How to manage a napping horse

friends again. On hacks you can practice short separations by allowing other horses to go short distances ahead and then waiting to catch up and allow you to walk past a short distance and take it in turns. Be careful to increase these distances slowly otherwise your horse will become too anxious and start to nap again.
You can start this with short hacks inhand using food rewards and wither scratches when your horse stays relaxed. Then move on to doing this while riding continuing with the scratches and rewards. This will build confidence and should help your horse to feel more secure about staying behind and taking the lead.
Other causes of napping
Sometimes napping is caused by a combination of smaller stressors that build up the term for which is trigger stacking which pushes your horse to a place where they cannot cope. Usually your horse can cope with these stressors individually but if its windy and there are a lot of cars going by too fast you pull on the reins a little too hard and then tap your horse with the whip because they are not listening the cumulative effect of all of these factors can be too much for your horse to cope with. For them napping is now the behaviour you are likely to listen to and return them to a place of safety.
Rider expecting too much from the horse in their training. Perhaps the horse is young inexperienced unfit or in their older years. Dont overface them if you do you risk them saying no by napping.
Using punishment to correct inappropriate behaviours shouting hitting with a whip for example.
Lack of rider confidence causing a tense riding situation. Your horse looks to you to be the leader and takes confidence from that so if you find a situation scary chances are they will too.
Fear of other horses working in the same arena.
Fear of traffic hedge monsters farm animals in fields especially ones horses can smell andor hear but cant see drain covers on the road for example.
Other horses that bully them in the field or even in the yard for example a horse will be reluctant to walk past the stable of a horse who routinely reaches out to bite them.
Understanding the cause of why your horse is napping is the first stage of working through it. Seek help from an expert or trainer if you need to before the situation becomes out of hand and you and your horse start to lose confidence and trust in each other.
Napping case study finding the cause
When 10yearold gelding Paddy suddenly started freezing on the driveway
out of his yard rearing and spinning if pushed by his rider his owner decided she needed help. They hadnt managed to hack out in weeks and the horses napping behaviour had become dangerous.
Paddys napping began when on his last hack out rubbish had been left at the yard entrance. As he came through the gates the wind blew the rubbish and he and some of the other horses spooked and bolted back to the yard.