Chester, a brumby stallion, wandered out of his home area (home range) and entered an area
where there were streets and houses. He was in danger of being hit by passing cars, which was
also a danger to people in those cars. Chasing him back to where he came from was not in his
best long term interests.
He was trapped in May 2006 and taken away from this area to be gentled for adoption.
Catching Chester
To Home

3A small, almost dry dam where Chester drank from
was chosen as the place to catch him. Chasing him into
yards was not feasible and so he had to be trapped.
Rita is seen here covering up the bottom steel section
of the gateway panel with soil. The actual gate is the
section on the left of the photo with the grey and yellow
jumper hanging off of it.

3 The panels were slowly moved up out of the dam
onto dry ground in such a way that Chester remained
inside.
Lyall-Lindsay slept in the yard with Chester for two
nights, and on the second morning Chester nudged
his head a few times while he was sleeping.
Bonding had started.
Rita is seen here pushing Chester around the yard in
circles until he decided to face up, and so she could
eventually rub and stroke him on the nose.

3 The trap yard was finally set up.
A piece of fishing line was strung across the entrance
to the dam, a little bit behind Rita. The line went to a
trip mechanism off to the right of the photo. When the
line was pushed by Chester the mechanism dropped a
weight which was joined to the rope seen going
above Rita's head to the gate.
When the weight fell the rope pulled the gate closed.
A slam-latch prevented the gate from being opened
once it was closed. In the background small steel
posts can be seen. These posts held the wire netting in place.

3 Rita is seen here haltering Chester.
Chester had a few bits of hide missing;
most probably as a result of fighting
other stallions in the wild.

Rita is seen here approaching Chester. 4
Chester was fairly approachable, and
some times he would come up voluntarily
to Rita. Lyall-Lindsay slept another two
nights in yard before Chester was taken
away in a horse float (trailer).

The trap yard made up of panels is seen here 4
almost completed. The section of dam outside
the yard had to be blocked with wire netting.
It was very difficult joining the panels together
as the ground was so uneven, and so some
panels were joined with only one steel pin, and
ropes had to be tied between the panels also.

Chester is seen here trapped. 4
Other lures to catch a brumby are
food, and a mare in the case of
stallions.

Rita is seen here leading Chester around the yard. 4
Unfortunately Chester was caught near the end of Rita's stay in Australia and so she was unable to
take Chester a long way into training, however she
did also pick up his front and back feet (hooves),
and rubbed and stroked much of his body.