Napping at competitions

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gable

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My new horse is a bit of a napper. I'm working on this at home and we are getting somewhere.
We went to our first dressage comp today and he warmed up beautifully, very relaxed.
Took him away to do the test and he was a little bugger! Wouldn't go out of the warm up area, away from the other horses, wouldn't go in the test arena at first, then was very sticky during the test, I just could not get him going forward at all. If I'd have took my leg off he would have stopped. I gave him a tickle with the whip, but he just bucked and it made no difference to his way of going.

I don't wear spurs, but wondered if this might help his stickiness during a dressage test for the time being. It is a problem I'm working on at home by doing lots of things on his own, hacking, schooling, taking him away from his mates when tied up, taking his mate away when he is tied up.

I would like to hear your advice or experiences please.

Thanks in advance
 
Well done for getting through the test. I hope you find that the more you expose him to, the more he will relax and trust you. Chester used to be impossible. We then got him fine at home but shows would still cause him to panic and freeze.

The answer was simply to keep plugging away at it. Not easy I know !!
 
Thank you. We actually did ok - we got 60%, which all things considered I think is not too bad. He is usually a lovely forward (sometimes too forward) going little horse, but I couldn't get him going forward in the test for love nor money.
Oh and he neighed all the way round too!
 
My horse is a bit of a napper too. I haven't been to many competitions with her so far, but on a couple of occasions she did nap and chucked in a good few rears. I managed to work through it in the end and found out afterwards that she done it with her previous owner who, I think, let her away with it.

My aim is to get her out more often and just keep working through it until she learns that I will not give in. The most important thing is that you are continually consistent.

I have only had my horse since February and she used to do a lot of napping and rearing when I first got her. I made a few threads about it I think. She hardly ever rears or naps now. She was just testing me, seeing where the boundaries were, trying to see how far she could push me. So it is possible that your new horse is doing the same.

Anyway, good luck and whatever you do, don't give in!
 
he will get better in time,
mine used to do this and still does rear if another horse (his mate/someone he traveled with/anything that takes his fancy/if i chat to anyone etc) leaves him ,he is ok now if i take him away from company i can turn him and he'll go although drags his feet in protest
but if "company" leaves him ,he is a complete nightmare to the point if i'm hacking alone and i/he spots any horse walking away in the distance weather he knows them or not he will start to passage chuck his head about then rear and leap fwd ,i have to turn him around and walk away at this point to avoid a catapult situation :rolleyes:

i "manage" mine and find he is so much better if he travels alone ,warms up in a quiet corner or sometimes ive simply taken him straight in to avoid the situation leaving the warm up

i just kept taking him out and insisted he did as he was told and had a pocket full of sweeties for when he was good ,i did end up on the floor a few times - trot down center line push eject button at x :D and waiting to start at a hunter trial when my idiot friend kept walking about with his mate ,instead of just keeping out of sight or staying where he could see her she kept coming and going winding him up so avoiding this sort of thing will help you

well done for keep going and still good marks ,he's going to be fab once he grows up a bit :D
 
Thank you for your replies.
I hope he gets over it. I love competeing and miss my old horse so much, I just want to get out and enjoy it again
 
Just to what you are doing....keep going.

It might be worth going to a few RC dressage comps HC. Take the pressure of you both until your horse is more confident and understands.

Also spurs can be better than a whip with this.
 
Spurs are good for nappy horses as long as you use them at the right time and in the right way - I used to ride a Dales mare for a friend, she was a rescue case and was a bit nervous of all sorts of things to start with. She took great exception to the whip! When we started going out to dressage comps and she started to nap due to her insecurity, she was much better with a gentle nudge from the spurs than if I tried to slap her with the whip! And it didn't take long until she didn't need them at all.
 
I had a horse that was a dreadful napper. He wasnt scared just plain naughty.

The more you can take them out the more chance he will get out of it. Dont let him get away with it, even if he's scared, he will soon learn he cab do it!
 
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