Help with napping - horse backing up

[Noblesteed]

I am sharing a lovely cob. He is placid, bombproof, and a little unwilling to go forward. He is a typical kick along cob. This is all OK with me but he tested me the other day. Off on a long hack, 2+ hours. He often stops to look at things, OK then encourage to go on. But yesterday he stopped and looked and when I asked for forward motion he started to walk backwards. He did this 4 times, with back legs in a ditch twice, also once on a canal bridge -not nice.

I'd like to know what to do in such a situation. The more I asked for forward the more he went back, so I waited quietly and then asked again, OK the first time. Next time had to really insist, kicking and using stick. Last time he seemed quite scared, he was tense and felt on high alert and he moved back quicker and was trying to turn. I tried waiting and being more insistent. It didn't help, so got off and walked to a place I could mount again. He then went forward more easily and no more stopping. I think I need to anticipate stops and not allow them.

My main question is how to ride him when he is going back? He is responding to my forward aids incorrectly, so is there anything else I could do?

Hope you can help, would like to nip this in the bud.
Thanks.

[Sammii]

My cob has the tendancy to back up when told to move on after being halted. I ask him to walk on like normal, and then with added pressure, and if he starts to back up again, I go to turn him to the side so that he has to theoretically move forward, and then once he's moving to the side, I ask him to walk on and he does. Hope this works for you and you get it sorted! :)

[martini55]

Well my horse might be a little odd but when she used to do that, I'd turn her around to face the way she wanted to go (if I kept on insisting she walk forward she'd just get worked up) and made her walk backwards. Well she wanted to walk backwards :D So we were going in the direction I wanted to go, we were just going backwards. She'd then realise that going forwards was much easier and off we'd go again. Sometimes we'd also leg yield along. I didn't bother what way we went, as long as went in the right direction :p This was when she was going through a silly spooky/nappy phase.

Some horses do fine if you hop off, lead them on a bit and then jump back on. But I'd only do that if I was confident the horse wouldn't muck around on the ground.

[Palomino Mare]

my horses go through spells like this too. when its really bad they refuse to leave the yard.

its important not to let them turn (no matter how hard they try!). once you get him going forward go straight into trot, this gets them thinking forward and away from whatever made them stop.

if you know when he is going to stop then trot way before the area, if you feel him slowing down then go into canter if poss. as martini said, if you can get him into an outline or to leg yield then this will also ditract him away from the problem.

My instructor chased me with a bike...:D

[Noblesteed]

Thanks for your replies so far. Glad I'm not alone! Seems like I am doing the right thing mostly. I need to keep one step ahead and not reinforce the going back, just going forward. Will be riding him again on Weds so will let you know how we get on.

[Joyscarer]

Here's what I would do:

If I were in a sfe place then I would actually encourage the backing up to beyond that which the horse wanted to do. I'm effectively saying 'alright, you wanted to back then we'll back up until I say stop.' After taking the backing up a few staeps past when the horse thinks its his idea you can then give the option to walk on which is easier than the backing up and likely to be the option the horse chooses :)

[MelanieD]

Go backwards in the direction you want to go until horse is begging to walk forwards :D If genuinely scared then reversing past the horse eating monster may still work but be a bit more patient with lots of encouragement or even get off and lead if genuinely scared and not taking the pee.

[thoroughlybred1]

anticipating, or feeling the stops about to happen, i feel is the key. as soon as you feel them ask him to up the pace and trot on (you've then got the transition to walk, halt and back up allowing you more time to "think"). If you are confident that its not pain that is the issue, back this up with a smack to reinforce your leg sooner rather than later - once they have planted it is much more dificult to get the forward momentum again. If he's gone past planting, and running backwards, i would turn him in a circle until i've got forward momentum again (albeit perhaps not in the desired direction!) and keep this going with reinforced leg aids until i'm facing the direction i wish to be heading in, then push him forward with legs AND seat with a stick ready if required - you might have to be competant at riding one handed to keep his head in the direction you wish to travel (depending on how sticky he is) if a stick is required to back up your leg. if the horse reacts to the stick and jumps forward, be ready to go with him and carry it forward!.........you dont want to then be left behind and pull him up unintentionally when he has offered you the forward movement as requested!

