Really Frustrated with Napping Teaching a horse to gallop?

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Hi - Spotted Cat I have been told lots of times to abandon hope with him!!
But he is a dressage horse - but it is important for him to do it well and he will never go correctly if he won't just go forward freely.

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I have sent you a PM.

I am assuming he has the breeding for a dressage horse, but this dosent actually mean thats what he wants to do!! Does that make sense? Do you jump him or do fun things with him? Loose schooling? Loose jumping? These should all help free him up, also lunging in a pessoa as this will work him correctly but loosely and you can concentrate on getting him going forwards.

Its not abandoning, its doing the right thing......
 
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Me three.

Never, ever again. I spent a fortune at vets/trainers, everything. Then I got rid and got a nice uncomplicated horse who went Novice in his second season eventing despite neither of us having evented before.

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Me four......
 
I havent read all the posts so please excuse me if i ask questions that have already been answered.

Your horse sounds similar to my Dressage horse, when i bought him he was the nappiest horse i had ever met. He did rear & would throw himself over to get out of doing anything. If i lunged him he would throw himself on the floor. He would not go forward for no-one.

I took him right back to basics, lot's of groundwork which was quite basic stuff getting him to mve his feet when asked basically just getting him to respect what i asked. Then moving on to a Richard Maxwell technique called rope circling.

When i did start the ridden side he was still not forward at all. So i introduced Clicker Training just simple things of getting him to go from one side of the manage to the other with me egging him on vocally then on reaching the other side i would stop & treat. He soon cottoned on to the game & now will happily go from stand to gallop to get the treat lol.
I also use CT work when lunging he will really put a lot of effort in if he thinks he's being paid for it. Timing is everything with CT work, i was lucky as ive trained Dogs with CT so understood the timing aspect.

My horse no longer naps or rears & has qualified for BD regionals every year since. I still will play games occasionally & he still is treated after ever ride. However it wasnt an easy road & there where lot's of ups with very big downs.

I would however recommed if you want to try with this horse to get Richard Maxwell out he will help with the Napping as you do have to get the horse out of his backward thinking for him to even start to respect the leg.

P.S it's the Chestnut in my Sig who was the demon horse lol.
 
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I took him right back to basics, lot's of groundwork which was quite basic stuff getting him to mve his feet when asked basically just getting him to respect what i asked. Then moving on to a Richard Maxwell technique called rope circling.


I would however recommed if you want to try with this horse to get Richard Maxwell out he will help with the Napping as you do have to get the horse out of his backward thinking for him to even start to respect the leg.

P.S it's the Chestnut in my Sig who was the demon horse lol.

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I follow R Maxwells route and it is remarkable, that would be a very good idea to get him out.
 
I would also suggest getting someone like that out. A horseman experienced with difficult horses will be able to assess the situation with a more practised eye and should be able to help you determine the root of the problem and how to proceed. Even if the problem has a physical cause, such a person will have seen lots of similar horses and be more able to sort out what's what.

It would also be interesting to get the opinion of a dressage trainer with young horse experience, at least for the "holding" aspect, if not the behavioural problems. Horses hold for lots of reasons and it's impossible here for anyone to accurately gauge the situation since we can't see or sit on the horse.

As to the galloping, to be fair, from the bit you've said, there in nothing in that horse's breeding to suggest it would find galloping easy and it may in fact merely be displaying a natural tendency not a pathology. Some horses simply do not gallop naturally, for the same reason others do not enjoy displaying huge trots. Horses for courses.
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Hi
Having read the above I think a natural horsemanship teacher is a really good idea. Have a couple of 1 to 1's. We have got a 17.2 that was terrified of trailers and due to her bulk was b. dangerous. We had a local trainer round twice and applied her lessons in the mean time, and she has now travelled quietly to Berkshire from Devon in the trailer, and now travels locally quite regularly
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. Miracle. Have a go. If not, Plan b.
 
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Hi daisychain!
I really appreciate your help and advice!

I do not think you are saying beat him up at all!! I know exactly what you mean - about having the mindset that he will comply! But when you really boss him and make him go - he does go - but gets quite frightened and the tension then stops him 'letting go' properly anyway - hence my dilemma! He will go forward its just the way he does which is the problem!

That is why I came on here - because I have tried to get help of different people and they all recommend different approaches to this problem! I just wondered if anyone had managed to overcome this type of horse - cos I figured there must be other horses that have natures like his.

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IMHO your horse is lacking in confidence big time. I bet he tries to be quite dominent at times but then totally over reacts if you " get after him"
I think your horse is holding himself in canter so that he can make a quick getaway anytime a threat appears ( in his world preditors are everywhere)

He won't go forward or gallop because he needs to feel in control of his life and able to react instantly to any situation that he feels is threatening.

If I am right, I also have that horse!

My boy has come on in leaps and bounds once we discovered what his problem was ie mental not physical.
I can assure you the problem was not solved by hitting him, chasing with lunge whips or even trying to gallop him.

We worked with his mind to ease his body and allow the tension he carried to go.

Feel free to PM me if you would like to know how we turned him around
 
When you say your horse never lets go in all his paces, inclined to be shuffly, - have you tried trotting poles, moving them apart once he is going through them ok, to make him stretch? Just an idea, as it sounds to me like he is generally looking after himself, regardless of weather he is confident or not. If he focuses on the poles and they encourage him to stretch and he does it willingly without struggling, I would definately say give him more time to mature, but also jump him to give him a purpose. He will focus on the jumps instead of looking to fight the rider.
 
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