p.s A friend of mine had a lovely cob on loan but she couldn't get on him from the floor because he walked off, so she tried a mounting block and he was scared to death of it and would take off.
I could get on him from the floor, because I could get on quick from him walking, but the one time I tried a mount from the block he proper went to go, but friend had him on a lead rope, luckily and held on.
His owners had told us at the outset that unbeknown to them they'd been riding him for about a year in a saddle with a broken tree and it was only when he started being difficult to mount that they'd had him and it checked over.
That had been a few years before my friend got him, and although she had him and the new saddle checked over and it was all found to be fine, I do believe when a horse is in a new situation, i.e new home, they regress back to their original 'issues' or 'injuries' such as this.
That's also why I don't entirely believe that a horse new to you starts mucking about to 'try you out', I think they had that issue with the previous owner who worked through it, or got round it, or cured an injury or such like, but the horses' unsettledness with the new situation brings it to the fore again.
