Does it really matter if she needs a leg up?

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jumpthemoon

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hiya, I've been teaching a 12/13yr old girl for the past couple of months who is on our yard, and the lessons are going really well. however, she has this issue that she is really nervous about getting on. it's all in her head - she thinks the saddle will slip and she will hurt the horses back/get hurt herself etc.

We've tried various different things to try to help her, but it seems to me that the pressure of people expecting her to be able to 'just get on' is making her worse.

It occurred to me tonight....does it matter if she needs a leg up???? She doesn't ride on her own (and when she does she can usually get on anyway, it's mainly when people are watching), and there is always someone about to give her a leg up. She is due to go to a riding camp in 3 weeks and YO keeps telling her she has got to be able to get on if she wants to go. But does she? Why can she not just have a leg up? Does it really matter???

What do you think? I'm thinking it might be best to tell her not to worry about getting on, just get someone to leg her up if she doesnt feel like it, so she isnt under pressure.
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I can't mount from the ground on a 16hh, and I'm young and 5'11"...

I don't hack so I always use a block.

Better for her back, the saddle & me...no problem.
 
There was a post similar to this a couple of weeks ago I think, there might be something helpful on there?

But I would suggest maybe handing over the reins and saying ok, if you want to get on i'll be with you in a minute, and then busy yourself with something else acting like your not looking. She might find that easier than having someone standing there watching?
 
I suppose she should be able to get on from the ground 'just in case', but I never mount from the ground; I always use a mounting block or get a leg up..... and all my horses will stand next to a fence/ gate etc out hacking incase I ever have to get off. I prefer this to pulling on their backs and potentialy dislodging tack etc.

So, in short........ no, I don't think it really matters if she won't mount from the ground
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I'm sure others will think differently though
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I always worry the saddle will slip round when i get on too! annret, i too can't mount from the ground! I always need to use a block or is there is someone around, get a leg up!!
 
She does try to mount from a wall where everyone else gets on, but even then when everyone is watching she's too nervous. I don't really see a problem with her having someone leg her up though - she's only young and I'm sure she'll get over it if the pressure is taken away a bit. Not everyone agrees though
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I'm five eight and can't get on my 16.3hh from the ground (and very few people can throw me up there lol). Have been known to have problems getting on LC and he's only 13.2hh
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Not an issue m'thinks. Let her go and have fun. Without the usual lot watching her she may well be okay
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If she wants to to pony club tests, she has to be able to mount correctly. however, i dont mount correctly - years of mounting young horses - so i mount sideways instead of facing backwards.

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i dont see why she cant just be legged on, if there was a serious 'incident' where she needed to get on quickly then im sure she would be able to no prob.

I cant even get on a 13hh pony from the ground due to my hip so as my horse is 16.2 I have to find fences, gates a random stranger, anything, to get me on everytime. no probs.

you might find if people stop making a big deal of it she will get round to doing it herself anyway.

and spending time at camp may be what cures it.

does the YO make such a big deal of it in front of her? cause that cant be good for her confidence...
 
I get on off the garden wall (no block
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) I can get up off the ground but prefer someone to hold the other stirrup if I do to keep the saddle straight. The bounce has rather gone from my bungee so it involves a lot of inelegant hopping and scrabbling. I prefer a block or high point. No, I can't see why she can't have a leg up/block, besides you say she manages when alone. Maybe at camp with lots of other riders mounting up she will feel more confident to give it a go?
 
i wont get on my mare from the floor, if i dont have a choice i will mount if someone holds my stirrup and noseband to keep horse still. I had a bad fall when mounting a few years ago. i still get nervous but have no prob mouting with a block, my mare is so round my saddle does slip.
I dont see the issue as surely at the camp she will be supervised at all times? so someone will always be there?
I think when it comes to things like this being pressured into it makes it worse.
 
I think she has to learn to get on from the ground - I know how to yet i never do
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I always use a mounting block/fence/wall/gate
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AmyMay it was your post I was thinking of tonight - I've been giving her the od leg up since and it is just so much easier and takes the pressure off her. I think that's what she cant deal with - pressure - not the mounting itsself.

laurasaf - YO does make a bit of a big deal about it - she shouted at her tonight and told her she would have to get on if she wanted to go to camp and shes got to be able to do it, but I was thinking tonight - why? So what if she cant get on? Who cares?
 
At our childrens show on Sunday I insisted in the handy pony that they mounted from a portable block
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I would much rather that people got on from a block than swung about on the horses back getting on from the ground. Make too much fuss about anything and it becomes a big deal, usually when there is no need for it to. IMO
 
Well that was certainly my sense from your original post - the pressure aspect.

Sometimes focusing on the 'problem' just makes it worse. Take away the focus, and suddenly one day the 'problem' will be fixed, almost un-noticed.

And as for the YO - disgusting!!!!!
 
I always use a block to get on my 17.2. I can get on without if I must but don't see why. ... Although saying that - I can't get on without assistance if riding bareback
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Anyway, when learning cycling I remember I couldn't do it without those extra wheels. Nothing my parents could do to make me, I'd just fall over. Until I went on holiday camp with other kids ... Their cycles didn't have support wheels ... And it didn't matter
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I don't think it matters, TBH. I have the opposite fear; I dread getting a leg-up in case I cripple/maim someone with my awful weight
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Would she feel better about mounting from the ground if someone were pulling / putting weight on the offside stirrup, do you think?
 
