realy simple for you, not so for me

Question
Hi my name is jess, i kind of feel realy stupid for asking this, because it is probably one of the most comen. i've just recentally brought a 9 year old TB, he is georgious in every way except when it comes to me catching him. last time it took me 3 hours, and i have tried every thing under the sun, so it is rather frustrating. please help. any advice would be great. thanks in advance

Answer
Hi Jess!  This is a good one!  First, I want you to find a smaller space to work your horse in.  If you have access to a good round pen or small paddock that would be great.  You can do this same exercise in a large pasture it is just harder on the human!  I'm going to talk to you about "hooking" your horse on.  This means your horse views you as important and a leader worth following.  When you step into the corral with your horse and he looks at you, I want you to come still.  If your horse is not looking at you, looking outside the pen, looking at anything other than you, I want you to get busy.  By this I mean I want you to drive your horse off.  Send him out at at a good trot or lope.  Really turn the heat up.  Keep up the pressure until your horse looks at you.  Really watch carefully because I don't want you to miss the smallest try on the part of your horse.  If your horse cocks an ear in your direction or glances at you out of one eye, get soft and quiet.  As soon as you lose that attention get busy again.  Continue to release the pressure when your horse turns his attention to you, then getting busy when you lose it.  Pretty soon your horse will start to face up on you.  Try and get him to track up on you by slightly turning away from him and taking a step back.  You are working on drawing your horse to you.  If you start to loose your horses attention, try doing a little something to get the attention back.  This may be kicking up a little dirt or slapping your leg to make some noise, anything to bring his attention back.  If you lose your horse totally and he moves away from you, drive him off and start over.  Pretty soon your horse will see that being with you is comfortable and being away form you is hard work.  Make the right thing easy and the wrong thing difficult!

Hi Jess!  How are things going?  Let me know.  Catching up your horse can be a real big deal.  Lots of us can have issues here especially when it is a new horse and no relationship has been developed.  Hang in there!  Give me a shout when you can.  Denise