If you still have problems, enlist some help either on the ground or with a stronger rider.......this behaviour can very easily become an evasive habit and is harder to deal with the more established it becomes

[Noblesteed]

OK next installment! Rode out this morning on a circular route. Horse was a little hesitant as usual but we mosied along and I didn't allow any stopping. I didn't need to be harsh, just nudged on when I felt the pace slow up. Had first stop on turn off concrete track onto wooded bridleway, needed firm persuasion to continue. It's a lovely track, but between noisy motorway on one side and noisy railway track on the other. Lots of beeping and ringign from railway line, but all OK. Until we got alongside a field where there was a tractor harrowing. Let him look at this then we moved on. He came to another halt when he spotted a bale of swire sheep fencing in the field. Couldnt get him to move. He froze and grew. Heard tractor approaching from behind. Wanted to move on so asked quite firmly. Response was to back up quickly and then spin and tank off back the way we had come. I got him to stop fairly quickly by turning him, but also came off as the treeless saddle I was using slipped right under him. He just stood while I picked myself up. I then turned him, walked him past the scary wire bale and on on our hack. He was still scared even when I was leading him, but we got past OK.

When he is on the road he will tolerate almost anything: tractors, lorries, motorbikes, horse and cart etc., but this seemed to be too much for him, too much going on too far from home. I think that if I had got off and led him when he froze up it would have been better. But I'm not sure if I'm reinforcing what I want by doing that? Also still not sure how to ask a horse that is backing up to go forward instead?

[angelfben]

Mine does this but a bit more extreme, he'll actually run backwards and rear and has ran backwards into a canal before :rolleyes:

I have tried EVERYTHING, and I mean everything from NH approaches to whips to getting off and leading, some of the things I've tried which didn't work for me but may for you:

Circling: Spin them round on the spot quickly and uncomfortably for a few seconds, bring their head right round to your leg and drive them round with your leg. Then ask them to walk on again, if they step backwards start circling again. As I say never worked for me, but I have heard some success stories by persevering with this approach, theory is it's harded for them to try and walk backwards than go forwards when you ask.

Leg Yielding: Turn him and ask him to go sideways in the direction you want, basically works by out-witting them a bit, sometimes horses who are napping to the leg don't think to nap to a sideways motion. Alas my horse was too clever for this one.

Irritating: An old cowboy trick for nappy horses, just annoy them into moving. Anything from repeatedly swinging their head from side to side to slapping the reins across their withers. The idea is not to up the pressure but keep it constant the whole time the undesirable behaviour is happening and then stop as soon as they do as you ask. It works quite well on horses who are prone to fight harder if you try and bully them into doing as you ask. Mine just ignored me.

Whip: With a not particularly dedicated napper a flick with a schooling whip every time they take a step back can sometimes work. You have to be quick off the mark though so that you correct the behaviour as soon as it happens, and careful not to be tempted to continue once they are moving forwards, the whip should only come into play when they start napping so they learn very clearly that is the reason for the smack.

Spurs: Self explanatory, often works on nappy horses as it's not as much a 'fight' action as the whip but more an increased leg pressure. Sort of worked for me except after a couple of times he got wise to it and just reared whenever I applied the spurs.. (n.b. the spurs in themself did NOT cause him to rear, it's just his argumentative reaction to anything he doesn't like).


The only thing that HAS worked consistantly with my boy is to turn him around and make him back up the way I want. I've had some critisism for this and been told I'm teaching him to back up and evade me, but to be honest at the end of the day if he is going where I want then he ISN'T evading me as far as I'm concerned. I usually back up a few feet then turn them around an give them the option of going forward, if they start going back I spin them around and back them up again and repeat until they go forward when offered.

[Joyscarer]

You mentioned the getting off thing. I have done that and see no problem with it. Some feel more in control when mounted, Joy gets confidence from having me on the ground where she can see me. This explains why when first preparing a horse to be able to confidently hack out solo we tend to start out with in hand walks :)

[angelfben]

I will happily hop off and lead past 'scary' stuff as well :) (alas it usually has no greater affect than me being on board with my beastie :rolleyes: )

If it were just point blank get to a point and had enough napping though I'm more inclined to ride it out.