Success stories please - nappy hacker - plan of action needed!

[buddylove]

Having settled into our new yard, and slowly but surely regaining my confidence in the saddle, I now need to tackle hacking alone.
In company he is great, but he very much relies on other horses for confidence. We can hack out with other horses and leave half way round and get safely home. So I imagine if we were to box up for a hack he would be ok as well. It is the physical act of leaving the yard that we struggle with.
Tonight, armed with a wip-*** we made it down the drive but the brakes ground on at the gate and despite my best efforts he was not going through.
I cannot mount from the ground due to a bad back so getting on and off and on again is not an option.
Thinking about long reining but will this really transfer to ridden?
Any other ideas and success stories welcome!

 

[FfionWinnie]

Yes long lining does transfer but only when done right otherwise you will get no where. Make sure you wear all the protective gear and good boots with grips and be prepared to stay there until you win.

 

[PorkChop]

Long reining will definitely help.

Hard to advise without seeing the napping in the flesh, however have you tried any of these.

Sitting it out, however long it takes.
Reversing/going backwards.
Are you able to keep the front legs moving, even if it is side to side?
Tight circling, then asking to go forwards.
Someone on the ground behind you at a safe distance with a lunge whip, scary tree branch?

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

I got my traddie from a trekking centre and when I got him he'd only ever followed the bum ahead and hadn't a clue about going out on his own.

We had all sorts of nappy behaviour, ranging from stopping/spinning, to threatening to rear by lifting his front legs off the ground, to backing up and threatening to put me into a ditch.

The key was getting professional help at an early stage; I had lost a bit of confidence, but my professional helped me to get MY head in the right place, i.e. to be "herd leader" rather than "passive sit-in-the-cab" mode.

We started off with going right back to groundwork: got him polite & responsive on the ground FIRST before anything else. Then we started work with "TREC" type obstacles around the yard to get him used to spooky stuff he might encounter out hacking. This helped me as well because I was aware that my confidence was beginning to improve at this stage.

Then we tacked him up, and I led him out around the roads near us; just keeping it all very light and very much a game. We did this for a few times, always going in a circular route and NEVER going out and then doubling back.

Then we progressed to me leading him out, then, very surreptitiously, hopping up about half way round, and riding back home. My professional was with me (walking a long way behind) to make sure we were OK. Then there came a very special day when I rode him out FROM THE YARD, solo, without any problems. It was fantastic! I thought we'd never ever get there.

The key IME is to forget about riding, for now, and concentrate on groundwork. Make it fun, build obstacles, make him go away from your hand on his side when you're grooming, pick up his feet often, just play around with the horse basically, so he gets used to you being his herd leader and is confident with you in that role. (As someone else has said, DO make sure you're wearing hat, gloves, and suitable footwear if you are doing groundwork especially with a horse with issues - my professional made damn sure that I did so, which was good).

I don't have a school by the way, so all of this happened without one!

I now have a lovely, responsive, well-schooled horse. He is a quirky lad anyway, I know that, and I also know how to suss out his mood-changes! He hacks solo quite happily and I'm quite confident to go out solo on him, our roads are busy around here, among other things we have to hack over dual-carriageway roadbridges which even my old bombproof boy was never sure about.

The key is, IME, getting professional help at an early stage. An Intelligent Horsemanship practitioner, or someone from a similar discipline, is what I personally would recommend (um, NOT parelli!!, but that's another story!).

Also my professional highly recommended Michael Peace, mebbe worth searching out his website/material. He is very practically based and not airy-fairy in any way.

Good luck, you WILL succeed. Start telling yourself that now..........

 

[AmyMay]

Good old fashioned sitting it out worked for me.

Make sure you have plenty of time (hours), and walk as far as you can. When the horse stops ask it to walk on with your leg. If he won't, do nothing. Just sit there and wait. Keep a contact. If the horse takes a step forward without you asking, make him stand. Then ask him to walk on, quietly. If he won't, again do nothing, just sit there - and repeat.

When the horse eventually walks on when asked walk for a couple of mins, then ask for stand - and repeat.

Do this every day. My longest wait was 4 hours, the next day the problem was resolved within 15 mins.

 

[buddylove]

Hard to advise without seeing the napping in the flesh, however have you tried any of these.

Sitting it out, however long it takes.
Reversing/going backwards.
Are you able to keep the front legs moving, even if it is side to side?
Tight circling, then asking to go forwards.
Someone on the ground behind you at a safe distance with a lunge whip, scary tree branch?

