How to stop his silly Napping?! *Long*

3Beasties

3Beasties

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Some of you will know that Charlie has recently been off work for 8 weeks due to a virus. Before his time off he had started being very nappy, in company and when alone, we put this down to the fact that the virus made him feel so lethargic and weak that he just didn't want to work (his virus was undiagnosed for a while).

He has now been back in work for about 3 weeks and although he feels much better in himself he is still napping at times.

I have only hacked him out once on his own since he has been back in work and he was really forward going and spooky, no napping at all just lots of shooting sideways/forwards etc.

In company he is still napping and it seems to be when the other horses drop behind, Charlie will suddenly spin round and shoot in the opposite direction to what we were going, it's always seems to be when we are coming up to the gateways of houses (the road he is really nappy down has a lot of mad dogs jumping at the gates) or if we stop to let a car past. He has never been bothered by dogs before though, even when they have been snapping at his legs!

I 'think' I may also have made his napping worse by stopping him quite often to let the horses behind catch up (TB the same size as him is always way behind
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) but since he has been back in work I have stopped waiting for them as it really wasn't helping Charlie.

What is most frustrating is that he has never been a nappy horse, he has on occasion been known to spin round and charge off down the road at something really spooky but now it's for no real reason. He always used to hack out on his own but now due to where he is I am hacking out with company most days.

I've work out that I can get him going forward more by carrying a schooling whip rather then a shorter crop so will make a point of taking that out with me until he gets over the problem.

When he spins he will not turn back in the way he span from ie. if he spins anti-clockwise I have to complete the circle, he blocks the other direction (clock wise) and I think he would rear if I pressed him any more. I tend to get him facing the way I want to go, give him a smack, a few pony club kicks if needed and then off we go again (usually with lots of growling and swearing as well
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) Sometimes I make him trot as if he is really playing up as he will go forward more.

He has had all the usual checks done, the vet thinks he is taking the P!ss but said if I haven't got it sorted in a month we will do a bute test on him.

How can you tell weather a horse is taking the p!ss or is generally in pain?

Do you think my theory as to why he is napping makes sense?

Any advise on how to get over this problem as it is driving me MAD!

If you made it this far well done, if you understood all my rabbiting on an even bigger well done, you earned yourself some banana's dipped in Cadbury's Chocolate with sprinkles on top!
 
banana's dipped in Cadbury's Chocolate with sprinkles on top

WTF?!
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What sorts of food do you eat... When I come and visit we are going to macdonalds, you are not feeding me
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No idea about Charlie, but hope you do find out/find a way to make him better
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You do make me laugh!
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LMAO, I went to Cadbury's world on Friday and they were giving out samples of warm melted dairy milk, It was GORGEOUS! I have now become slightly obsessed with it and am having it with EVERYTHING
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ETA - The banana's make it healthy
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Sorry , not much advice to offer but if it helps, my horse is exactly the same!!

He's good in company and will hack out for hours on his own quite confidently, but in company he just will be infront for the majority of the time, but duck behind the other horse as the "easy " way to get out as he can just follow the tail infront. It is VERY annoying so I can sympathise! I also ride him in spurs though (I ride all the time in just roller-ball ones) to give him a bit more of a confident "move on!" nudge and also carry a schooling whip.

I also have to spin a whole circle before we can continue
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I can't give you a comprehensive answer but there were a few points in your OP I picked up on, so here goes...

The way he naps - the spinning one way and not going back the other way - thats exactly what my mare will do if she ever naps. have you considered trying a grackle noseband? IME 'blocking' one side of their jaw is often related to jaw crossing - does he ever do this?

When my mare does it, I can stop her with the opposite rein, if I catch her very early. By lifting the rein upwards and outwards, and even using your leg on the opposite side (if he spins right, use your left leg) to straighten her body up. If we were somewhere where it was risky to start an argument I'd turn her the way she wanted to go, in a full circle. It has never done her any harm, to let her do her full circle before continuing.
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Trotting for a bit is a good idea, as would be going out with another horse in front to boost his confidence, and just keep riding forwards forwards the whole time.

Do you have space to ride two abreast? My mare spins to the right and my friends' would spin to the left, so we rode side by side with my horse on the left so they would block each other.

What is he like on the way home? Another thing I found with my mare, is that she is always keen on the way home. So on her nappy days, I'd keep riding her further and further away from home until she finally stopped napping. Only then would we head home, and I found that if it was a good hour or so to get home she'd be much more relaxed and confident by the end of it. does that make sense? Basically, while he's wound up and nappy, don't take him home. If you have a long, smooth ride home I found both of us felt a lot more positive about the experience.

Sorry, thats not the greatest reply ever, but essentially - I'd get everything checked and if he isn't in pain, just don't ever let him get away with it and don't take him home until he's quiet, even if it takes all day to get a mile down the road. Avoid the situations that trigger his napping, use whatever means you can to point him in the right direction again and keep pushing him forward.

Touching wood, my mare no longer naps out hacking - if she's worried about anything she walks faster, as she's learnt that forwards is the only way she's allowed to go. It didn't take a huge amount of time to break the napping habit either - maybe two or three months.
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[ QUOTE ]
I can't give you a comprehensive answer but there were a few points in your OP I picked up on, so here goes...

