Wits end with napping !!!

[Notimetoride]

I use Topchop zero & the 2 fatties are doing fine on it, inc the one that had ulcers. It has quite a strong apple smell that I'm not massively keen on, but I'm not the one having it for breakfast!

Really ? I haven't been able to find any reviews on it - I don't think its widely used. I'm glad to hear that youre happy with it. Its been really hard finding a chaff with no alfa or molassess, so hopefully this will do the trick

 

[Notimetoride]

Best of luck, I've heard of quite a few hyper, strong Welsh Ds. There have been some good suggestions.

I remember reading about the work and feeding for one Welsh D. He was showing at the weekend in the summer, driving during the week and hunting at the weekend in winter, all on a handful of feed. He was working seriously hard virtually on fresh air, grass and hay.

TBH shes got a bit of a split personality. Shes so polite and gentle, really easy to handle and mostly lovely to ride, doing some lovely dressage tests. Then something goes in her head and oooooh boy its a whole different story. Shes barely controllable. If I could just crack this, she would be absolutely perfect ! As shes had the ulcers ive had to massively increase what she eats and shes now on ad-lib hay and has been on pure alfalfa chaff for perhaps 6 weeks now. I put her on hi-fi molasses free as its only partly alfalfa, mixed with chopped straw, but I think even that's too much fro her. So were going to give the Top Chop Zero a go. Fingers crossed

 

[FfionWinnie]

With your extensive Welsh napper experience, have you managed to solve it

Yes. Every Welsh I've bought has been nappy and none of them are now. 'Tis a pain in the neck tho! I would start on the ground either in hand or on line reins. If she is piggish to handle on the ground in this situation I would invest in a very narrow gauge halter with a loop on the nose which tightens up. I had one specially made for my latest D because I couldn't hold her even in a bridle and a lunge line. She's a reformed character now.

I would work on making sure she yields completely to the halter to the lightest touch and to you moving her side to side, backwards (very important) and so on at home. If she's 100% in that situation take her into something more exciting then move on to an arena like I suggested before then on the long reins.

You've got to win, always unwind her back the way you were supposed to be going if that makes sense. Never let her go her way. Most importantly wear a hat, gloves and boots with decent grips so she can't tow you around. Also if you don't feel confident doing it get someone else to. I don't really like having battles under saddle these days so I would do it on the ground and set her up to be nappy so you can fix it.

Good luck!

 

[Notimetoride]

Yes. Every Welsh I've bought has been nappy and none of them are now. 'Tis a pain in the neck tho! I would start on the ground either in hand or on line reins. If she is piggish to handle on the ground in this situation I would invest in a very narrow gauge halter with a loop on the nose which tightens up. I had one specially made for my latest D because I couldn't hold her even in a bridle and a lunge line. She's a reformed character now.

I would work on making sure she yields completely to the halter to the lightest touch and to you moving her side to side, backwards (very important) and so on at home. If she's 100% in that situation take her into something more exciting then move on to an arena like I suggested before then on the long reins.

You've got to win, always unwind her back the way you were supposed to be going if that makes sense. Never let her go her way. Most importantly wear a hat, gloves and boots with decent grips so she can't tow you around. Also if you don't feel confident doing it get someone else to. I don't really like having battles under saddle these days so I would do it on the ground and set her up to be nappy so you can fix it.

Good luck!

I really appreciate that. Thank you. To be fair, she's excellent to handle. Your granny could handle her. Not at all rude or bargy and is very amenable. For this reason she's very much liked by everyone as she's so easy. In fact she's mostly brilliant under saddle too. It's just when we get in a group situation that the herd instinct kicks in and I'm then just a very inconvenient passenger

 

[fattylumpkin]

Mine was very nappy on group hacks too if we went away from the others, so I made a point of hopping off and leading her with me somewhere else It'll save your bacon later.

 

[FfionWinnie]

Good chance you can sort it out then I'm sure. I would entice her into doing the behaviour a bit, and working on it so she doesn't get into a blind napping rage where she doesn't learn. You're going to have to just get her out in situations where you've got a good chance of success and keeping at it til she gives in. Or get a pro in to do it for you. Is she turned out in company? Kept at home or on a yard?

