Can you really 'cure' a horse of napping?

Yes of course they get better, I've had my horse 8 years and when I got him he was fat, lazy, stubborn and napped constantly on hacks. We are now at a point where he is 100% bombproof on hacks, never stops and even had a novice sharer over summer. As Princess Sparkle says I was slightly nervous he would revert back to his napping ways with a less firm rider but I'm pleased to report she never had any issues with him. So I would say his napping is completely cured. :)
 
NellRosk said:
Yes of course they get better, I've had my horse 8 years and when I got him he was fat, lazy, stubborn and napped constantly on hacks. We are now at a point where he is 100% bombproof on hacks, never stops and even had a novice sharer over summer. As Princess Sparkle says I was slightly nervous he would revert back to his napping ways with a less firm rider but I'm pleased to report she never had any issues with him. So I would say his napping is completely cured. :)
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I think it depends why the napping, and how entrenched it is, and how long horse got away with napping for.

If horse was an opportunist, that susses rider out – probably will always try with a weaker rider

If napping was due to a physical issue – if fixed, napping may substantial disappear

If napping was due to a lack of confidence, again may substantially disappear if horse gains confidence.
 
wingedhorse99 said:
I think it depends why the napping, and how entrenched it is, and how long horse got away with napping for.

If horse was an opportunist, that susses rider out – probably will always try with a weaker rider

If napping was due to a physical issue – if fixed, napping may substantial disappear

If napping was due to a lack of confidence, again may substantially disappear if horse gains confidence.
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In R's case he had been allowed to nap for about 3 years with a nervous rider. So I would say he was an opportunist and it was due to lack of confidence because of the nervous rider. However he has had 'weaker' riders on him but due to him being hacked out properly and consistently for 8 years he is now fine and I would class him as a schoolmaster out hacking.
 
Mine hasn't done it in years, and he was a determined napper once upon a time. However, he isn't really a suitable ride for anyone nervous, so that has never been tested.

Another loan horse needed to be hacked by a confident and capable person occasionally otherwise he tended to revert, but was fine for nervous or novice riders most of the time. In his case though he would plant or slowly turn for home so it wasn't a terribly scary prospect.
 
My new horse planted on Sunday, we just stopped for a good 20 mins, he didn't win, he didn't really move much to be fair but I didn't go home just waited being fairly useless as it goes until we carried on... I've spoken to his old owner about it and she has said he will be better in summer with more of a routine / regular work. Thing is I wanted him to be able to be hacked out by my teenage daughter as her pony will not go alone (ex-polo and at the ripe old age of 21 this year probably wont change anytime soon) not sure he's going to be able to do it now... I suppose one nap doesn't a napper make and all that, i'll see this weekend if he does it again.
 
Of course you can "cure" napping; it's simply a horse being disobedient to the forward aids (or, more likely, not receiving any forward aids).
 
I really hope it can be cured, I have a determined napper. We are currently re-exploring all the physical options again (had back checked, saddler booked, teeth checked etc) to make sure nothing has changed. Round and round in circles we go - well actually no - its normally plant, bronc, throw head as high in air as possible and prance, buck, reverse at speed, spin and drop shoulder, or just completely and utterly ignore me and carry me home!!

Stupidly I know the answer - he's knows when I am nervous and it makes him nervous too :-( Really I need the cure for my nerves to be able to cure his napping
 
Hi Cortez, you are indeed right unfortunately in my case. My last horse after a huge gap was a very very forward going ex-racer and you simply couldn't give forward aids, or rather never needed to. She felt like she anticipated your wishes and reacted accordingly - apart from walking not jogging! We never mastered that. My new boy you do need to use leg on, we were around 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile into our ride when the plant happened. I had my leg on him the whole way - which I'm going to add here is quite hard work - but I am by no means an expert. I could feel his reluctance a good 50 yards before he stopped and I don't think, I could have done anything differently?
I think it may be a confidence thing, him with me, me with him, him alone in a new place? I'm no amazing rider - I freely admit to this, but I'm no novice either. Just need some reassurance and good practical advice I can put into play next ride to ensure I nip this one in the bud now :)
 
As said Yes they can be cured - with a competent rider on board, but as soon as they have one they feel they can boss around they will start again.

Napping is one of those things that you have to take into account WHY they are doing it, and having the experience to treat the cause, not just the symptoms as it were.

It also depends on what they do, planting and reversing is one thing, spinning, rearing, bucking, chucking themselves on the floor in a panic or a downright paddy is another. There are only so many times you can hit the floor, with or without the horse, before you start thinking "I've had enough of you Bucko!"

I foolishly bought a lovely pony from a riding school once, he was awful, herdbound to the hilt, I would have to lead him away from the barn and the moment you let go of him he was off, back to his buddies. Useless, and he scared the wits out of my daughter - when I rode him he would bronc every step of the way, in temper! I tried everything that has ever been suggested, and then some, nothing worked. In the end I sold him to a summer camp, where he has lots of little girls and boys dangling all over him and he goes nose to tail, happy as a pig in muck now, they've had him 6 years, he is a huge favourite, and he will die there I suspect. He was a lovely pony (Haffy though, stubborn as stink ) just should never, EVER, have been sold out of the group environment, and I was a mug to buy him, I knew better. Lesson re-learned.

Most, I think, can be trained out of it if you give them the confidence, others, like mine, No. He would have fought to his last breath, it just isn't meant to be, he's happy and useful now, and I am happy that he is happy.
 
