"telling off" a naughty/nappy horse

diggerbez

diggerbez

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what do you do with a horse that won't go forwards? this is a purely hypothetical question...am just interested in your replies. say, for example, horse won't jump or won't go down a particular route on a hack etc and rears/spins to avoid doing it... hypothetical horse has had all back, teeth etc checked... :)
 
One of my youngsters is a classic case. As soon as he stops I make such a fuss, kick, flick the whip both sides and generlly be really "busy". As soon as he goes forward I stop. And I mean STOP. His reward for walking forwards is my immobility. It really does work.
 
Umm, there are at least two types:
1. stand there till it gets bored, don't let it turn away or get hysterical, but don't push forward - sooner or later they will move on
2. few sharp smacks behind the leg and a good kick between ribs, make sure you don't jab the mouth and let it gallop off:)
3. go there backwards, although that does make it tricky to jump:D:D:D, the alternative for jumping here is to get off and go over the jump, encouraging the ned to follow you - it does work, but you have to be careful not to get jumped on...

that's 3 types actually, I never said I can count:)
 
i ave triedd lots of things, her napping in the school was solved by the 3 kick rule, kick once, kick twice, smack wth the whip eventually they get the picture and move forward after the first kick.
hacking it sounds bad now but i had to smack her so hard and once that had happend she was over it but before tht i tried shaking a bottle of stones, crazy idea tht sends them forward, and also a good one is shouting at them and giving them the rein, but an even better one is spinning it tight small circles they get dillusional and eventually step forward. without realising where they are going :D pain in the butt nappers aree!
 
moneypit1 said:
One of my youngsters is a classic case. As soon as he stops I make such a fuss, kick, flick the whip both sides and generlly be really "busy". As soon as he goes forward I stop. And I mean STOP. His reward for walking forwards is my immobility. It really does work.
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thats interesting MP as thats exactly what i would do... with my 5 year old its definitely what got him in water... :)

however, with an older horse do you think this approach would work the same?!
 
I used to ride a mare that was ridiculously nappy. The more you used the whip on her or kicked the worse she got. The first time I tried it took us 2 hours to get 100 yards down the road...I was not giving up as she is that sort of horse. We tore up the grass verges so much the local council had to re-turf it all!!!! :O

I finally found out that she hates being annoyed...and so I used to sit there with a schooling whip and just tickle her bum with it...just light enough so she flinched like a fly was on her. It actually annoyed her that much that she decided going for a hack and doing what I wanted was easier! And now she is an absolute dream to hack, I used to go out for hours on her with no problems. Sometimes she had a moment but a whip tickle was all it took.

Not saying this will work on all horses but for those that may have "those" kind of mares, try it out....although it requires A LOT of patience ( I used to take some lunch in my pockets!).
 
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depends on a few things- is he naughty or scared?
how does he normally react to leg/whip?

depends very much what i feel i am sat on- sometimes a pat and a minute for the horse to collect itself, sometimes leadrope used as a wipwop (then stop as soon as the horse even thinks forward), sometimes a very sharp word and a sharp leg aid, sometimes 'wobble' them into starting as you would a 3yro, turning circles...

the possibilities are endless and each horse requires something a little different :)
 
My mare is a pig for napping - once it took us 20 minutes just to leave the yard! But she is a baby and I think she is just insecure, however she is also the type to pick a fight with you and if you argue back (ie kick, use whip etc) then she's thinks it's a great game and gets up to all sorts! What I do with her is sit there, I don't move or say anything, if she tries to turn back I will keep her straight but that is it. Eventually she gets bored and walks on nicely and won't try it on again. Another thing I do is zig-zag turn her right then left (45* angle) to move her feet - it looks peculiar but does work. In the school she will get a boot in the ribs though as that is real naughtiness.
 
