Wits End: Horse Napping and Rearing Whilst Hacking Alone

[coblegs]

Over the past 6 months, my horse has taken to napping (Spinning around to try and go home - she grabs the bit in her teeth making it very difficult for me to stop her) and rearing whilst hacking alone. She does not do this in company or if we have someone walking with us and is an absolute saint in those circumstances. She has always been a bit nappy and backward thinking but has gotten progressively worse during this time. We have moved yards as my boyfriend and me have brought a house so I don't know if this could have attributed to her change in behaviour.

The napping is at anything that changes since the last time she saw it - she uses it as an excuse to just turn back home, locking her neck and grabbing the bit at the same time. I usually turn her in small circles until she relents but today, she refused to turn and ended up rearing vertically with me clinging on for dear life. She left me so scare I actually got off of her and walked home - something I never do. I've tried different bits (I normally ride her in a Neue Schule universal - have tried copper roller and waterford bits so she can't grab them but she head shook violently in the waterford and reared even more in the copper roller), walking her out in hand (Absolutely fine, it's like walking a dog) etc but the only time we don't experience this level of behaviour is when we are in the company of another horse or human which is making it impossible for me to enjoy her.

She was diagnosed with mild hock arthritis last year which has been treated - vet has seen her and done x-rays to check again earlier this month and her verdict was that they are fine and she's not in any pain. She is regularly treated by a chiropractor who again, has no concerns whatsoever about her back and puts her behaviour down to her being a witch who wants her own way all of the time.

I don't have a school at my yard so it is not an option for me to school more. I work full time Monday - Friday so have only been riding on weekends through the winter as I can't hack in the dark (Especially not with her behaving like this) but this behaviour was starting to cause an issue during the late Summer anyway so I don't think it's lack of exercise. She gets fed 1/2 a Stubbs scoop of Hi-Fi Lite and Progressive Earth balancer in the morning to have supplements in so she's not overfed or lacking in anything. She lives out 24/7 because of the arthritis and the fact she coughs when stabled (Has a slight dust allergy we think).

I'm tempted to get a professional to try and ride her through it but I am at my wits end. She is a saint when hacking in company but company is just not always available. I really feel that she is doing this to test me but it's scaring me and to be honest, I'm now at the stage where I hate riding her and would quite like to sell her. She's such a sweet mare in every other aspect and is a lovely person to be around, great to handle, travels well, schools nicely and enjoys going to shows (Where she will be fine alone and won't nap or rear!) and has done very well in dressage and showing but the solo hacking issue is really becoming upsetting now. Has anyone else had an issue similar to this and did you ever find a solution?

 

[be positive]

This is a bit of a tricky one, the fact she is only hacking at weekends will mean any habits may well become more ingrained because she is doing nothing the rest of the week so her confidence going alone will deteriorate week to week, it is not something I feel can be improved with the lack of facilities/ time as horses like this usually require daily work to take the steps forward they need.
If she were mine I would only hack in company until I could fit in a little every evening to really tackle the issue, or I would look for a yard with a school or consider sending her away for some schooling, it may not be a schooling issue as such but schooling and regular work is usually the best way to build confidence and get them thinking forward.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

Has her diet changed when you changed yards?

Either way, I would stop the Hi-fi Lite, which has both molasses and alfalfa in it. It maybe that she has built up an intolerance to them, which makes her feel particularly anxious whne on her own. At shows there are plenty of horses around her, even if she doesn't know any of them, so she won't feel so vulnerable.

 

[webble]

how small are the circles? I only ask as I thought I was doing small circles with my boy when he napped until last weekend and I realised I had been quite half hearted about them. Try and make it difficult for to do anything other than go forward

 

[coblegs]

Thanks both.

I’ve tried changing her feed but it made no difference. I was giving her Agrobs Aspero chaff for a while but stopped because it was expensive and I wasn’t seeing a difference in her behaviour. She also wasn’t a huge fan of and wouldn’t touch the Thunderbrook equivilent. I’ll have a look and see what other molasses free chaffs are out there.

I share a field with a friend of mine and ideally don’t want to move. My horse is happy there and there aren’t huge numbers of diy yards near me (I can’t afford part livery and she needs to live out which rule out so many places). I don’t have my own transport and I’m not near any other yards that I could borrow a school from to give her the consistency of being ridden more during the week. I have thought about just leaving her until the clocks go forward and the evenings are light enough for me to hack but I’m not sure how beneficial that would be for either of us. It’s so difficult

 

[coblegs]

Webble, the circles are probably about 3-5m, if that! I also carry a schooling whip which when gets a firm smack with in conjunction with a kick whenever the napping starts. She has been known to rear if you smack particularly hard though. Most effective methods is normally inside rein wide open and smack at the same time but again, depending on her mood, this can end up with her doing black beauty impressions.

