Standing still while mounting

I was not planning to write anything today, but came across some interesting Youtube films again and couldn’t help myself.

Isn’t that annoying, when your horse just shifts off when you are hanging on the stirrup just not quite on the saddle but definitely off the ground..! Didn’t happen that often with our old Jack, but our teddybear thinks it’s enormous fun to step just one sept aside with hind legs when you’re about to get on him. What we do is to get down and back him up or turn him around, then bring him back to the mounting block and try again. Sometimes we’re able to strand on the block and lead him around it once or twice. Eventually he stands still. However, it would be nice to have a horse, which doesn’t move at all in the first place.

Since we started with our classical topline basic training with lunging, and more often than not lunge him to warm him up before riding, we were astonished to find out that he stands perfectly still for mounting after that exercise. This could be due to many things; lunging perhaps reinforces our leadership, he gets excess energy off, he is warmed up on his back… No idea, but it does work.

Now instead of lunging your horse everytime you want to get on him without him moving off, you might like to take the advice from these two cowboys!

Rick Gore has some good points!

And the same tip in the end as the following clip – flex your horse’s neck before you walk off.

Hey, how about that rope halter for riding then? Fab.

Here’s one from Jedi Horsemanship.

The basic idea he is showing here is to keep the horse in motion and let him rest only by the mounting block. Then when he stands by it nicely, you can start leaning over him, then putting a stirrup on, then getting on him. And between each further movement you get off him. If he moves, you put him into motion for a while and then again ask for stillness by the block. When you then finally are on the saddle, don’t move off with the horse, but sit still and pat and stroke him. Here he is then also giving the advice of flexing the horse’s neck from side to side before you finally start moving with him. That is, you are teaching the horse that we are not moving before I have flexed you. Simples!

What a clever idea! I shall try it certainly!