The way he naps - the spinning one way and not going back the other way - thats exactly what my mare will do if she ever naps. have you considered trying a grackle noseband? IME 'blocking' one side of their jaw is often related to jaw crossing - does he ever do this?

[/ QUOTE ]

He does cross his jaw but he hates being restricted by a flash or grackle, it makes him rear
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I did wonder if a bit with full cheeks would help?

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When my mare does it, I can stop her with the opposite rein, if I catch her very early. By lifting the rein upwards and outwards, and even using your leg on the opposite side (if he spins right, use your left leg) to straighten her body up. If we were somewhere where it was risky to start an argument I'd turn her the way she wanted to go, in a full circle. It has never done her any harm, to let her do her full circle before continuing.
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I'll give that a try although he spins so suddenly and fast that I am always to slow to stop it, I will have to keep working on that!

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Trotting for a bit is a good idea, as would be going out with another horse in front to boost his confidence, and just keep riding forwards forwards the whole time.

Do you have space to ride two abreast? My mare spins to the right and my friends' would spin to the left, so we rode side by side with my horse on the left so they would block each other.

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If another horse goes ahead when he naps he is fine and will follow happily, the problem is when he is going forward he is forward going and is usually at the front of the others, I ride out with ponies/children (apart from the slow TB) so they can't really stay ahead all the time.

We do ride two abreast at times but again the others tend to slowly drop back.

After one particularly bad ride I got Little Jockey to come out with me the next day on her Wizzy pony, I told her to stay next to me all the time (if safe to do so) and we did exactly the same ride we had done the day before. Charlie didn't Nap once which is when it suddenly clicked that it was when the others were behind that I had a problem.

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What is he like on the way home? Another thing I found with my mare, is that she is always keen on the way home. So on her nappy days, I'd keep riding her further and further away from home until she finally stopped napping. Only then would we head home, and I found that if it was a good hour or so to get home she'd be much more relaxed and confident by the end of it. does that make sense? Basically, while he's wound up and nappy, don't take him home. If you have a long, smooth ride home I found both of us felt a lot more positive about the experience.

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He very, very rarely naps on the way home, lots of spooking but in a good forward thinking kind of way! I like the idea of keeping him out until he stops napping but think we may end up being out all day
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Will give it a go at the weekend when I have more time though!

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Sorry, thats not the greatest reply ever, but essentially - I'd get everything checked and if he isn't in pain, just don't ever let him get away with it and don't take him home until he's quiet, even if it takes all day to get a mile down the road. Avoid the situations that trigger his napping, use whatever means you can to point him in the right direction again and keep pushing him forward.

Touching wood, my mare no longer naps out hacking - if she's worried about anything she walks faster, as she's learnt that forwards is the only way she's allowed to go. It didn't take a huge amount of time to break the napping habit either - maybe two or three months.
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It's a great reply thanks, at least it gives me hope that I will get him over it and he isn't the only silly beast that does/did it
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He does the walking faster thing too when we are heading for home! I am sure it will all work out eventually!

Thanks for your reply
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Oh dear, what a frustrating problem!

I don't have much advice to offer. I was always told to try to unwind spinning horses back the way they came from rather than allow them to complete the circle, not sure why it works but it seems to make them less likely to think they have gotten away with it. Would a running martingale make things easier for you in this respect? Or a pair of spurs?

A bute test can be really helpful in at least eliminating pain as a possible cause and if the behaviour is really uncharacteristic it might be worth a try.

Good luck!
 
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Oh dear, what a frustrating problem!

I don't have much advice to offer. I was always told to try to unwind spinning horses back the way they came from rather than allow them to complete the circle, not sure why it works but it seems to make them less likely to think they have gotten away with it. Would a running martingale make things easier for you in this respect? Or a pair of spurs?

A bute test can be really helpful in at least eliminating pain as a possible cause and if the behaviour is really uncharacteristic it might be worth a try.

Good luck!

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Yep I was always told to 'unwind' them but with him it is virtually impossible
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He is ridden in a running martingale but I haven't tried him with spurs since he came back into work, will dig them out and give them another try!

If he doesn't improve then we will definitely try a Bute test, I need to give it a bit more time first and the vet wants me to make a diary to see if we can get a pattern to his behaviour.
 
My horse used to do that at the start of XC rounds and at any point where we turned from home (and still does to an extent). I learnt very quickly that punishment was useless because if I hit him, kicked him, growled, etc. he just reacted badly and got worse. In the end I just tried to keep him facing forwards, and kept a constant pressure on his sides. I also became very aware of poits where the rearing/ spinning would start and now I start slapping him on his shoulder and turning him away earlier with a hardr pressure. This works pretty well, because he either reacts to the 'punishment' and pisses about rom that and forgets he wants to go home, or he gets a bit more pumped on adrenilin and keeps going with minimal napping.

He's an old boy, so I don't know if these tactics would work with your lad- I could be cross with my horse gbecause he is very experienced and knew a hell of a lot better!
 
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