 

[Ambers Echo]

One of the first things I teach any new horse is hind quarter yields - on the ground then on board. If you can disengage the hind quarters you can prevent rearing, bucking or bogging off. You can't just circle by pulling the neck round - horses are more than capable of running off or rearing with the neck flexed. Disengaging the hind end is my go-to strategy for any kind of undesirable behaviour - including rearing.

We had a phase of Max napping and rearing. Before they can rear they need to shift their weight back so if you are quick you can boot them forward firmly at that point but if you miss it or horse ignores the forward cue then I take away their hind end and circle 2 -3 times. Soft hands -the last thing you want to be doing is pulling back! Then offer the chance to move forward again. If their feet are still sticky disengage the hind again etc.

Max reared/napped for 2-3 months but he has not done it now for a good 6 months so I think we've cracked it with him so there is hope!

If you are interested in this there is plenty of footage online about how to do this. Good luck x

 

[coblegs]

Thanks all. I’ve had a look at videos regarding disengaging hindquarters and plan to try this with her today. Just at a total loss for what else I can do all I want is a horse I can hack without worrying about stupid behaviour.

 

[BBP]

It sounds to me like she isn’t a witch at all but lacks confidence. I don’t know the secret to this but please don’t smack her with a schooling whip, they are designed to tap as an aid not smack as a punishment and are incredibly painful. That won’t do anything to give a horse more confidence. My horse can be nappy, he lacks confidence and bullying him doesn’t make him bolder or more confident. I hop off if he is really scared, lead him past the scary thing and get back on. I mainly only hack in company now whilst I try to increase his confidence in other ways. Sorry I can’t offer more advice but Good luck with it, I know how tough it can be.

 

[NZJenny]

I used to have a horse that did this as well, so I know how scary it is when they go up.

Totally agree with getting off and leading if you feel unsafe (I used to do the same), but I would carry on in the direction we were going. I got to decide when we were going home, not him. I would walk a bit further get on, ride a bit further after that, then go home. Hope that makes sense.

My boy was quite young at the time, and it was simply due to a lack of confidence on his part. It didn't take too long for him to realise that even though the world was a scary place, he always got to go home. It may well be that the change of yard has upset her a bit and it will take a bit of time for her to feel "safe" in her wolrd again.

 

[Boulty]

Does she give you any warning before she goes up ie is it a sudden thing or more as a reaction to you asking her to go forwards when she's not wanting to go forwards and has got a bit "stuck"? Same with the spinning, does she tense up before she draws level with the object or is it a sudden split-second reaction? If she's giving you some forewarning then what happens if you get off, lead her past whatever the "scary" thing is and then get back on a few yards down the road / when she's relaxed again? Does she still have an argument about it or is she more willing as she's got someone to follow (you say she's ok with a person on the ground when you're riding?). If she'll lead past things without argument then honestly I'd spend a few months using that as a argument avoidance strategy and gradually build towards trying to ride past the "less" scary things and only getting off for things she really doesn't like. Yep it's a pain hopping on and off but if it means you get past things safely and continue your hack and takes away the opportunity for her to get that wound up then hopefully in time just carrying on past stuff will become her default reaction rather than having the argument.

 

[fredflop]

IF the horse is well behaved in hand I’d stick to ground work and walked it in hand. However if you have a horse like mine that will rear in hand and try and bog off, I wouldn’t be trying it.

Does she really need feeding apart from grass/hay? I think I’d be looking into either getting a rider to come and see her, or getting a trainer/behaviourist in.

When were teeth/saddle last checked?

 

[Flora]

Very interested in this post, as my horse does the exact same. I don't get any warning, he just rears, spins and runs. I get a few strides before I get him to stop. I have tried turning back to get him going the way we were heading, but he just starts doing mini rears and runs backwards. Everything has been checked. He didn't do it when I first got him, but I then fell and fractured my coxix so couldn't ride for a while. I do know he is now taking the mick but I am losing my confidence trying to ride on my own. In company he is fine. I cant get off and lead him as he is 17.1hh and I cant get on without my mounting block!.