Thing is, when I went to camp there was alot of games and exercises that meant quickly mounting and dismounting, and she will feel under even more pressure if loads of people her age are watching her try to get on if she is against the clock or something.
 
I think that we are looking at this from an adult's point of view and not a kid who's going to camp. Incidentally, I think the YO is sounding like a bully.

I can't get on my 14.2 fom the ground and always use a high mounting block. I've had more accidents just getting on (she's a crafty mare and me getting on usually meant work) that I'm very wary about it. Change anything - height of mounting block, height of stirrup and I'm flummoxed.

When I'm feeling like that - I walk up to Star with only one thought - getting on. Nothing is going to stop me (including somebody 'helping' me) and I have to climb on the block and swing up as positively as I can. No second thoughts, no 'what ifs', no dithering. That usually puts me right til next time. My instructor told me I think about it too much and allow the getting on to 'spook' me.
Is there a private place with nobody watching where she could just practice being positive and getting on? No thinking about it too much? That way she might crack it.
 
TBH I dont think its a huge issue. At some point, yes she probably should learn just in case, but its not a train smash if she doesn't. And you might find that when people stop making it into an issue, it will stop becoming one and she will mount.
Personally, I normally use a wall to get on mine, purely because I prefer it to putting the weight just in one stirrup, but if I can't for whatever reason, I will mount from the ground. The 17.2hh WB I used to ride I normally mounted from the ground, but to be honest...who really cares?
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Maybe if she starts hacking and stuff she will have to learn, or if she is going to be playing a lot of gymkhana type games which tend to involve getting off and on between races and such.
 
If it was my daughter id be a bit worried about her being upset at camp because she cant do it and the other kids are flying on and off. Girls that age can be very sensitive (even if they dont tell you) to being the odd one out.
For that reason and that reason only id want her to be able to get on, but sounds like now the pressure is just to much.
Id start with getting on off wall or something then try to progress to blocks etc, getting smaller and smaller untill she can do it.
From my experience id guess that that she is more worried about hurting herself not the pony. And once she has done it a couple of times and you know she can do it then she can go back to having a leg up for the rest of her life if she wants, but you know she will be ok should the need for her to mount properly arise.
 
If the issue now is that she thinks the saddle will slip then try an experiment with her. Assuming pony is a saint, which I seem to remember it is, put saddle on and do girth up VERY loosely and ask her to push down on the stirrup with her hand and see if she can move the saddle, keep doing the girth up until she can't move the saddle at all with her hand then get her to mount and see if the saddle tries to move when someone holds the other stirrup. Keep doing up girth until saddle doesn't move with stirrup not held. You do need to make sure there's someone there to grab stirrup just in case. Then get her to look at what holes the girth is on and check the tightness of it with her hand.
 
Thanks everyone for your replies
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This seems to be becoming a real issue for her, probably mostly because it's becoming an issue for everyone else! The whole yard ends up gathering round and shouting advice and holding stirrups etc etc and I think it's just too much for her, bless her!

She can't get on from a block - even with someone holding the stirrup - she used to be able to do that fine, until YO said she had to get on with noone holding the stirrup and it started to become an issue. She gradually got worse and worse until now she can't even get on from a mounting block with someone holding the stirrup.

I want to suggest that she doesn't even worry about it and doesn't try unless she feels she really wants to - that it doesn't matter if she has to have a leg up - after all, jockeys have leg ups, dont they? Noone tells them they have to mount on their own
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I'm just concerned now that YO and other people on the yard will start having a go at me for telling her it doesn't matter - because they think it does! Last night when I gave her a leg up YO came runnign after me when I was on my way to the barn saying 'how did you get her on?' and shouting about how she's got to do it herself or she might as well not bother riding etc...
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Arrggh!
 
Oh, also, the camp she is going to isn't the type where they play games or anything - it's an endurance camp and they will be doing things like dressage tests/interval training etc, no mounted games. Her Mum was going to go with her so she would be able to give her a leg up every day when they rode if she wanted one.
 
Personally I never mount from the ground anyway, having been advised its bad for the horses back and also the saddle.

With kids I've found the more you make an issue of things the worse it gets....I would just leave it work itself out with no pressure.
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It also sounds like a yard move, perhaps, might be helpful for her......

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You know I think you might be right there AmyMay - you're very perceptive!
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I think she should be on a yard where there are young people that she can have some fun with and no pressure being put on her - her Mum was really upset last night because she feels like she's got no control over the situation - she can't even decide what to feed the horse without YO telling her she has to do it this way or that way.
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I don't think they would move though, as YO has helped them out a lot before they got this horse. Nightmare!
 
Well, perhaps mum needs to have a quiet chat with the YO and ask them to kindly refrain from being so vocal about the 'daughters' problems.........

Are there any nice yards around that you know of with kids on them - it never hurts to plant the seeds.......
 
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