follow on from napping thread...

caroline/halle

caroline/halle

Member
Nov 4, 2008
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....have read in other forums/net that some people suggest to just sit on your horse when it plants its feet until it decides to go forwards again....just interested has anyone used this method rather than other peoples views that should growl, back up leg with crop etc and how sucessful was it?

looking forward to hearing anyones experiences!
 
have heard of people doing it.

must admit though, we only ever had one pony that threatened to plant- dad chased it up the road with the brush up its arse and it never tried it again!
 
My loaner's horse plants himself at times. When he does she tries everything to get him to budge. Asks him nicely, asks him firmly, I'll lead him, nothing. She often has to turn him to face the way he wants and ocne he starts walking again she can turn him back the way she was going, but it must be so frustrating. He honestly doesn't budge at all.
 
Yes I have and it works, no matter how long it takes just sit there, I had to sit for a hour once but it worked and we finished our hack.
 
Melting Moments - an hour wow! so did your horse just move forward on his own after an hour or were u ocasionally using your leg to ask him to move forwards? did you jus hav to sit and wait the once or was it something you had/still have to repeat?

that brush comment make me laugh to!! that can be plan B! (jk)
 
yes it used to work with my old loan mare when i was leading her and she was planting, wiggle something behind her and she could move! haha
 
caroline/halle said:
Melting Moments - an hour wow! so did your horse just move forward on his own after an hour or were u ocasionally using your leg to ask him to move forwards? did you jus hav to sit and wait the once or was it something you had/still have to repeat?

that brush comment make me laugh to!! that can be plan B! (jk)
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At first I used my leg but then I just sat there, in the end he got so fed up of standing there he walked on, he tried it a few times after but no were near as long as the hour! after that he was a star again because he knew no matter what he did i would not get off or turn him around and go home.
 
ok thanks will give that a go, ill make sure my ipod is fully charged tomorrow! lol has only just started happening so fingers crossed can be nipped in the bud!
 
I sit it out, i'll ask for forwards nicely and lightly, if that doesnt work, with Fina there is no point in trying to force her forwards, it only defies the purpose, so instead I just sit there, enjoy the view, for upwards of an hr and eventually she gets going again.


I've been playing passenger with her (when she's grazing in the small field herself, i often go out, jump on and dont ask her to do anything, just sit there while she grazes and wanders, usually ends in her willingly doing a bit of schooling, but since doing this the hacking plants have become far fewer and far shorter.
 
Yep - had a mare who I had to sit it out on - YO had tried chasing me up the road etc. Nothing improved it until I eventually sat for well over 1 and half hours!!!:D Never did it again until 5 years later when I loaned her to a friend - 1st ride out she tried it on - told rider to just 'sit it out' she did and it worked again!!! Stubborn old mare - but she was a darling otherwise!!!:D
 
My mare used to nap really badly, once she even span on the road and fell on top of me. There were a couple of things I tried. Firstly the guy who broke her in walked out with me, so close behind her backside that she couldn't see him. Every time she thought about napping he gave her a smack on the bum. Seems like a rather silly and dangerous thing to do so I wouldn't recommend it, but it worked!

Secondly you could try making them walk backwards. Mine used to run backwards when she was throwing a strop so I would make her do it in the direction I wanted to be going.

Sitting it out does also work but not everyone has the time to sit there for 1hr+ doing nothing every time you want to go for a ride. I tried it a couple of times but I think it is something you need to be prepared to do every time you go out rather than just once, so the horse gets the message.
 
You lot have the patient of a saint! I would NEVER sit there for an HOUR waiting for the horse to decide to get on with it. Im just far to whip happy.....
 
I too have spent an hour waiting for him to move his bum - luckily he got bored of standing still after a couple of times of doing it and decided that even work was more interesting than doing nothing :p. I can't physically force him to do anything so I didn't bother trying :D - sensible but firm aids didn't work, swearing at him also didn't work ;), so I just asked absolutely nothing of him at all (ie: you want to do nothing, fine, you can do NOTHING :p) then as soon as he got bored and went to shift away it was a case of using any forward momentum going and trying to gee him up as much as possible, and eventually he decided it was at least more interesting to be doing something than nothing :p. It took a lot of me getting bored but there didn't seem much point in getting us both worked up when he has the attention span of a toddler and was bound to get bored of his tricks at some point :p - as soon as he realised nothing would be gained from his game apart from him getting monumentally bored he stopped trying :p.
 
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My girl naps sometimes while out hacking. She can sometimes spin if she is spooked, so I have to keep her on a short rein to stop her doing that if her head goes up in the air.
The way I get her to go forward is to sort of zig zag. Asking to go sideways sort of diverts her and eventually we get past whatever it is she objects to!
 
vieshot said:
You lot have the patient of a saint! I would NEVER sit there for an HOUR waiting for the horse to decide to get on with it. Im just far to whip happy.....
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What would you have done?

At the time my lad was only 4yrs old, I didn't want to shatter his confidence, I am glad it worked and I would do it again and again with any horse, so much better then brute force.
 
I did this with my mare when I first got her.
She would run backwards or spin and head for home. Giving a smack made her rear and I could feel her getting wound up.
I was determined I wasn't going to let her go home. She could go home backwards the whole way or she could stand still or she could go forwards. Her choices.
First time we sat for about 5 mins then I gently asked her to go forwards, she would go a few paces then go through the whole routine again. We did this about 4 times, each time going a few more paces before stopping.
Then a blooming car came round the track... it's a bridleway with access to properties for cars.... nowhere for us to move to so I reluctantly turned her round and headed back up the track.
I wouldn't let her go back into the farm but asked her to go away from the farm. She started the whole routine again, and so did I. Blow me if a blooming car came again. This time I was able to move her off the track and let the car go by.
After a few attempts with the gaps between stopping and starting getting shorter she eventually started walking sensibly, as soon as she seemed to be moving forwards ok I turned her round and took her home.

That day was a huge move forward in our relationship.

She did it sometimes on our hacks in following days but they got less and less and the time between stopping and moving forwards got shorter. Eventually they stopped altogether.
 
I remember reading one of Mark Rashid's books, he was talking about the "old man" and a horse that would balk (what y'all are calling nap I believe). But he talked about the old man calm as could be with his cigarette. He lightly picked up the right rein, then the left, then the right again, etc. Making the horse move it's head from side to side. As he continued to this, he started doing it faster and faster until the horse started to lose its balance, which made her take a step. He then let her stand a few seconds, gave her a pet and started again. Eventually she had moved a few feet. And she began responding more quickly to this, and soon moved when he bumped his heels. LOL
 
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