Mounting

A. First, I need you to understand a couple of things. I have never had a horse who I couldn’t get to stand still for mounting within 5 minutes. Secondly, in two decades of teaching riding professionally, I have never seen an animal move during mounting who was not being “told” to move by his/her would-be rider. Obviously, I am not able to show you personally how you are asking your horse to move when you attempt to mount, but I can almost guarantee that you are. I would bet that you’re sticking your toe into his side as you mount. If you question the validity of this statement, get someone to stand next to the gelding as you mount and hold his/her hand between your toe and the horse’s side. I would be truly surprised if your toe does not press into this person’s hand at some point during your mount attempt.

Here is what you will need to help teach your horse to stand still while being mounted: a wall or solid fence to steady the gelding’s right side (this will make it considerably easier than trying to mount in the open) and a human helper to hold his/her hand between your toe and the horse’s side to make sure your toe doesn’t gouge.

Here is how I teach all my students to mount to avoid this very common problem. First, make certain your girth is well-tightened. A saddle that slips as you attempt to mount will make the horse uncomfortable and may very well cause him to move away. You may even want to try grabbing the mane with your left hand instead of grabbing the pommel to help avoid pulling the saddle off-center as you mount.

Second, adjust and hold the reins properly with only the very slightest feel of the horse’s mouth; too much will irritate many horses and cause them to move in an attempt to escape your hand; too little will give you no control should the animal start to move during your mount.

Third, before placing your left foot in the stirrup, stand facing opposite the direction the horse is facing; DO NOT stand facing the horse’s side. Putting one’s foot in the stirrup while facing the horse’s side frequently results in the most common mounting error. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen a rider’s foot slip when being placed in the stirrup and end up gouging the horse’s side. By putting your foot in the stirrup while facing backward, you eliminate the risk of inadvertently kicking the horse should your foot slip at that point. Because it is a bit risky to address the stirrup facing backward (you can easily be pulled over backward if the horse should move forward), you should have a helper standing at your horse’s head ready to grab the reins if the animal should try to move forward.

This is VERY IMPORTANT! Put your foot “home” in the stirrup (stirrup all the way back to the heel of your boot). This position will make it easier for you to point your toe downward as far as you are physically able for the remainder of the mount. Once your foot is securely in the stirrup and you have your toe pointed DOWN, hop around to face the horse’s side. As you bounce around, be extremely aware of both the location and orientation of your foot. You want to be certain your toe remains pointed down, and you want to try to hold your entire lower leg as far away from the horse’s side as possible. The point here is to not touch his side in any way, but if you should touch, you want it to be with the flat portion of the top of your foot rather than with the pointed toe.

Once you are in position facing the gelding’s side with toe down, hop close to his side and place your right hand on the cantle. You want to get close to his side at this point so that you will be able to hop straight up. This will help prevent pulling the saddle out of position as you hop up. Make sure you are well-balanced before proceeding. If you hop up when you are off balance, you’re likely to fall over or forward and cause both you and your gelding problems. When you’re ready, make one hop straight up. Even if you have managed to successfully maintain the toe-down position up till this point, the hop-up is where you’ll probably end up raising it into his side without even realizing it. This is where your on-ground helper will come in handy. By keeping his/her hand between your toe and the horse’s side, (s)he can tell you exactly how you’re doing in terms of keeping your toe out of trouble.

Now, after you have hopped up, you are standing facing your horse’s left side, legs straight and together with left foot in the stirrup, both toes down, left hand on mane or pommel, right hand on cantle. DO NOT SWING YOUR RIGHT LEG OVER THE HORSE’S BACK AS PART OF THE HOP-UP … NEVER, NEVER, NEVER!!!!! This should be two distinct and separate movements with a significant hesitation and physical balance check between them. Once you are well balanced in the standing position, move your hands to left hand on the withers, and right hand on the pommel. Then and ONLY THEN may you swing your right leg straight and high over the gelding’s back. Once your right leg is on the right side of the horse’s body, REMAIN STANDING!!! Again, there should be a balance check before bending your knees and sinking slowly into the front of the saddle. NEVER PLOP DOWN ONTO THE BACK OF THE SADDLE!!!

Ok, that’s the mount; however, this is NOT a proper equitation mount. This IS an excellent mount to use with a horse who has learned to move away from your toe while being mounted. Now that I’ve given you the mechanics of the mount, I’ll move on to the retraining of your gelding.

I’ve already explained the appropriate length of reins for mounting – short enough to just barely feel his mouth or a little longer if he objects at all. At every step of the mounting process, you MUST insist he stand absolutely still. There is NO room here for leniency. At his slightest movement, you must tug the reins very quickly and sufficiently firmly to stop the movement immediately. Then you must release the rein pressure immediately and completely. Tug and release, tug and release. Do it as many times and as strongly as necessary to achieve absolute stillness on his part. Hanging on his mouth will only make him dull, resistant, and even more determined to get out of your way. The tugs must be VERY quick, and the releases must be immediate and complete.

Practice each step of the mount many times before moving on to the next step. First face backwards and put your foot in the stirrup. Hold that position for a few seconds. Take your foot out of the stirrup. Wait a few seconds and put it in again. Do this over and over until he stands absolutely still while you address the stirrup. When you can do this without having to tug and release the reins at all, you can proceed to hop around to face his side. Repeat this as many times as necessary until he will stand quietly with no tugging of the reins. Continue the mount by hopping up to a standing position in the stirrup, again using tugs and releases as necessary. Mount only to this point at least 6 times or until he has stood perfectly still without rein correction for at least 3 of these partial mounts in a row. Once he is standing quietly with you in a standing position, swing your leg over (but don’t sink down into the saddle yet). If he stays still, swing your leg back over to the left, hesitate a few seconds, and swing back right. Do this several times. And lastly, once you finally sink into the saddle, DO NOT PERMIT HIM TO MOVE A MUSCLE UNTIL YOU ARE READY. This is a permanent rule to be enforced in every ride from now on. He does not move until you are seated, and balanced, reins are properly adjusted, stirrups are on the balls of your feet, and you are ready to roll. Period!

Assuming he is a horse of reasonable intelligence, and assuming you do not inadvertently give him reason to move, he should learn these new rules in a matter of minutes. But, you will have to reinforce these lessons in every ride for a while until his old habits are abandoned, and you must not allow him to slip back into his potentially dangerous ways in the future. Standing still while being mounted is not an unreasonable request, as long as some other part of your body (your toe) is not simultaneously contradicting that request. As is typically the case with horse/human problems, the horse is usually far more readily retrained than the human. 😉

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