Napping

[newboult51]

I’ve just (4 weeks ago) purchased a 4 year old Connemara who has been just as you’d expect a baby to be until the last week when he’s started napping in the school. Nothing dangerous just stopping dead and planting his feet. Opportunities to hack out are unfortunately very limited. I want to nip this in the bud before it gets to be a real problem - any ideas ?

 

[blitznbobs]

He needs to get confidence from you drive through it ... it’s the only way - predict where he will nap and get him going forward at that area... if you are not confident to do it on board - get the long reins out but you need to be very strong about this before it becomes an issue

 

[ShowJumperL95]

I feel your pain my boy naps because he lacks confidence. He only naps when we go cross country schooling and sometimes at competitions if we pass the gate then he naps really bad. The thing I found worked was to keep riding positively and to generally be really busy on top big firm kicks, make lots of noise, try not to flap your arms though as this could cause the bit to pull back in his mouth. You need to generate his engine which is hindquarters. As soon as he has moved forwards stop kicking be very still and lots and lots of praise after. He will learn that the reward for him going forward you are nice and quiet. try to keep ridding him confidently and consistently and hopefully the napping will become a thing of the past but unfortunately a napper will always be a napper but is greatly reduced with time! Hope this helps!

 

[SpringArising]

I usually find that horses planting and refusing to move is stubbornness rather than fear. Where in the school is he napping and how do you react?

 

[Cortez]

Ride him forward, REALLY forward - use a dressage whip to back up your leg (this does not mean beating him, and forward does not mean faster), and ride him forward in the whole school. Do it now before it becomes ingrained. Most new horses I've had that were not broken by me will try this ONCE, then it'll never occur to them again. Confirmed nappers will try it more than once, but I've never had one do it a third time. Horses that nap are not properly forward.

 

[newboult51]

To start with it was just going into the school, and been getting round it by riding positively. But its since been at one of the puddles when the school was waterlogged (and IMO ptretty hard going and squelchy) my son was riding him and every time he came to that particular puddle he stopped dead. Don’t think it was fear related.

 

[flying_high]

I cant help but think that hacking out would be good for a 4 year old connie, and only going in the school occasionally. Ideally you want to build strength and fitness from hacking before returning to the school.

 

[Shay]

My daughter's Connie was 4 when we bought him. I'm not sure I'm entirely in agreement with driving forward in all circumstances. He napped by planting. We just took it very gently. He could not go anywhere else. He could stand a look all he liked, the only option was forward. But the aid to forward was gentle and we never held a whip. If it took 30 mins, if it took an hour - we would just wait. It took 6 months but because he has the confidence to look and work it out for himself he really doesn't nap now.

But every horse is different.

 

[Tarragon]

My daughter's Connie was 4 when we bought him. I'm not sure I'm entirely in agreement with driving forward in all circumstances. He napped by planting. We just took it very gently. He could not go anywhere else. He could stand a look all he liked, the only option was forward. But the aid to forward was gentle and we never held a whip. If it took 30 mins, if it took an hour - we would just wait. It took 6 months but because he has the confidence to look and work it out for himself he really doesn't nap now.

But every horse is different.

I do wonder if there is a difference in the pony brain and the horse brain. My instinct was to do what you did with my ponies but I do wonder whether in fact I should have done what Cortez suggested right from the beginning.

In the Ride them FORWARD approach what would the Plan B be if the use of the dressage whip had had no effect?

 

[newboult51]

He definitely has a pony brain though he’s horse sized at 15.1! I wish that we could hack out more often as I too think this would be the best for him but there is very little off road hacking where we are and he’d have to hack out alone more often than not.

 

[AmyMay]

To start with it was just going into the school, and been getting round it by riding positively. But its since been at one of the puddles when the school was waterlogged (and IMO ptretty hard going and squelchy) my son was riding him and every time he came to that particular puddle he stopped dead. Don’t think it was fear related.

What does your son do when this happens?

 

[Cortez]

I do wonder if there is a difference in the pony brain and the horse brain. My instinct was to do what you did with my ponies but I do wonder whether in fact I should have done what Cortez suggested right from the beginning.

In the Ride them FORWARD approach what would the Plan B be if the use of the dressage whip had had no effect?

If you're using it correctly it will have the desired effect.....

 

[Cortez]

My daughter's Connie was 4 when we bought him. I'm not sure I'm entirely in agreement with driving forward in all circumstances. He napped by planting. We just took it very gently. He could not go anywhere else. He could stand a look all he liked, the only option was forward. But the aid to forward was gentle and we never held a whip. If it took 30 mins, if it took an hour - we would just wait. It took 6 months but because he has the confidence to look and work it out for himself he really doesn't nap now.

But every horse is different.

Every horse is different, but if the horse/pony is properly forward - which has to be installed from the very first sit - it won't be thinking of planting as a course of action. First the horse thinks, looks, hesitates, then it stops, then it goes backwards, then it goes up. The moment it even thinks about hesitating - before it thinks, even - is the time to tell it to go forward.

Aids have to be gentle from both sides (human & horse), and that is the end game, after the explaining/training phase.

 

[Pinkvboots]

Ride him forward, REALLY forward - use a dressage whip to back up your leg (this does not mean beating him, and forward does not mean faster), and ride him forward in the whole school. Do it now before it becomes ingrained. Most new horses I've had that were not broken by me will try this ONCE, then it'll never occur to them again. Confirmed nappers will try it more than once, but I've never had one do it a third time. Horses that nap are not properly forward.

This without a doubt I have one that can nap but if you get him really forward and working properly he doesn't do it, I have found he will revert to nap mode with a new rider but as long as they establish it's not an option his fine.

 

[Louby]

My 4 yr old has only lightly hacked, I was advised to do this by the people who backed her or to turn her away for the Summer. She has been a star, then a couple of weeks ago napped whilst out riding, it was like a teenage tantrum but I kept at her with my legs and thankfully she decided to go forward. She did it again the next time, in the same place, this time putting in a couple of bucks, I could tell it was going to happen as she was backing off me so I kept at her and backed up my leg with my schooling whip, hence the bucks I think but we managed to get going again quickly and she was fine then. As Cortez says, they really need to be kept going forwards actively.
I feel for you with the hacking, I had to move yards to have some hacking buddies with her being so young and the hacking isnt great where I now am but at least we are getting out more now than we were before. They do get fed up with going in the school, especially babies. I do do a bit of lunging as I dont always have someone to ride with but its kept very short, tonight we did 5 mins on each rein but I dont do it more than a couple of times a week. Im hoping to get going a bit more over the Winter but she has spent the Summer basically in the field and hacking whenever I can tag along wth someone, prob twice a week.