Confused Mounting

[ruby92]

I've had my exracehorse for a year now , he's always been fidgety to get on he'll move away from the mounting block and just face me , however for 2 weeks now I've been able to get on straight away first time all by lining him up at the mounting block, standing in front of him and rubbing his face for a few seconds, then step onto mounting block and on no fuss ( i saw someone do this on a video so thought I'd try it too) is it a reassurance thing? Either way it works just wondered if someone could shed some light on what it could be
Ria

 

[Lois Lame]

That's interesting. I don't know why it would work, but as I read about it, I could imagine a nice feeling on my face.


(Edited to change 'forehead' to 'face'. I think rubbing the face is better than just rubbing the forehead.)

 

[Sossigpoker]

You need to make standing at the block a nice thing to make him want to do it , which by rubbing his face you are doing. So he's starting to learn that standing still =nice things.
If you're not doing so already, you should put your mounting block near a wall so there's a gap between the block and the wall where the horse stands (about 5 ft or so , not so small that he will panick ) . This will stop him being able to turn around and face you and will teach him to remain sideways onto the block.