Mounting Nightmare

emlybob

emlybob

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Hi All
Not sure this is the right place to post this but anyone with any useful tips would be helpful

A client of mine has an ex racehorse bought off the track in august and it is a nightmare to mount. First of all getting him to stand still is really hard and then once managed that i have to hold his inside rein and leg her up. I then have to hold his rein and her leg and walk him on till he settles which is only usually a few minutes, then she can ride him and he can work beautifully. When asking him to stand he shuffles about, sometimes backwards and sometimes forwards. if you tell him offf sometimes he gets really cross and tries to bite but he is not a nasty horse.

I would like to get her and him to the point where he will be mounted quietly stand still and from a block. However he seems to get more and more tense and stressed out about this and really gets his knickers in a twist.

She has had his saddle checked, teeth looked at and had the physio, all or which are ok.

It is really frustrating as he is a super horse

Any comments or advice would be great as i am running out of ideas!
 
This is a fairly common problem with ex-racers. This is because they are usually mounted on the move with a leg up. We have a TB from racing & this was our problem too, BUT, went to see a ROR demo with Yogi Breisner & his advice was a scoop of feed & they will gradually get the idea. It is a pain, as it means that (for us) someone always has to be around for my daughter to get on, but she is slowly improving (the horse, not the rider, she is still scrambling up inelegantly!!)
I think you just have to be patient & slowly work on it. There is no point in getting stressed as the horse will not settle at all.

Hope this helps!
 
Thanks for your replies so far, trust me i have never been so patient!!!

I think feed may be one idea just don't want biting anymore!!

I have been told that he was always sent on to the track first as was naughty to get on!! But as you say they are always mounted on the move
 
ask to stand for a few seconds, reward, repeat alot (without it getting boring for the horse) then build up the time the horse has to stand before a treat, also use the word stand.
once you can get the horse to stand calmly you can then move on to the mounting block and repeat there.

i had to do this with my ex racer, it worked with her and also the same came to picking out feet, she wouldn't let me keep her foot up so i'd only give a treat after i had placed the hoof on the floor, after a while i could do 2 feet and then got it to the point where she only had a treat after i'd done all the feet!
 
I had an ex-racer with a similar problem only at first it took three people to help me on - one to hold him, one to leg me up and one hold a front leg up to distract him.

He was always easier to get on the second time in a riding session so this was the one we worked on to begin with. It was nerve wracking but I would ride him for about 10 - 15 minutes, get off, get back on again, ride for another 10 minutes or so and then get off and get back on again.

With time and patience we eventually got to the stage where I could get on him first time him on my own. I always used mounting block.
 
I only had the one ex-flat horse to come in for retraining for dressage & he was also a bugger to get on to start with - perfect in just about every other aspect (except to hack behind another horse - fine upsides or in front tho)
I also involved a person with feed - but also another person to hold on whilst legging me up too, to start with.
We then progressed to the feed in a scoop being held the other side of a gate (a BIG gate) whilst being legged up, then gradually over 3 or 4 weeks this lessened to just being legged up & no feed. After a while we introduced the mounting block by the gate, then just me on my own getting on - and off, and on and off.
It did take 4 months to be able to get this sweet little fella to stand for his new owner whilst using the block, but it did happen eventually - good luck:)
 
Ho yes this is a common problem with racers. As we all know teh jockeys are just thrown up as they go along.
We have basically trained them worng. So its about re training.
More time and patients from your end I'm afraid.
Monty Roberts did just this work with an ex racer I had it on video. Not sure if your familiar with his work.
And as I'm sure you now one of the biggest causes of accidents with horses isn't jumping etc its getting on and off safely. Teach the horse to stand and wait.
I will see if I can find vid of Monty Roberts re training the ex racer Only took him 30 min max but clearly should be repeated daily till the horse is effectively re trained to happily stand.
Ironically I have been doing just the same with my horse yesterday and today. I am using the dually halter and making him walk and stand next to mounting block while I get on and off it. Place weight on him and off. He is fine normally just at it a bit of late so Im re teaching. Quietly praising him when he stands ie a rub to head between eyes. then walking off and repeating. increasing time more each time. Building blocks. adding a bit more and so on
Sorry I do go on but hope this helps
 
Keep the replies coming, all very interesting and plenty of food for thought, thank you.

The monty roberts video would be good to see
 
i have a welshie who was a nightmare to mount it took 3 months for him to become mountable easily, and even then i did have to have someone else just have a hand on him, but he stood quietly and moved on when asked.
we discovered we could mount from the floor on the yard but not in the arena (whether a similar situation applies for this horse i dont know but perhaps worth trying?) so we did this until it was commonplace for him

like madalicedj, i did use a dually halter and the same techniques she described to help with the problem, alongside lots of groundwork to gain his trust involving standing him at the block with me on it giving him lots of cuddles. i also put our mounting block (small step like affair) into his stable for 2 months and fed him off it etc so it just became a mundane boring safe thing and i honestly think this helped, we also used food as a reward.

good luck as i more than know how frustrating it can be
 
Very common problem with ex-racers, he just doesn't know, so you need to go back a step. Rather than trying to mount him, try to teach him to stand still, ideally next to the mounting block. Try little and often, don't expect him to stand for too long (just a second or two to begin with) and reward him. Personally I don't find food as a reward to be a problem and it can also get them out of biting. Once he gets the hang of standing introduce a rider, but take it slowly, first the rider merely stands on the mounting block but makes no attempt to mount, then starts putting a foot in the stirrup, etc. Always make it easier as well more difficult, so always return to easier behaviours and use a helper with the food. Once he gets used to mounting with a helper, you can start the same process just with the rider and eventually the rider will be able to mount and reward from the saddle. Shouldn't take more than a couple of weeks to sort out.
 
It's great to read these success stories about mounting ex racers and now knowing there is light at the end of the tunnel, fingers crossed!!
 
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