Napping?

[icklemadame]

I've come across this with my mum's ponies some of whom have a real 'herd' instinct' - all 34 live together as a herd and certain members to have a tendency to 'hang for home' or just don't like hacking out alone, but I've always put it down to them being used to always having their friends with them... but this is the only experience I've had of napping.

So... why would a horse start to do it for no apparent reason? One of ours (who is at livery and has never been part of the riding school herd environment) has just started to nap - to the point he went backwards through a fence?? Any ideas? How can you solve this?

 

[Tierra]

Has he changed rider recently? Or has the rider lost confidence ?

Horses often nap due to a lack of confidence. This can either be because they're being asked to move away from their herd instincts (as you already mentioned), or if a rider is very nervous to the point of upsetting the horse.

You should also keep in mind that a reluctance to move forwards can be due to pain (either an actual physical problem or a tack related issue).

Id be doing a physical check and a tack check first up and make sure theres no physical reason as to why this horse suddenly doesnt want to move forwards.

From there id be looking at the rider most likely (not in a bad way, it doesnt mean he / she is being awful, but if they've lost their confidence and arent riding forwards positively, it can result in nappy behaviour).

It can be really quite hard to school out of also and usually requires some very positive riding as nappy horses can become quite intimidating to ride.

 

[icklemadame]

He's done it with more than one rider and all of them were confident and not at all worried by it - but he did go out on loan for a couple of weeks and although they said they had no problems with him he's come back napping... I think he's been allowed to get away with it with them so is now trying it on but we will check for pain/tack issues... any ideas how to solve it??

 

[serena2005]

i hate it when they go backwards iv had 2 that have done it.

the 1st started doing it after she had a fall out on a hack, she fell in the road and cantered off in the wrong direction away from home without me!
i tried a few things with her, just sitting there and asking nicely for her to stop and move on, then i got bored of that and it seemed it got to the point where she was just doing it for the sake of it, so i she got a whip everytime she did it, and the shock of the 1st one seemed to send her forwards quite sharpish, and once i had got her going forward id get her working so she had to think about working rather than messing about.

the other one i had did it when ever he was on his own, be it going to the school or towards the gate to go on a hack, and if i even showed him a whip he would rear and buck. now the owner told me to not let him get away with it but i generly think he was scared just because he had never done anything, so i led him everywhere, and he used to do it even when i led him, but id have a pocket of polos and give him one everytime he walked again, and he soon realised he didnt need to be scared. it did take over a year to atempt a hack out alone, which i think he only stopped once.

you have to work out why hes doing it. is he just being naughty of does he seem worried about something.

 

[pagancluf]

Ditto the lacking confidence with rider or because something has happened. Many people say get off and lead - then the others say if you do that the horse has won?? Mine does it at the railway line - have gone over backwards at one point? The funny thing is he does it on the way out on a hack BUT NOT ON THE WAY HOME - is he trying to tell me something?!?!?

 

[loobiloo]

Completely sympathize with the whole napping backwards thing. My mare and I argued over this for a year! She could run just as fast backwards as she could canter forwards and it was so unnerving, especially with ditches behind us

Every time I asked her gently (or forcefully) to move forwards once she'd done it once on a hack she's do it 10 fold worse and if I smacked her she bucked! Of course it went in a horrible cycle - the more she did it the more I was expecting her to do it so she did it worse! I have no idea why it has stopped. If she naps now she doesn't run backwards (does the normal sideways spin!) but trusts me enough to carry on going when asked. I suppose I was patient and persistent. It has taken a long time for us to trust each other - maybe going on loan has upset the horse more than you have thought - being removed from his herd and then returning. However it could just be he's got away with it and trying his luck!