Ground work for nappy horse

[maxapple]

I'm riding a horse for a friend who was backed last year and was going quite well, but since then has had very little consistent work - and has picked up bad habits. She is very nappy in the school - and its hard to get her to walk nicely never mind trot. We've hacked out once and she was a bit more forward going - but had one napping episode which we resolved by just sitting relaxed until she went forward again.

She is definately the boss around the yard - she is quite pushy with people and is the alpha female of the group. She's a big horse (16.2 ) and knows her size.

I think ground work will be the key to getting her to stop being the boss and listen ... so what would be best to try ...

- Join up (I know the basics but not a huge amount)
- Lungeing in the school
- Long reining

 

[e21631]

I would do all of the above although be careful with long reining as it's easy to get you and horse wrapped in a knot esp. if you're not used to doing it and horse is napping!!

I would also move the horse around you at close quarters ie. pushing quarters/shoulders over, pushing backwards, etc and be very very strict about the horse moving when not asked and always place them back where they were.

Remember napping is a dominance issue and the dominant horses in the herd will move the others around.

I have also found when retraining nappers (is that a word LOL!) that it's more effective to make them turn circles rather than allow them to stand still; they soon get fed up with going round and round on the spot and would rather go forward, whereas to allow them to stand makes it too 'comfortable' for them.

 

[MagicMelon]

When I bought a 3yo a few years ago - he was backed but extremely nappy when I began riding him (he was a serious "new-owner-tester" type horse!). Took me a month just to get him to trot properly and another month to get him to canter properly (as in first time asked and forward, not feeling like the hand brake was on). I did join up with him several times during it which I do with all new horses, not sure if it helps with napping but helps with building a relationship. I just tried to make it really fun for him, so I did some polework and a bit of jumping so he wasn't doing JUST flatwork which he found boring anyway. I also found trotting alongside another horse helped a lot as he obviously wants to keep up. After a bit of work, he was fine and never ever napped again.

 

[Lizzie66]

My daughters first pony was the dominant one in the group, and we found (quite by accident) that when he was kept in a paddock on his own his handling and his behaviour when being ridden improved quite a lot. He stopped napping when being ridden and became a lot easier to catch. It might have been totally coincidental but it could be worth a try !