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I think napping can be improved but given the right situation it's probably always going to be there to potentially be reverted to (eg after prolonged time off or if horse is sold to a more nervous rider).

My horse refused to leave the yard alone at one time (had the very effective tactic of rearing and spinning which given at the time he'd only just gotten over a prolonged lameness and was supposed to be just doing gentle walking in straight lines and the spot he was choosing to do it was on dodgy ground where there was a risk of slipping made it very hard to push him through it) and would even try to plant when led out inhand.

Took a lot of time of leading him on the same, short circular route on quiet roads for months to get him to the point I was happy to try him ridden. First attempt was a very short route and involved a fair bit of stop starting and I needed my leg on him every stride to keep him moving. We've just been building from there really.

He will still stop and plant and try to spin for home (and will rear if you push him in the wrong way) if we come across something he's not happy about but we're getting there. We can now pass objects such as diggers, roadworks signs, skips and plastic bags of doom. We can also now trot and canter out alone which used to be impossible. I still wouldn't trust him on stretches of busy road on his own as we do still have the odd argument which is fine on a quiet road with a low speed limit where I have plenty of time to get safely out of the way of any cars but less fine on a 40mph road with reasonable amounts of traffic!

He was and is a spooky and sensitive horse generally (mostly at moving objects) and I'm not the most gifted or confident rider in the world hence why progress has been very very gradual, also he was being rehabilitated from lameness at the same time so that also dictated the speed of our progress
 
I think it depends on why they nap, and their age.

case 1: My 5yr old napped 'for england' hacking when I first had him, mainly down to age and lack of confidence, mixed with a bit of attitude! It took a lot of determination and guts from me, (and I am not the most confident of jockeys), but we got there in the end. He now hacks out alone very well, and although has the occasional 'plant', can usually persuade him forward within seconds, and minimal fuss.

case 2: I stupidly bought an ex race horse when returning back to horses after a break - he was angelic when I tried him and took him for a lovely hack with the YO and never thought to ask if he would hack alone. When I got him home I could not get him to hack alone - I had many people try to help, vet checks etc, but as soon as he was asked to leave the yard he reared. One day I lost it with him and he kicked a car, and then realised I had a problem on my hands. A very experienced friend bought him off me for pennies, but she couldn't resolve it either, and he ended up as a hunter, and did a good job as was always in a 'herd'. He was 12yrs old when I bought him and imagine the habit was very deeply ingrained by that age.
 
Many ex-racehorses have never been ridden out alone; they are generally trained in strings. Many TB's are also, counter-intuitively, not actually forward in the true sense of the word, nor used to the use of legs to send them forward. Many people mistake jogging and pulling for forwardness, whereas it's merely disobedience. A horse which has been properly trained will go forwards when told to do so and won't argue (nap), but the rider must be able to make him to so or the horse will simply say "no" whenever he feels like it. It's just proper training.
 
Yes, my old quarter horse (in the US, as per other thread) used to give me a very hard time, as she had elevated balking into an art form the first year (at age 13) owned her. After improving her response to the forward aids, my riding, and sorting out a few other issues, the balking stopped and she became a straightforward, reliable horse.
 
No, I don't think you'll ever 'cure' a napping horses, just work through it. It will always be a Go To behaviour when something goes wrong. It's in the nature of some horses and others won't even consider it. Bit like rearing.

I ride a variety of different horses and some have a napping tendency and others don't. One was so stubborn she was dangerous sometimes and even when being good, it was always lurking. Bombproof, totally laidback and very sensible and sane but seriously nappy, backwards thinking attitude. Another horse was as spooky and sharp as hell, a genuine woose and scared of his own shadow but napping didn't even occur to him as a possibility.
 
I just posted on the other napping thread saying that I never gave a second thought to buying horses that dont hack alone aka nappers, even though nearly all my riding was hacking alone. Nappers are easily fixed. The ones I'd have given a bit more thought to are the very sharp horses who hack happily but over react to everything. I like to hack on the buckle in a world of mine own, not worry about if I'm going to get ditched with a spin and bronc manoeuvre :lol:
 
Yes you can cure it. It shouldn't be a problem for any competent rider but many people make simple mistakes through ignorance which make it become an engrained habit. I bought my last horse very cheap as she was a napper and within three days I hacked her out alone. I had very few problems with her and within a month she did not even dream of napping.
 
Ned was a SERIOUS napper when I first started riding him. Some of you may remember that I couldn't even get him to the gate without jamming him behind another horse. Even when out riding in a group, he wouldn't go in front and in the school he wouldn't stray from the group.
When I did finally get him out of the gate, he would often rear and try to turn around. He gradually gave up after I forced him to go further and faster when he had his strops (I once went for miles at a fast trot because he kept stopping!)

He will still try it on these days, but very infrequently. Usually I can stop it by a leg yield or a short sharp growl, but if he's being persistent, a good firm kick in the ribs will send him forwards and using the reins to block his turns. I haven't had to use that trick since the first ride out at my new place and he was trying his luck.

Good luck! I know how frustrating it can be!
 
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Prince33Sp4rkle said:
yes but the caveat is that as soon as a less determined rider gets on, they normally revert back to napping to push the boundary again!
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^^^ This. I think napping is a learnt vice and can be got over with confident riding and some time and perseverance but IMO horses have a 'go to' default setting that they will revert to given the opportunity.
 
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