Question for April 1999 has been answered by  Mandy Robertson  of  South Shore Farm

I have a ten year old red chestnut quarterhorse and she seems to be the hardest horse to catch! We keep her in a fenced in forty acres with three other horses. My mom and I will bring a bucket of alfalfa pellets and try and catch her while tricking her with the treats, as soon as she sees you trying to catch her, she runs away. It's so frustrating! Could you please give us some hints on how to catch her? Thanks!

First of all you need to get your horse into a paddock or smaller field. Forty acres is just to much land for a horse that doesn't want to be caught. Maybe you can see about sending her to a stable where she can get used to a regular routine of coming in to a barn or shelter for breakfast and supper.

Whether you can do this or not take some time off from your regular routine of riding to work on this problem. Start to practice what I call "catch and release". You may need to remove the other horses from your mare's view in order to catch her. When you do just walk her around in a small circle and then let her go again. Put her friends back in the field with her, (keep a hold of at least one of them). Then repeat the process over and over for the next few days. Once she realizes that you are not posing any threat to her she should become easier to catch and let you catch her without removing her friends first.You can gradually increase the amount of time that you spend with her and include grooming, hand grazing and treats.Soon you should be able to resume your regular riding routine, but first make sure that your tack fits her properly and your riding is up to par. And that your are not boring her silly by going around and around a ring.

It's important that your mare enjoys your time together as much as you do. Please let me know how this works for you. I recently used it to great success on a pony that had been badly abused, and was able to catch him easily within a day.Good Luck! Mandy.