He is not a scary napper. He plants, when I ask him forward he may walk a few steps, then backs up again. It is like an invisible line he won't cross!!
Today we tried circling, moving feet, using the wip *** side to side and the rein side to side as well as pony club kicks!
He knows full well he should be going forward as he is fairly well schooled and responsive in the school. It is almost like he is saying I know I should be moving forward but I really don't want to! He almost seems to seek out things he can use to nap at, like wheelie bins! And end of drives are his nemesis!

 

[Rlister89]

I would also trying sit it out. My tb went from not leaving the yard to being the perfect hack in 2 hacks after being given back to me as he was dangerous to hack. When he did it I just waited him out and from memory it didn't take long till he realised he wouldn't win, I didn't try to fight with him as I'd never win but this mindset has won many battles over things as well. Good luck!

 

[nato]

Following with interest

 

[Meowy Catkin]

My back is wrecked and I also don't mount from the ground. However I do use the hop off and lead technique. I've always managed to find something to use as a mounting block, even if I've had to walk for a short while. The main reasons that I used that technique were first because it really did work with my mare and second because at the time I was riding on roads with lots of traffic.

Really I think that a lot of it is mental for both the horse and the rider. Me being on the ground gave my mare confidence, also getting off before she got wound up helped her to learn that everything was OK and that the scary thing wasn't actually scary. When she's in a state, she doesn't learn anything. Therefore I needed to keep her in a good mental state to make progress with her training to be a good, safe hack. Second, I was calm, clear and determined. If I had needed to lead her the whole hack, I would have done so. Turning on the spot was just not an option. Any forward movement at sticky moments (whether under saddle or in hand) was praised immediately. I also expected her to stand nicely for dismounting and mounting.

Also with a nappy horse, never, ever, ever, ever turn on the spot and go back the way you came. Circular or lollipop shaped routes only. The lollipop doesn't need to be big, I've used grass triangles at road junctions, trees or whatever was available if required (once the road I wanted to go down was blocked by a lorry stuck on top of a canal bridge, so my circular route was not possible), but she had to circle round it (sometimes several times).

 

[oldie48]

We also had success with sitting it out. The horse in question could spin and rear so we just sat there patiently admiring the view. He got the message very quickly and when my daughter stopped eventing he went to a hacking home. A pony we had would nap on his own but would walk backwards past anything and that eventually cured him. TBH I think there's a lot to be said for not "taking them on" if you can find another way.

 

[Newbee112]

This is really interesting. I agree with sitting and waiting quietly. Sometimes bullying them to go can work but I don't think an argument is always the best idea. I'd get angry when they use an excuse to turn and piss off home but a gentle persuasion and patience when they just won't go forward. Mine would do this every now and again and we'd sit there for a good half an hour before it was like a switch and he'd go forward like nothing had happened. Good luck, let us know how you go

 

[WestCoast]

I had a person on the ground come out with me as a half way between a horse companion and going alone. But agree you need to not give up when they plant. It's a sort of attitude of "I don't care how long this takes, but we're not going back".

 

[Pedantic]

As others say persistance, years ago when trying to get confidence back after broken collar bone and getting to grips with ginger sod, we used to have to cross a narrow wooden bridge, the crafty git knew that if he turned sideways I couldn't get him across, 20 minutes of turning walking sideways small rears etc we get across the bridge, next time it took 15 mins then 10 then 5 then just token arkwardness, you have to mean it and they have to know you ain't giving up.

 

[Flame_]

IME it is one of the issues that you just have to take on and win. Viewed with the rule that forward = obedient, napping = disobedient. I view it as unfortunate battle that must be fought and won. I won't sit and wait for the horse to play the game in its own time, I'm a firm believer in keeping the pressure on and making life pretty jolly unpleasant for the horse until it decides that just doing what it's being asked to do is actually its easiest option. They don't enjoy battling either and, again IME, it doesn't take too many battles for them to give it up for a bad job.

eta Flamey used to nap, which she quickly worked out meant she had 2 options, she fought with me for 2 hours then went on a ride, or she just went on a ride. So she stopped. I could never stop her obsessing over going home though and rushing from the second we headed towards it.

 

[BSL]

Good old fashioned sitting it out worked for me.

Make sure you have plenty of time (hours), and walk as far as you can. When the horse stops ask it to walk on with your leg. If he won't, do nothing. Just sit there and wait. Keep a contact. If the horse takes a step forward without you asking, make him stand. Then ask him to walk on, quietly. If he won't, again do nothing, just sit there - and repeat.

When the horse eventually walks on when asked walk for a couple of mins, then ask for stand - and repeat.

Do this every day. My longest wait was 4 hours, the next day the problem was resolved within 15 mins.

Agree with Amymay, unfortunately not eveyone has the time, But it does work.