Young horse stops if unsure

[AnyChance]

Morning I have had my 6 yr old mare (who is lovely) since Jan
On occasion when she is unsure she will just stop and plant her feet when schooling/out hacking and i use my leg and back up with whip but she stands there until she feels its safe to go lol!

When she came she napped quite obviously to the gate and other horses but she is so much better now. She is 17hh ID x warmblood.
She can still be a little that way inclined when if in a certain mood but not as bad!

I do feel that it is just a case of confidence and trust that needs to be built up but has anyone else experienced this? and when they plant themselves what other things do you do to get them moving forward again?

Teeth checked, physio been, saddle all been done

 

[eggs]

Planting is just another form of napping to me. The trick is to get their feet moving and this is often easier to do if you get them to go sideways rather than forwards.

 

[Tia0513]

My 5 year old mare can do this and she occasionally takes it a step further and actually braces back slightly. She is much better than she was last year though and depending on what mood she is in is to whether or not I have to just wait her out or am able to ride her straight on. It's easier said than done sometimes just trying to get them to move, even sideways, I've found but perseverance and patience has worked for me. I've tried spurs and used a crop behind the leg but neither made much difference tbh and now she's maturing it's happening a lot less.

 

[AnyChance]

Thanks will try moving her sideways, hopefully she'll grow out of it otherwise could be interesting in the dressage arena ha!

 

[dollyanna]

I'm probably going against the grain here but my mare planted a lot in her first couple of years. Trying to push her to move made it worse, and I realised she just needed time to stop and look, and once she had looked and reassured herself it was safe then a quiet "walk on" would have her moving again easily - I just learned to see the relax and time it. She is now 4 and I can't remember the last time she planted - now she will keep moving forward if I ask her to just from the voice although not always straight, she may need to step sideways, I think because in giving her time to look when she needed it she now trusts that I do indeed know what I am asking her and she is happy to trust me.
I also clicker train her and played a lot of the "touch" game, teaching her to target on command and rewarding when she did. Anything physical that scares her now (eg grit bins, big tractors parked up) I can ask her to touch and that desire to play the game and get rewarded is stronger than the urge to plant and look.

 

[Madali]

I also have a young mare who does this.she seems to need to look at new things and work out what it is.
I now let her have a look and move when she is ready if it's new or weird. If on occasions she tries it on familiar ground she gets a boot or a smack.
It seems to work without having a fight and like Dollyanna she foes it less and less

 

[AnyChance]

That's positive then that she may grow out of it. I'm not in a rush to put pressure on and she's pretty safe which is the main thing.

 

[twiggy2]

my mare has always (since born) planted when needing time to access a situation, she was sold by my friend as a yearling and when I bought her back as a 2yr old she used to plant and if pressure was applied she would rear, it turns out they had tried to stop the planting by rushing her with pressure which would escalate to force, I have always in hand just stopped with her until I see her relax then verbally asked her to walk on the rearing stoped and in hand the planting did too.

she was exactly the same under saddle and has now been backed for 2yrs-she very very rarely plants now as she is bold/confident and trusting, it is however still her default when scared and TBH of all the defaults it is for me the best-much nicer that running off, spinning out into traffic or others that put you at risk. stop-process-continue, what's wrong with that?
thinkers need to use their brains more than their feet let them process the world and they will do anything/go anywhere for you.

If you reprimand a horse with force when it is processing thought in a fearful situation the reprimand is remembered alongside the situation/event and they become more fearful not less-planting to think is not napping