Does it really matter if she needs a leg up?

WOW sounds like the YO has a big problem. In my view the child should be having fun with her pony.

My saddler said he wished that no one mounted from the ground as it puts strain on one side of the horse/pony. So unless you mount from each side I can see his point. I can't mount from the ground for lots reasons I am old, not as fit as I should be, stiff and my horse is nearly 18hh! I have been known to put him in the nearest ditch when I have come off. We are lucky on the yard in having mounting blocks around.

The YO might have helped in the passed and she might think that she is in the right but from what you have written it sounds like bullying. I thought the idea was to relax and have fun at this rate the child will not want to ride.
 
I agree - she should be having fun but things are being blown out of proportion and she is ending up really not enjoying herself
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I was thinking about suggesting that they took horse on 'holiday' to a yard where her friend is, so she could have a break from all the pressure - I might do that and you never know - they might try it and not want to come back...

I think YO means well, but she's no good at dealing with a nervous kid - she thinks if she shouts at her enough she will be ok, but it's not as easy as that to build confidence. It takes time and patience, and I end up feeling that all my hard work in the lessons is being ruined!
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I was about to say what FMM said- play vaulting because then it doesn't matter if she can't do it because not many poeple can!
 
I'd give her no help. Send her into a corner out of sight of everyone with pony and a mounting block and tell her to sort it out herself. Yes she does need to be able to get on herself, not necessarily from the ground. Tbh she shouldn't get to ride until she does. I've no sympathy with people creating issues in their head that don't exist.
 
Good grief. Let's hope that none of your family or friends ever experience any mental health probelms, Flame. This is a child we are talking about.

I am totally shocked at your attitude.
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I'd give her no help. Send her into a corner out of sight of everyone with pony and a mounting block and tell her to sort it out herself. Yes she does need to be able to get on herself, not necessarily from the ground. Tbh she shouldn't get to ride until she does. I've no sympathy with people creating issues in their head that don't exist.

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Do you not think thats a bit harsh for an insecure 12yr old?
 
Yes, but everyone nannying her is not helping either. Leave her to it on her own to fix it herself. Presumably she's not the size of a house and knows how to tighten a girth, the problem's in her head. She needs to adjust her thinking, you can't work round it and you can't do it for her. Twelve isn't five, if she can ride, she can get on.
 
I have to say that that was the attitude when I first learnt to ride some 40 years ago - at least with my very fierce and old fashioned instructor. If you couldn't get on your horse for an hours lesson you spent an hour learning to do so! Never happened to me but I remember other people - adults, I was a child - having all sorts of trouble.

Which is why I'd go through experimenting with the saddle so that she learns that it won't slip off if she's done the girth up and that it won't send the pony into orbit even if it did slip because she'd forgotten to do the girth up.
 
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Yes, but everyone nannying her is not helping either

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I don't see anyone nannying - merely trynig to help a 12 year old child work out some difficulties.
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We've done this to death though - I've had her pulling with all her might on the stirrup, I've stood in it and put all my weight in it so she can see the saddle isn't going to slip. She knows the horse isn't going anywhere. It's almost like OCD - she will check girth, foot in stirrup, hop as if to get on, foot out of stirrup, check girth, foot in, hop, foot out, check girth and so on.

I think it has got to the point where there has been so much pressure put on her by people at the yard, that its the pressure that causes the problem. She seems to be able to do it when she is just on her own with her mum, or the odd occasion where there are not many people about.

I think if we told her she couldn't ride unless she could get on it would make her worse. Nothing we do in terms of trying to get her to get on by herself seems to work, which is why I'm starting to wonder if it matters for the moment, for her to have a leg up, so that the pressure is off. Then when getting on is no big deal, she might be able to do it when she's on her own and build up from there?
 
Would she be at camp with anyone she knows? A sympathetic friend who could leg her up when needed. Personally, I never mount from the ground, always climb up a fence, gate or whatevers handy and lower myself down rather than haul myself up for the sake of his back more than anything. I suppose it only matters that she can get on in the conventional way if there is absolutely no other option but I'm sure all the pressure is not helping. I'm sure this has already been tried but could you take her and the pony out for a quiet hack somewhere away from everybody else and pick a quiet spot in a field somewhere and have a practise session, you could turn away from them to start with if she really cant handle being watched. I had absolutely no confidence as a child in my ability to do new things but have become more confident as I've gotten older, hopefully she will outgrow her fears.
 
Teaching a young novice for 2/3 months is not very long at all, the mounting side of things should have been taught and perfected right at the very beginning, before anything else! I agree with FLAME to a point, I am a bit old school and this would never have been allowed in the old days, she would have perfected mounting before anything else as I said above.
I am beginning to wonder if this young novice actually WANTS to go to camp..... maybe she is not ready?
 
How about approaching it from a 'worst possible case' point of view. If the saddle slipped as she was getting on, what is the worst that could happen? The saddle would slip around and she would land on her butt. Would that be the end of the world? No. Would it be embarrasing? Yes. But then quite frankly you don't ride horses if you don't want to be embarrased once in a while.

I've had a few riders who 'can't' mount from the ground. I am afraid I don't pander to them, I do believe every rider needs to be able to mount from the ground, even if they use a mounting block / leg up day to day. I have been riding out with someone, who has fallen off and injured themselves. I had to jump off, grab their horse before it vanished into the sunset, ensure they were ok to be left, and then hop back on my horse and canter to the nearest house to use the phone (this was pre mobiles!) and then hop back on again to ride back to her. Now this didn't even occur to me to be an issue at the time, but I have since used it as an example of why people need to be able to mount from the ground, even if they are out with someone else more experienced. I used to get them to mount and remount for as long as it took, and I would happily demonstrate to start with, without anyone holding the saddle on the other side, to show that it is not going to slip or slide, especially as I would hold both the horse and the stirrup for them until they got the hang of it. I would go into the school when no one else but the two of you are around, and work it through, taking an hour if necessary. Not a 'you must' but mroe of a 'we can' approach.
 
As a 23 year old who was a really quite wussy kid i would say stop making mounting an issue, just keep giving her leg ups and hopefully one day she'll just get on and forget about it. I was quite ashamed at my inability to get on a 15.3 from the ground today luckily he was a good boy otherwise i'd have been sat on my butt
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If she can do it but just is worried about it then i wouldn't be too worried cos in an emergency she'll do what she needs to
 
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