Standing still for mounting?

[LindaS]

I've just got a new horse, a lovely Welsh D mare. So far she has been perfect in every way. There is only one little problem. On our hacks we have quite a few gates, so I have to get off and on a lot. She doesn't like standing still for mounting. She doesn't turn away from me, she just goes forward. If I take the reins shorter, she goes backwards. I will start to do Parelli groundwork with her. Are there any other ideas, what I could do?
Regards
Linda

 

[claire1976]

Parelli groundwork will help. My mare is like this sometimes. Just persevere, when she steps forward bring her round in a small circle back to the original spot, then try again. Keep doing that and she will get bored eventually. Make it harder work for her when she moves away and take the pressure off when she stands still.

 

[horsegirl]

When working at home, get someone to stand the other side of the horse and get her attention with a piece of carrot. I broke the process down into several sections but you could just get on and if she stands still give her the carrot. We did stands still when rider gets on mounting block (on and off several times until he does then give the carrot) rider leans weight across saddle again over and over until horse stands still give the carrot, rider puts weight in stirrup again repeat and give carrot then mount and if stands still give carrot. Do not give treats to to keep the horse still if she moves off only when she stands still otherwise you will be rewarding the wrong behaviour.

 

[buzzles]

I have a 4 year old that was terrible to mount when I got him 5 weeks ago, he'd walk backward and then when you swung your leg over him he'd shoot forwards. He now stands perfectly still to be mounted and waits to move off when I tell him. To get him to behave, I'd feed him a polo just before mounting and wait until he was standing still before even attempting to mount, then when I got on him I gave him another polo. In his case it was him just being nervous and worrying so I just had to encourage him to relax by rubbing his neck, talking to him and giving him treats. Now he associates getting mounted with positive rewards and not as a negative thing. I don't know about Parelli as I've never used it but I imagine it's similar to my approach as it involves building up the horse's confidence and trust and using positive reinforcements.