Advice Needed! Horse/Mule

[Welshies]

I have a mini that wasn't abused, but when I got him, he hadn't been touched in 3 years simply because he didn't want to be touched. You tried to touch him and he would trot away, couldn't even loure him over with treats... Before we took him to my barn, we needed to vaccinate him and get his coggins test pulled, so, we had to get our hands on him. It took us 3 hours of chasing that pony around the field and trying to corner him before we finally got him.... It took over an hour the next time when the vet was there, so it was the girl that owned him, the vet, me, and the vets dog all chasing him and trying to corner him for an hour because the stubborn brat didn't want to be touched...

I had to do that at my place too some, but I have a barn I could run him into and shut the door which made it easier to catch him. Long story short, he doesn't like human attention and found that to avoid it, all he had to do was run away because that is what had worked for the past 3 years. Once he was at my place, I made a point of catching him at least once a day, so he learned that running away from me just meant he was tired when I caught him because I wouldn't stop until I got my hands on him, so he got easier to catch. He STILL doesn't want to be touched, you walk up and he takes a step away and sometimes leaves entirely and has to be chased. I don't catch him daily anymore, but, if I walk by him and he runs away, or I try to walk over and give him a scratch and he walks away, then I do whatever is necessary to catch him and give him a good scratch down (so a reward once caught because he DOES have an itchy chest he likes having scratched).

I mostly let my horses choose their lessons, they run away when I walk up, they get a lesson or 2 on catching nicely and easily. They are rude when I have feed, they get a lesson on how the feed, even in their dish, is my food and I allow them to eat it. At any point I expect to be able to move my horses out of a feed dish and have them stand politely until I let them go back.

Very good insight. I wholeheartedly agree.

 

[Bunnylady]

I mostly let my horses choose their lessons, they run away when I walk up, they get a lesson or 2 on catching nicely and easily.

Amen, sister! If any of our minis give us the ol' "you can't catch me" routine, that means whoever they are avoiding stops whatever they are doing and walks that animal down for some good pets and scritches. If Betsy (my mini mule) ducks her head when someone is petting her (old, old, OLD avoidance behavior; memories of being "eared" before we got her), she will be petted and her ears stroked until she quits.