 

[Notimetoride]

Good chance you can sort it out then I'm sure. I would entice her into doing the behaviour a bit, and working on it so she doesn't get into a blind napping rage where she doesn't learn. You're going to have to just get her out in situations where you've got a good chance of success and keeping at it til she gives in. Or get a pro in to do it for you. Is she turned out in company? Kept at home or on a yard?

Shes on DIY livery in her own paddock, but other horses in neighbouring fields. They have a bit of a herd thing going on even though they are in different fields and she can chat to them over the fence. Shes pretty settled with her living arrangements. She is out every day and in at night. I wouldn't say shes particularly insecure or anything. We hack out (we don't go on long hacks - between 20 and 45 mins) and shes fine to hack out alone, though she will speed up going home and jog a little. She DOES nap at the driveway, so I have to spend 5 or 10 mins walking past it over and over again until I feel shes walked past it quietly enough to go in. This napping thing seems to be a fairly strong instinct and I feel is going to take some time to sort out. When we discovered she had ulcers I wholly believed once treated, that the napping would stop.

 

[fattylumpkin]

Things like ulcers can cause learned behaviours (like napping) which stay even after the underlying cause is gone, sadly learning habits is easy, but requires a lot of consistency and determination to break. It's doable though. Don't look for instant results, just keep in mind that when you have the opportunity to work on getting her away from the others safely, you should practice. Eventually the problem will go away and you'll be amazed there ever was one.

 

[Notimetoride]

Things like ulcers can cause learned behaviours (like napping) which stay even after the underlying cause is gone, sadly learning habits is easy, but requires a lot of consistency and determination to break. It's doable though. Don't look for instant results, just keep in mind that when you have the opportunity to work on getting her away from the others safely, you should practice. Eventually the problem will go away and you'll be amazed there ever was one.

Interesting that you say that, as that's exactly what the vet said. Maybe im underestimating the power of these learned behaviours.

 

[NOISYGIRL]

I've no idea where to go now with my horse's napping.
She tries to run off with me towards other horses and is so incredibly strong that it can be rather scary. It's like a switch goes in her head and she just wants to run ! She's a Welsh cob so extremely powerful.
I'm not a novice rider - been riding 36 years now. We do BD fairly successfully. But in a group situation she curls her head under and starts to piaffe quite beautifully. Except it's not so beautiful when you know that at any second she's going to tank off !

She's had her ovaries scanned and they were fine, but she's now on regumate to control her hormonal behaviour. She's fed Dengie hi-fi molasses free and a Hack Up bespoke calming/digest/detox supplement. Her teeth are done every 6 months. Saddle checked and tweaked yearly. She has a neue Schue loose ring snaffle with a lozenge. Drop noseband with comfort headpiece (Elevator bridle). She's had sports massages and veterinary physio. And treated for ulcers and her regime is now geared towards ulcer management. I have also has a sports psychology session. She's schooled between 2 and 4 times a week and hacked once or twice a week, and we have monthly lessons with a dressage instructor. We keep trying group training to try to crack the napping but we're getting nowhere. Still as exciteable and nappy as ever. I'm too old for all this nonsense. It's not big and it's not clever, and I just wish she would trot and canter round calmly without all the silliness.
Anyone with any suggestions as I'm running out of ideas.

The calm in your bespoke is not calming as such its to calm the stomach, I had this problem so used their Stepfree liquid product it is AMAZING worth a try, ring and chat to Alex they may be able to add more 'calming' to your supplement

 

[SEL]

Best of luck, I've heard of quite a few hyper, strong Welsh Ds. There have been some good suggestions.

I remember reading about the work and feeding for one Welsh D. He was showing at the weekend in the summer, driving during the week and hunting at the weekend in winter, all on a handful of feed. He was working seriously hard virtually on fresh air, grass and hay.

An old friend of mine had a trekking centre and pretty much horsed it up in the first few years with Sec Ds that other people couldn't handle. She rode them herself as guide horses to start with and if 2 hours a day didn't knock behaviour problems on the head then they went out again and did 4 hours a day. Hard feed was minimal & they lived out all year round.

She had a reputation for lovely forward going cooperative horses - but I doubt any of them would have had that reputation if they'd come out of the trekking centre and back into happy hacking homes. They thrived on hard work.