Difficult to Mount

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i_should_be_working

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Hi there

I have recently bought a 5yr old ISH who is quite a sensitive chap. I suspect he has been difficult to mount in the past (he was only broken in October) as his previous rider always got on by a leg-up. I had a nasty fall off him when I got a leg-up the other week as my friend isn't very experienced at legging up and then frightened the horse by sending me sky-high. I won't be having a leg up for a while! He is fine once on its just that while I have him standing next to the mounting block (which we have moved into the school) he either swings his bum away or runs backwards. We have tried bribes and distraction but they ust work once and then he gets wise to it. To make matters worse I cannot hold the reins at all when mounting otherwise he won't even try to stand still. We have rulled out mouth, back and tack and I am very light. Anyone got any ideas on how to get him to stand still long enough to quickly hop up (he is 16.1 so mounting from the ground is not on)?
 
patience, perseverence and persistence unfortunately. i know, a cr*p reply but just wanted to say this - I LOVE YOUR USER NAME!!! however i do know someone on here that would be able to help having seen her tb mare go from taking 25 minutes to mount to pretty darn instant now. ill pm you her name, she is prob reading this thinking "thanks wonderhorse" but its a form of flattery hey.
 
It seems like you will just have to take it slow. Take time getting him used to the mounting block without getting on, maybe so he doesn't associate the block with mounting.
Hope you have some luck !
 
Other people will shout at me for saying this, but I fixed an ex-trotter who had issues with being mounted by getting on him in the stable with a mounting block. Champ used to panic & run and you couldn't pull on his mouth either. The stables we had at the time were in a barn with a very high roof & wide door so I could safely ride out of the stable. I would get someone to stand next to his head & reassure him with lots of fuss & carrots & quietly hop up off the mounting block. I would get on & off him up to 30 times a day as the only way they learn is by repetition which helps them learn that nothing nasty is going to happen.

Once he accepted it in the stable, we moved outside to an enclosed section of the yard so he couldn't run too far if he panicked. Again, we repeated it over & over again until he accepted it. It took a few weeks, but eventually Champ got to the point when I could mount him from the ground in any situation with loops in the reins. Be patient and you will get there
smile.gif
 
I had this problem with my TB, it used to take ages to get on him he moved any way he could and if someone held him to force him to stand he would panic, he was getting worse and had started swishing his tail and pretending he was going to kick I got the vet to check him over and he did a bute test to ensure it wasn't pain, it wasn't as there was no difference so we had to re-educate him. It took weeks but now I can get on him and he doesn't move a muscle. We broke it down into loads of stages (you don't have to do as many) and continued until he didn't move at each stage then he got a piece of carrot or polo and we moved on to the next stage. Just standing still next to the block, staying there while someone stands on the block, putting weight into the stirrup, leaning over his back and finally mounting. Eveytime he moved we just walked round in a small circle and back to the block as he got better we didn't do the standing by the block or standing on the block stages everytime but went straight to the weight in stirrup or across back. PM if I can help at all
 
I had a young horse who had been badly broken come to me for a similar problem some years ago. He wouldn't go anywhere near a mounting block though he was ok with a leg up.

I used to get legged up on to him and then when his work was finished I would ride him to the mounting block and stand him by it. Did this for a few days until he would stand there no problem and then one day I dismounted onto the block.

He didn't mind this at all so I carried on doing this for about a week until he had got to the stage where I could dismount onto the block and he would stand there quietly whilst I leant over the saddle, played with his stirrups etc etc.

When he was really relaxed about that then one day I dismounted onto the block then quietly put my foot back in the stirrup and got straight back on. At this stage this was still all happening after he had been worked and the initial mounting was still being done by leg up.

I did this every day until I could dismount, mount, dismount, mount etc and only at this point did I try getting on him straight away without a leg up. He accepted with no bother and was never a problem again.
 
My youngster was a moo for this. Did Parelli level one with him and he was transformed. Basically if horse won't stand still parelli states circle his back end around several times, then represent. Keep going with this as horse soon twigs its easier to stand still than diappear up his own a***.
Good luck
 
i had the exact same problem with my 4yr old ISH - he's 16.3. Didn't notice it when i went to try him out as owner always got a leg up. has bucked me off twice literally as soon as i touched the saddle. could have been down to a sore back but even after that was sorted he still wouldn't stand at the mounting block. his trick was to swing his bum out away from the block. we fixed that by moving the mounting block next to the fence so there was no room for him to do it. so he swapped to walking backwards when you tried to get on. have only sorted last month - problem was everytime he stepped back i had to get off the block to move him back and this then came across as praise. had to take him back to basics and lots of ground work so i could move him forwards without getting off the block. this really has helped. he still steps back occasionally when i put my foot in the stirrup but i can now move him forwards and he quiclky gives up and stands still.
sorry so long and i have missed alot out so pm if you want any other info, but i know exactly what you're going through
 
Thanks everyone. All my previous horses (including those just broken) have been a doddle to mount as soon as they realised the mounting block wasn't going to attack them - and that would only take a day or two. I was beginning to think I had the only horse in the world that didn't know how to stand still. I think the ground work sound the best idea as he doesn't "lead up" well anyway. We've been moving the mounting block to where ever he runs backwards to but you can see he immediately thinks backwards. On the yard he has no problem with us laying over him or standing on the block, its just the moment you go to put foot in stirrup. I suppose I am going to just spend a couple of days (some days he is better than others) with a couple of friends taking it all very slowly and probably not actually riding him, just mounting. We are very patient people so dissappointed that he hadn't started to trust me yet - its obviously deeper routed than we first thought and going to take far more time. Falling off probably cemented the issue. Thank you
 
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