Napping whilst riding in field.

[NoviceNic]

Thought you guys/gals might be able to give me some ideas. I have a cob who walks straight over to the gate the minute I mount. Of course this may be what he has done at previous home but sometimes I just want a wander around the field. I use the pull/release method and lift my rib cage to make him stand. He then gets the idea we are not going out today. I walk around for a while ( figure of 8, change of rein, 3 loop serpentine etc) and let myself relax before going into trot. Then he decides where we are going. If pointing towards gate he will go there. If towards mounting block he will go there. I pull him back again into walk so I can control him in the direction I want him to go. I then work on doing 20 metre circles in these areas so that he gets the idea we are going where I want him to go.

He is a cob and although usually placid, very strong when he wants to be. I need to get him schooling nicely in trot before I canter him in field as I am a great believer in having full control.

Do you think I am doing the right thing??? Any more ideas would be appreciated.

[Horseyheaven]

I think the answer is most horses would nap like your cob if they knew they could!

I would start from the ground walking inhand around the field not letting the horse stop at the gate when passing it

Once the horse does this perfectly with no hesitation then Id get on and go through each gait untill the horse doesnt even think about going near the gait

If the horse was to pull me too the gate I would keep doing circuits of the field untill the horse wouldnt nap anymore however many laps it takes!!

however hard it is at the time try not to show any emotion as from experiance I know this only makes the napping worse!!

[Bebe]

How exactly does he pull you to the gate? Is it a straight "right I'm going here" type of thing where he just makes a bee-line for it, or is it more subtle and he gradually works his way to the gate without you even noticing to begin with?

If it's the former then lots of transitions, particularly going away from the gate should get him listening to you. If he tries to make a bee-line to the gate, strong half halts and putting him on a circle should help.

If it's the subtle meander over approach, you probably need more of a connection between your outside hand and inside leg to prevent him drifting through the outside shoudler. This is quite a difficult concept to get right to begin with, I'm still struggling with it (blushes). A few lessons on the field might help, whichever approach he's taking. It's quite common for horses to get a bit nappy if they're being ridden in a field, particularly if its also the field that they are usually turned out in.

[sanna]

Your horse sounds very similar to one of the horses I ride. I recently took a lesson on him with an awesome instructor and she gave me some great advice.

First of all, she said, make sure you never ever let him get away with running to the gate.

Second, she said, in order to steer a horse and have control over it, it must go forward.
So for example, if he tries to run to the gate, I had to drive him forward with my leg and then I turned him on a circle.

So for the entire lesson we just practiced on a circle (as far as possible away from the gate). On the circle, as I rode towards the gate, my horse would try to speed up, invert and try to take off for the gate. To prevent that she said to make sure to use my outside aids (leg and make sure your ourside rein isn't too loose)


Also, as we turned away from the gate my horse would try to slow down, so again, leg aid to keep him going, and I was to keep him at a steady tempo. (in trot I started to just count 1-2-1-2- in order to keep my posting at the same rate)

And it really did help a lot. I think a big part was that I really made the commitment of not letting my horse get away with it. I guess I really learned to say "No" to him.

"Hey can I run to the gate now?"
"No."
"What about now?"
"I said no"
"What about now?"
"I really mean it, no, we stay on the circle."
"Do you really mean it?"
"YES I DO!! TURN AWAY FROM THE GATE. "

After a few cicles he finally quit asking
:D

[NoviceNic]

It is usually a straight right Im going there. This is usually in walk. I do all the figure of 8's and serpintines in walk until he goes where I want him to go and not towards the gate. Then we go into trot and then again he heads for the gate. I pull him back to walk get him away from gate and then back to trot. We do 20 metre circles in trot at this point and then I finish as don't do the canter thing yet. I am building my confidence up. Today I hacked out in the wind. This is a big thing to do and am really pleased with my chap for looking after me.