My tb is a b****d for hacking in the first 10 -15 mins or so . He rears ,he spins,he auditions for the spanish riding school of vienna :) then once we have had our tantrum he hacks like a dream . Part of it is his history as he was a racer so went as part of a string but some of it is just a sheer strop ! I give him two chances - he will always stop dead before doing his little repetoire so I ask him to stand completley still then ask for a walk on ,if he walks on great if he doesn't I ask for stand again and then a walk on again if I still don't get anything then I whip him round and we rein back for as long as it takes for him to engage his singular brain cell (we can go for miles :) ) I am lucky as he does generally choose to be a tit off road so I can do what I need to do . I always make sure I make the decision to go forwards again rather than him trying to turn himself back the right way as he does about 3 steps of rein back tries to turn forwards again ,I get one step of walk and then we are back to performing again >:( He doesn't respond well to whip,spurs etc so I keep very quiet until he does well then he gets mucho good boys and well dones (all the neighbours think I'm a bit cuckoo :) )
 
One of my ponies was a beasty for suddenly bucking out of the blue, a good growl and tap on the bottom didn't do any harm.
As for other horses I've ridden I've always found a good old pony club kick to be effective ;)

(Waits for people to tell me that I shouldn't be riding and that growling at a horse is the worst thing to do, ever!)
 
monkeybum13 said:
HAHA, sorry, that's just too good!! :D
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oh dont laugh.. ive been follwed by someone in a car on a 2 hour hack before now.. unfortuntaly my mare at the time was a nut job but fairly dangerous with it. the shock of water scooted her forwards everytime! :D
 
The old mare i ride is generally a very safe star. But if she thinks she should be going a different way to you she can throw a bit of a paddy and starts bunny hopping, spinning round and threatening to go up. This is absolutely not on for a 26year old and she gets a very firm growling at which often does the trick, if not a smack or two with a short crop on the bum and a pony club kick does the job (begrudgingly).

With a youngster i opt for the 'less is more' tactic of patience, quiet, maybe a bit of reassurance with a pat if it is actual fear. If the feet get planted i do the 'wobbling' them from side to side until they decide it's easier just to walk on.

And with a purely naughty horse who puts on a display then they will get a smack, a kick or whatever else is needed. I've been known to do the rein back thing as mentioned further up, although have only had to do it once.

Generally i get hacking out with company sorted as this is easier and i find that i usually don't have problems even with notoriously nappy horses if a gradual transition is made from hacking out next to best friend, then a bit in front, then a couple of meters in front, then quite a bit in front and then short distances alone. If it's a consistent problem i have found this way to work well.

ETS: it's good to start out next to or behind a friend, and then go in front on the way home. Also currently doing this with the 2 year old filly in hand and is working a treat, she's getting super brave now!
 
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I would always rather they planted than tried to spin/rear/run backwards etc. so I tend to take the 'We'll just stand here with a soft contact and leg on until you get bored'. My mare has never got her own way through naughtiness whether it's ridden, or something like loading, and I've just patiently kept asking her until her stubbornness fades, now she'll rarely try anything for more than a few minutes (if at all).

I have a feeling this approach probably only works with the more sensible ones - although I'm not sure repeated whipping/kicking/shouting/whatever has ever got anyone very far, as winding up an already naughty horse never seems very sensible Gentle and firm = the way. I'm not sure horses really understand being told off in a lot of situations.
 
monkeybum13 said:
One of my ponies was a beasty for suddenly bucking out of the blue, a good growl and tap on the bottom didn't do any harm.
As for other horses I've ridden I've always found a good old pony club kick to be effective ;)

(Waits for people to tell me that I shouldn't be riding and that growling at a horse is the worst thing to do, ever!)
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haha monkeybum you know this forum well :rolleyes::D

thanks for input folks... i think i agree with a lot of the things above...with my 5 year old i have to take the quiet and patient approach- he's a clever little thing but uber sensitive so leathering him would just not work... the grey in my siggy tho needed a good boot in the ribs and a whallop...this always sorted him out...if you'd have tried the patient approach with him i'd probably still be sat there now :rolleyes::p
 
FionaMc said:
I would always rather they planted than tried to spin/rear/run backwards etc. so I tend to take the 'We'll just stand here with a soft contact and leg on until you get bored'. My mare has never got her own way through naughtiness whether it's ridden, or something like loading, and I've just patiently kept asking her until her stubbornness fades, now she'll rarely try anything for more than a few minutes (if at all).