 

[Lyle]

I just went through this... started as spooking on the arena. Took everyone's advice to 'get up him' a bit and 'push him through' because he 'wasn't respecting my leg'. All well and good, but I ended up with an angry horse who spooked then spun in a 360 rearing/spinning episode because he was afraid of being pushed and 'attacked' to go when he was apparently very unconfident. Went to a comp during the height of this and simply exploded during a test, after he tried to spook at the judges car (horse was previously rock solid at competitions)We moved houses to one with land, so he is now living with me. No arena, so only hacking. Started out spooky and napping/spinning. Spent a week getting him used to a short stretch of verge outside our property, and practiced striding out in a good stretching contact at the walk. Nice contact with the mouth, nice contact with the leg, walk/halt/walk/halt to get him on the aids. A little leg and give a little with the rein to encourage him to follow the contact and use his body. Short rides, not expecting much, each day getting a little further until our safe zone was established. Letting him pick the speed, but he had to remain even in my contact. After a week (it took this long!!) I was able to walk and then trot up and down our 'safe' zone. I'd finish the ride by walking a little further down the road. If he stopped, I'd simply hop off and walk him for a short distance, hop back on, and walk on for a short distance before turning for home. After 4 weeks, He's happily schooling walk/trot/canter with leg yields and shoulder in down the verge, and we went for a 2 hour hack up into the bush the other day. If he saw something he was worried about, he'd just mince a long until passed but never stopped/spun. I simply keep a nice elastic contact with his mouth and a nice contact with my legs, and give him the time to slow down and look. Went to a comp last weekend and scored 67% at Elementary, so it all seems on the up! It's very easy for them to lose confidence, I did orginally think he was just taking the piss, but something had manifested in his tiny mind and he couldn't let it go, he had created a fear which I was feeding by MAKING him go, instead of letting him know that I would give him the time to KNOW it was OK. Wish I hadn't listened to the others, and followed my instintcs about my horse

 

[scats]

P was an absolute nightmare for this when she came. In company she was brilliant, but out hacking alone she’d suddenly decide enough was enough and stop, reverse, spin and just generally refuse to go forwards. More leg just made her buck and leap higher. Once I had to bail off as she reversed that quickly and her foot went down the embankment of the Birket and I had visions of the pair of us falling in it.
As a result I do only hack her around the Farm land where we can’t endanger anyone else and I tend to sit her out until she gets bored. If she kicks off again when I ask for forwards, I just use one leg at a time as this seems to annoy her much less. Failing that, she does listen to a raised voice.
I also did lots of inhand walking around the hacking routes, to build her confidence up.
Do you have a person who could walk on foot a few times?

 

[ImmyS]

Can you mount her from the ground?

My ex racer was a nightmare for this, perfect in company or with someone walking but just a twit on her own. Napping, leaping, jig jogging etc..

I walked her out in hand on the same circular route tacked up. After a few times I would lead her round the route then jump on her about 1 minute from home. Then each time I took her out I would hand walk her then mount her a bit earlier each time so I gradually did more of the hack mounted until I worked up to riding her out from the start.

Never napped or had an issue alone again and I could hack her anywhere

 

[ironhorse]

Hand walking can help - if you are worried about her jumping on top of you or getting away, forget about getting on board and start with a cavesson and lunge line or rope halter and long lead rope.
Long reining is the other option - if you haven't done it before start in an enclosed space (small paddock or round the yard). When I was rehabbing my boy it meant I was able to increase the waling time and work him more thoroughly than hand walking without risking my life on a proven spinner! They have to rely on you a bit less than hand walking since you are behind them so it increases their confidence - I long reined most of the hacking routes (admittedly largely off road, although we met quite a bit of farm traffic) before riding them.

 

[luckyoldme]

im not the most experienced but i had similair issues with my 5 year old mare, she wasn t rearing rather burying herself into the nearest object and refusing to move. She is a big lass(percheron x) and she can quite happily stay planted in a spot if it takes her fancy and not much can be done to persuade her to move. I felt that her issues were confidence related and took a step back and long reined again. Being a bit of a porker myself it did us both the world of good. After a while i got back on to hack out and the problem had resolved itself..and i had lost a bit of weight too!!Win win!!!

 

[ossy]

I think the difficulty is your in a bit of a cycle where the horse is losing confidence/schooling discipline with only doing this at weekends and that won’t change until the lighter nights. I’d want to do little and often, agree that I’d get her on long reins too even if it was just round your own land/fields to start with and go from there.
In the immediate though if that wasn’t possible I’d stick to hacking in company for both your safeties.

 

[Birker2020]

Got this tip from another livery as she had this with her horse. My horse went though a stage of planting. I just used to rein her back every time. She thought she'd won as she was facing home but she was actually walking backwards so going in the direction I wanted. She soon got fed up of walking backwards and decided she would do as she was told and it was easier to walk forward. You need to make sure you are asking her back with your legs but at the same time not restricting her mouth in anyway as this will cause a rear.