her ignore the horse and some apple jack waffers sure would be nice to give to the horse when it approaches

Everybody kept telling me this would work... but not once did my girl come to me. And I was out there for HOURS! *humph*

Anyway, tell your friend this isn't going to get fixed any time soon, especially if she isn't going to put in enough time and effort into doing this properly. My mare did this when I first bought her. It took over 2 months before she'd let me catch her in under an hour. And I always won in the end! She was just that hard headed to keep on trying time after time after time. The problem lasted for about a year, but the catch time decreased as the months passed. She has to have the time to put into this. If she doesn't have a few hours on that day to devote specifically to catching her, she shouldn't even try. It does no good to train a horse on a time limit, it just doesn't work that way.

[WashingtonBay]

Bucket with some bites of grain. Whistle and shake the bucket, and they'll come.

I don't chase horses around the pasture. My horse can and has gone 50 miles in a day. I don't think I can beat that.

[sqshers]

Originally Posted by Midnight Felicity

I never siad we left her all night without water, we left her in the arena without hay.
The pasture is big enough that she can run to the other end and it takes us a few minutes to get to her before making her run again.
I DO NOT want her to come to us because we have food. I hate training horses that way. However my friend has tried this and the horse moved just as she was putting the lead rope around her neck.
I think the best thing is to try to go in there and get her and if she runs then make her run more....
We can herd her into the arena which makes it easier to lunge her.

I hear ya... i don't train any of my pets with food. Not the horse, not the dog, not the cat... Oh wait, I did teach my cat to roll over for treats. But not the dog, or the horse!

[WashingtonBay]

I don't have any trouble giving a horse a paycheck for coming when called. I wouldn't work for free either if I had a choice But they get it after, or at least as I have gotten the line around the neck... One bite, then the rest when I have the halter on.

My horses all come to a whistle. I whistle at meal time every day, I whistle and give them something at other odd times sometimes. That's a lot of repetition, so on the odd times that the whistle means work, or the vet, or something unpleasant, or I don't actually have grain or a treat on me... it's not going to outnumber the times when the whistle means something good.

[pittmd]

Originally Posted by mftowner06

I think there was a question presented to CA that was similiar to this and his suggestion would be if you catch your horse then make her feet move and it sounds like you're doing that so his other sugggest would be I think and I would do this if she were my horse. Put her in a round penn and the owner takes her water and she has a certain amount of time to drink after that amount of time take the water away, the owner takes her her grain and she eats while the owner is holding the bucket and do this everyday ...soon the mare is going to figure out that coming to you isn't such a bad thing after all... and she will begin to look for you instead of running away from you! Does that make sense?

This kind of goes against the make the right thing easy and the wrong thing hard approach that CA is always preaching. I think it goes more like if your horse will not let you catch it then make it move and when you do catch it make it easy on it. (I could be wrong on that)
I do not hide the halter/lead rope when going out to get them. if they start to run off I make it my idea and toss the rope at them. Then I walk up part way and stop. I don't look at them just kind of mill around for a few seconds then casually approach. After the first couple of times they just stand there and let me catch them.

[Maisie]

I would go into the pasture as often as possible with no intention of catching the mare (ignoring her in fact) & pretend to be otherwise occupied with something (fencing or whatever) if she gets curious & comes close, talk to her quietly but don't look her in the eye, if she stays move away a few steps & hopefully she will follow, keep talking but make no attempt to halter her ... pet her if you can, give a small treat then leave ... gradually introduce the halter, let her sniff it & gently rub it on her shoulder working slowly up her neck if she will let you, then leave. Do this a couple of times before you put the halter on properly & lead her for a few minutes before letting her off again. The idea is for her to get the idea that she won't be caught & worked every time you enter the pasture, but she will get petted & maybe get a treat too ... pretty soon she will be looking forward to seeing you & will come to you ... not the other way round.

[crayon]

Last year there was a horse that nobody could catch where I used to ride. He was put out in the big pasture for like one day and wouldn't let us catch him. The pasture is a couple acres. Maybe 3 at the most. We tried putting up panels and closing him in when he got in there, but we ended up having to take a long rope "thing" (don't remember what it was. lol.) and everyone that was at the barn at the time. We cornered him in the pasture and yelled at him if he ran towards us. Then somebody went in and caught him. lol. But an area is smaller... I would try the panels. But IMO I actually think the rope idea is easier. Good luck.

[cowgirlnat]

If she does come when you feed, then you might try using a clicker. When it's feed time, click the clicker until she comes up and let her eat. Don't try to handle her or touch her, just let her eat. Do this consistently for a few days then start clicking at other times and give her a treat. I know you don't like treat training, but you're actually conditioning the horse to come to the click, not the treat, you just need the treat as a connector for now. Anyway, keep doing this and gradually introduce the halter. Not until you can put the halter on w/no fuss should you remove the treat and even then, you should only put it on for a few moments and take it off. Eventually she'll come for the clicker and let you halter her. Just be sure to give lots of praise and reintroduce a treat every now and then for reinforcement.

That being said, my favorite and most successful method is the chase method. It really does work better in a smaller pasture w/2 more horses present. If the horse runs when you approach her, then chase her off (swing the lead rope at her, get after her). Make sure you keep yourself between her and the other horses (having 2 is nice b/c they'll stay together rather than run w/her...horses don't like to be alone). Keep after her and when she stops, try to approach her again. Don't tip toe towards her, walk up like you would to halter any other horse. If she runs, chase again, keeping her away from the herd. It may take hours, but if you stick with it the first time, it will be easier the 2nd time. I always put the lead rope over their neck first but am not going to hang on for dear life if they try to run again. I want that horse to stand still when i halter them so they get chased away for anything but that. Once I get the halter on, I would lead the horse up to the gate, stand there for a few minutes and then take the halter off and leave. Not only does this teach the horse that being haltered does not necessarily mean WORK, but it will also teach them that the gate is a happy place. It means rest and release so they'll be more likely to meet you there than run around the pasture.

I did this with my horse and while he doesn't usually meet me at the gate or come up to me, he does stand still when I come to get him. All I have to do is hold the halter out in front of me and he puts his head in it for me. Sometimes if I haven't been out to see him for a while, he tries to test the waters and walk away from me, but all I do is get between him and the other horses walk with him for a few feet, and he stops. I haven't had to chase him off or had him run from me in years.

Now, as much helpful advice as you have gotten, none of it will work if the owner isn't consistent with it. A 1 hour lunge for a horse that is in good shape is nothing, especially if it's just in one direction. The next time you try to wear her down, get her to change directions...a LOT. That requires more energy, but still expect to be out there for a while. Plus, join-up isn't fool proof. I've met a horse or two before who just plain wouldn't join-up. It's like they didn't know how. I could see in their eyes that they wanted to give in but didn't know what to do and I had worked them till they were drenched in sweat and I was having to work hard to keep them going b/c they were so tired. You don't know what people have done to these horses in the past...they might have been trained to NOT approach the trainer. Generally, if the horse will stop and face me and let me approach w/o shying away, I consider that a success for a horse who runs from human contact. There is no one-size fits all for horse training. I've seen some horses who are over-eager to join-up so that they can get out of doing work. They end up crowding the circle on the lunge and then you're confusing the horse by making them keep going after they've done something you rewarded them for before. I'm not saying that join-up is a bad method, but it's not always for every horse.