With fall riding coming around the corner, grabbing the horses and going will be a thing. In this big pasture at the VO, we definitely need a catch pen for an easy grab and go. We've had something that worked, but as I stoped by today, a new idea came to mind.
My horses live most of their days wild and free. They need to be confined before they remember they are a horse and have work to do. Catch pens are a necessary ingredient to making that transition happen.
I dawned on me today, if I add one more panel, and swing this gate the other way, I got a ready made tap to catch a horse.
Just grab some oats from the barn if I didn't bring my own.
Close the gate behind you.
Open the gate to the pasture and holler for the horses.
They'll come running if they smell oats but no work. Then just close the gate behind them. If you do this enough when you don't need them, then the day you do need them, they'll know no difference.
Jeremy's sorrel is looking good.
Chief always stands lean and mean. I notice his tail is getting shorter. Believe it or not, he is a full blood appaloosa. Maybe he is starting to show his true colors.
No lean and mean here, but Mollie is definitely ready for work.
After I fed them and looked them all over, I just open the gate and let them back out. Thinking they are getting away, it's a dead sprint.
Mollie is one horse I wouldn't stand in the way of.
Chief darts at any opening he can find.
Gone with the wind.
Good stuff. You've got to know your horses. Catching mine out in the open is risky business. Best set yourself up for success by setting up a catch pen. This guy should do. All I have to do is stop and throw them a little grain on my way home from celebrating Mass in Clearmont. Then the day I do need them, I'll just put a halter on instead of letting them loose. Ranchin'.
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