I have a feeling this approach probably only works with the more sensible ones - although I'm not sure repeated whipping/kicking/shouting/whatever has ever got anyone very far, as winding up an already naughty horse never seems very sensible Gentle and firm = the way. I'm not sure horses really understand being told off in a lot of situations.
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I rather think the same.

If my horse were being nappy, I'd tend to think there's a reason for that (lack of confidence in the rider maybe?) - OK the answer might be to ride through it still, but I'd kinda like to think about what that reason is before I decide the answer involves too many kicks in the ribs.
 
i used to ride a 6yo mare that was an absolute dream to ride I adored her (and i dislike mares normally! sorry mare owners! just I dont get on when riding them) but she was fab

then one day, she just decided that was it and whilst in the school, in canter, she slammed the brakes on and just planted. So I thought that was weird and gave her a little kick, then a big kcik, then a flick with teh whip, nothing harsh just a flick.

She stood straight up on 1 back leg, ears back, span as she went up and we landed facing hte other way.....

this was the first rear I have ever sat on!!!!

B**ch

Anyway, facing hte other way I then asked her to walk on with my leg again and she was fab for the whole of the rest of the schooling session.

She started doing this EVERY schooling session then, she would get a little tired, slam on brakes, have a nap and then be perfect again.

Unfortuantly this was knocking my confidence so I thought ok maybe she is bored, so Il take her on a hack to give her a change..... (with a body protector on!) and it was the worst thing I have ever done on a horse, we got along the road, onto the bridleway, halfway up the path and she planted at the corner, snorted, ran backwards, span, reared, bronked, bucked/flybucked, then reared again....... wouldn't go any direction even back the way we came... I had a neck strap on and thank god managed to hang on. When she stopped I was very calm (externally, internally I was s**tting it!!) and quietly asked her to walk on, she started again and it got to the point where I thought Ok too much not risking life and limb for this corner! So I turned her around but made her trot home (in an outline and working!) but I was so mad but scared at the same time, then we got the yard gate, waited for it to open (its electric) and all of a sudden her head vanished and she just bronked on the spot in the entrance!

I thought sack this and got off (yes I know its naughty but she was going backwards into the road and I thought better to get off and hang on to her forwards than sit on top and get squished)

I tried her in the school 3 more times before she reared me into the fence, sat me ontop of a 6 bar gate..... ran me backwards through a jump..... and I just decided I had had enough and explained to the yard owner I cudnt ride her any more

She had to go for reschooling as although I had sat on and tried to school through it, if you told her off she took the approach of F OFF!!! and got 10x worse!
Once she got to the reschooling yard she was good for the first week, then started trying it there too! Difference is the bloke who does the work is INCREDIBLE! and he did exactly what I did but had the bottle to stay on top, even to the point where she reared up and smacked him into the wall of his menage (indoor) so his response was, once she got off the wall, to wallop her on the arse, so she tried it again, so so did he.........

her napping was not a fear response it was genuinely just being a b*tch (she got worse on the ground work as well)

HOWEVER

Now she is an absolute dream! Jumping clears, going xc schooling, doing everything beautifully and without a blink of an eye!!! If I wasnt so scared every time I sat on a chestnut now I would love to buy her as she has SOOOO much potential, but I just was not the person to sort it...... but I am so glad she is now!

wow that was long, sorry1 :)
 
diggerbez said:
what do you do with a horse that won't go forwards? this is a purely hypothetical question...am just interested in your replies. say, for example, horse won't jump or won't go down a particular route on a hack etc and rears/spins to avoid doing it... hypothetical horse has had all back, teeth etc checked... :)
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Train it. Find out the reason why it wont do something and teach it accordingly. I wouldnt push it to the point of spinning/rearing in the first place as i would consider that if the horse is doing that it has been asked too much. I would take a step (or 100) backwards and start again, teaching the horse the skill or confidence required to do what it is being asked to do.

This approach takes longer than others but i havnt failed with it yet ;)
 
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