How can I train a young horse to stand when getting on?

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Trekker

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When trying to get on this young horse with a mounting block she wont stand. When she was first broken in she used to stand stock still.

A week or so ago I got on her and she went bucking across the areana. Ive had her teeth done and saddle has been checked.

I want to train her to stand..at the moment when you gather the reins to get on she pulls her head and snatches the reins out your hand or she walks backwards??

Any help and advice is appreciated..thank you xx
 
Lots of them go through a stage of anticipating SOMETHING at the mounting block. Filly I'm working on at present (lovingly called 'Psycho b*tch from hell by my staff') has just decided she needs to walk 2 steps backwards just as I get onto the block! Yesterday I moved the block 20 times before she stood STILL for me to mount! Then big pat and lots of praise when she got it right.

Obviously you have to be ABSOLUTELY sure you're not digging your toe in, pulling the saddle sideways a bit, or whatever!

Repetition, repetition, repetition!!
 
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Mine used to do this. It ended in a couple of quite nasty falls. He had been used to people being legged up and moving off. I sent him off for schooling and they went back a step with him and spent alot of time with someone holding him and another person on the block putting weight in the stirrup, leaning over his back, jumping around etc.. Each time he tried to move the lady holding him used the lunge whip as an extension of her arm and corrected him. To begin with it took AGES to get him to stand but after about a week of doing it before every session he got the hang of it. He would occasionally try to move off but was much less speedy when he did. I think his problems stemmed from being nervous though and a bit unsure so whether this would help or not I don't know...
 
Can you get someone to help you? Often gathering the reins is the trigger, so if you can get someone to stand holding her, and make sure you aren't gathering them up too short and accidentally giving her a signal to back up as you mount (not saying you are, but worth checking).
 
You really do need someone to help you holding the horse. They are not doing it out of malice just don't know, remember they are a blank sheet until you break them properly. Patience and kindness is the key. I remember my father just getting on and off for two weeks before he did anymore. Good luck and hope you end up with a splendid horse!
 
I have just been through this with my new 5 year old arab....he went backwards, sideways, up in the air.......he had had a bad experience with a too-tight saddle and associated the mounting block with pain.

I have literally spent weeks getting him to stand there...untacked, and rewarded him each time he did so. I then progressed to me getting on the block, then doing the same with tack on and finally with me putting my toe in the stirrupor laying over him.

It has been a slog I must say....but he will now stand happily by the block and be mounted and he walks on only when asked.

Patience, rewards and repetition worked for me.

Good luck:D
 
Use a good sturdy bucket or one of those moveable plaistic blocks and place it in the middle of the school, rather than where I presume you may have it now...at one end near a wall/corner etc.

Practice walking her round it, round and round it rather than asking her to stand next to it, then once she's got that down to a tee, stand on it and ask the same, so she's forwards thinking rather than backing off, again don't expect her to stand, just let her or make her circle you while you stand there, again once she's doing this well, then ask her to stand if she doesnt and back up, make her go round it several times until she stands (even if it's just for 5 seconds) praise her and walk her on again around it before she decides to back up, carry on with this process until eventually she learns to stand at the block in a calm relaxed mannor, once she's feeling like this I'm sure she will then allow you to get on then without too much fuss, it does work, just takes plenty of patience, providing there is no phyiscal reason and she's not been put off from being mounted for any other reasons, you'll get there.
 
Phil would ALWAYS walk away/swing his bum out/walk off as soon as I was on. I had to be quite blunt with him. Line him up, tell him to "stand", climb first step, "stand", second step "stand" etc. If he moves (generally shifts his quarters away) then I get straight down and lead him round again. If he does it again then I will make it difficult for him. I'll drag him in tiny circles, back up, quarters over, change the rein, little trot, more tiny circles and figures of eight then line him up again. He generally stands still after that ;)

And as for the walking off I think the standing still has helped, he is definitely better than he was but sometimes I do have to really remind him to stand until I say so.
 
Just going through this with my 4 1/2 yr old. I find, treating him occasionally when i get on works a treat, literally! Started off treating every timre, then every other, then every third (you get the picture), and now, he stands still, and needs treating once a blue moon, cutting it out altogether shortly tho.

Hope this helps!

bexcy-bee
 
Thank you for all your advice..Ive been practising today just getting on and off. I know she's still young and this is wat most young horses do..but..I want to train her to stand, it will be alot easier!
 
I have gone through this with my latest youngster. He will stand perfectly if someone is there at his head (doesn't even have to be holding him) but the minute I am trying to do it on my own, he steps backwards or swings his quaters out. Luckily in our school we have a 'passage' leading from the yard into the school - about 5m long and 10m wide. I moved the mounting block to sandwich him between the fence and the gate so he could not move backwards or swing sideways (going forwards has not occurred to him thankfully). He gets a mint just as I am about to get on, and another one if he has stood still whilst I get into the saddle, get stirrups etc. After two weeks of doing this, he stands perfectly and waits for his mint. It might not be the "correct" way to do it, but it works for us. That is the key I think - you need to try out all suggestions and find what works for you.
 
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