Trying to catch something that does not want to be caught in a large area is almost impossible especially with other horses winding her up.
We use certain fields for wild or uncatchable hroses which ran back to the yard, so if necessary we can bring the herd in loose or catch everything else and let the uncatchable one follow them in.
Once in a stable we can handle the pony much easier, sometime it does take two people to initially catch it, once caught we make a big fuss of them etc and after a few times they start to relax.
If you are unable to do this the only option is to build a small corral in one part of the field. Once you have this, you then have to get her in it, will she follow one of the other horses (a special friend) or can you drive her in, or she may follow a bowl of feed?
Once you get her going in, take to feeding her in the corral (you may need to keep someone in with her at first as she may panic on her own) Whilst we don’t believe in expected titbits, they can be very useful in gaining a horse’s trust. Once she is in a small area you can build the trust much easier than you can in a large area as will not have the option to run away as easily.
When trying to catch her, be careful not to make direct eye contact, never face up to her (in horse language this is telling her to go away) keep your body at an angle to hers, every movement and your voice should be calm and slow. Time and patience is the key.
Initially we try to get a leadrope over the neck, once she is accepting this you can work up to putting the headcollar on, the reason she is wary of her ears is that she does not yet trust you and that is one area she cannot see, she is not necessarily headshy, once the trust comes this should improve.
