How to deal with a nappy 5yo

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santander

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Our new boy is very nappy when hacking alone. He'll go along ok until an 'issue' crops up and then he plants all four feet together and refuses to go forward. I dealt with it yesterday by getting my friend out to give him a slap from behind but today I had to get off and lead him past the offending object. I was gutted but I'd tried several good thumps with the leg and quite a few cracks of the whip.

Any ideas for next time ?:confused:
 
How does he respond to your voice? I find lots of growling followed by lots of good boy the second they stop napping is very effective.
 
Been in this situation and i sympathise,

if he will go forward from a tap/growl/kick or whatever carry on doing that, if he still continues to plant himself be very careful how hard you push as its a short step away from him learning to go up.

easiest method ive found with youngsters is if they plant, open one of your reins out to the side and do some very small circles (this will give you some movement and prevent him from learning to go up to evade what your asking him to do) then after a few turns (they need to be very small and you can do these without being rough or harsh - maybe try using a snaffle with cheeks?) send him FORWARDS, it can be in any direction even if its not exactly where you intended to go, the main thing is they learn to go forwards. If he still plants when you ask to go forwards do you turns the other way and so on. They soon learn life is far to difficult if they jib and nap and most will give in pretty soon. stick with it, good luck!
 
Thank you. It feels awful to be standing in the middle of the road kicking and whacking i HATE it. I think - is this really what has to be done to bring on a young horse? Because if it is I'm not sure I'm cut out for it :(
 
I have found it takes a long time and requires big commitment. When 5 yo came back into work this spring after 6 months off while I had a baby I hacked him out every single day on his own. To start with we would rein back whenever we had an issue, and then when I was really sure he was just being a prat I started insisting with my legs, stick and voice. At a Lucinda Green clinic he was refusing to do anything at the start and she told me I must give him a 'frame' of behaivour to work in. The moment he steps outside that frame eg is disobedient he must be punished with hand, leg and stick untill he submits, then be rewarded. I always sat quietly if he ran backwards or reared, but by doing that I was effectivly rewarding those behaviours, so on the rare occaisions he has a moment now, I am constantly at him with the spur, until he submits. Not hard enough to mark him, but hard enough to make him want it to stop. I try and have
Positive mental attitude, consistency and determination as I are sure it is naughty and not pain/fear related. Also I wont compete him until I am sure his issues are right behind us, so I am just doing clinics and schooling outings, as I don't want him to think he can nap and get to go home without doing as he is told! Good luck!
 
I saw a thing on rural tv once about a horse that refused to go in the sea (not quite the same but the horse was very nappy about it) Keep the horse facing the way you want it to go but turn left and right zig-zaging, always turning into the direction you want to head gradually getting the horse to edge further along.

I tried this with my horse when he planted and refused to walk down the village road after bolting up it when we came across a digger coming at us. I tried all the usual and was starting to worry i would have to give up but i tried this and it worked. After a couple of zigzags when he realised i wasnt going to turn him around the way he wanted to go he gave up and we carried along the offendiing road ! Obviously this may not work in all situations i.e busy roads but just thought id suggest it :)
 
Thing is if you sit there booting and smacking a lot of horses will just shut down on you and it doesnt help (of course there are plenty of other situations where a healthy smack will do the trick, I am by no means a pony patter!)

the circling method is pretty good and i used it with a 5yo tb mare who was simply vile and her way out was to plant and if the pressure got too tough, go up vertical. It soon sorted her out although I had spent months not knowing what to do until I got this advice from a very good instructor.

if when hacking you do see in 'issue' ahead try and get you leg on and be positive well before it (even try bending him slightly away from offending object) and hopefully you'll get past, if he plants, spin those circles.

dont fret too much, a lot of horses go through a stage like this and most grow out of it, you just need to be firm but fair!
 
Bentley gave a very faint indication of this sort of behaviour a few weeks ago and my immediate reaction was to kick, which did nothing.

As others have suggested I found that talking to him like I do when leading or lunging him got the best reaction, especially when he was worrying/being a monkey :p :)
 
I have had lots of mornings like that! It is horrible. I go out at 7am cos the baby is asleep, but is good cos there is no-one around - less to make them misbehave and less people to watch if they do. I have to say i have brilliant hacking and would never have managed mine if I had to hack him on main roads.
 
santander said:
Our new boy is very nappy when hacking alone. He'll go along ok until an 'issue' crops up and then he plants all four feet together and refuses to go forward. I dealt with it yesterday by getting my friend out to give him a slap from behind but today I had to get off and lead him past the offending object. I was gutted but I'd tried several good thumps with the leg and quite a few cracks of the whip.

Any ideas for next time ?:confused:
Click to expand...

Is he the type of horse to get bored and give up? If so, I found that sitting still until they walk forwards worked well with Mouse when he was in a mood. I have a rule with all of my horses when I hack - you can have as much of the road as you want (obviously unless something is coming!) but you do not rear, buck or go backwards/spin.

If they are refusing to go forwards then keeping them still really confuses them. If they then try to go backwards/spin/turn then, as above stated, turning in small circles/turning them back cures it. Just keep very open hands so that they have limited side-to-side movement in their heads.

Good luck!
 
I would definitely try using your voice. With my boys, if I see an issue I start chattering to them (about a load of rubbish, it's just important for them to hear the sound of your voice). As we get closer, I praise them. If we plant and kicks/sticks etc are ineffectual I growl at them which usually does the trick

Apart from that, definitely try the posts above and hopefully he will grow out of it.
 
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