when getting on your horse? do you get on from groung? or do you use a mouting block?

I was using a mounting block until my mare started moving away from it all the time! Now in the school I get on from the ground. If we are going out on a hack there is a handy tiny wall which works perfect as she stands grazing while there too! Lol!
Will be teaching her to stand patiently at the mounting block again though too!
 
I'm 5'4" and used to easily mount my 17.3hh from the ground. 5 years on and now having an 18.3hh giant I now for the first time in 30 years am using a mounting block. Much easier on my horse and certainly much easier on my ageing body!
Tried once to mount from the ground but sadly my leg couldn't quite reach the stirrup even after letting it down to the last hole. :(
 
SKY said:
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also can you all get on a 17hh horse from the ground, with ease, :D you all would be too if you saw me try that! I am 5'2" on a good day, I don't think I can get a saddle up that high nowadays even ;)
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I get on from the block at home, from the ground/horse in ditch/me on a log, whatever, when I am out, there are advantages to having 14 handers ;) :D
 
Holly82 said:
so im thinking about getting her a mounting box sorted, as we are not allowed to stand on the fences at our yard.

QUOTE]

Does your yard not have a block ? :eek:

Mounting from the ground (on both sides) is an essential skill so everyone should be able to do it, even if they don't :) Teaching children to mount from both sides is much easier than teaching one sided adults to do it. I can't, I'd end up backwards :(
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Sadly I can't get on these days from any other methods other than a mounting block or similar.......I used to be able to get on anything up to 17.2HH from from the stirrup, and I look in on envy at my son (who learnt from the British Racing School, BRS- Newmarket) to vault on anything.......) Read Boxing Day madness - I managed to pull my traumatised horse away from the field, led him down to a farm, where he calmed when he saw other horses, then tried to re-mount, Found a bucket, put my weight on it, was hovering towards to the stirrup, when my foot went through the bucket........Feck......Quietly wihdrew my foot from the bucket and found a bank to re-mount from - bless the horse the was up for it.....nighmare really!
 
my welshie is only 15.2hh but I always get on him from the wall at my stables and whatever I can find when out hacking, I never get on from the floor as I was taught as a child that it was not good for the horse's back to do so.
 
It is an absolute rule here that anyone who wants to ride has to mount using the Endo Spink Swing Up, so no blocks, no leg ups, only from the ground, regardless of the height of the horse.....

P.S. But how do you get people to stick to the rules??:D:D:D

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Mounting block . Which is how I broke my leg last November , having failed to check my girth properly for the first time in about 30 yrs . Saddle slipped , horse moved sideways taking my left foot with him . That forced me to hop from the block to the ground , but I landed flat on my heel , and thought I'd shunted my shin through my knee . What I actually did was break my fibula , and put it through a load of calf muscle instead . I was lucky not to do the ankle too apparently .
 
I always get on off something. Mounting block or log bench verge stone when hacking out. My mare is 15.2 and I am 5ft 1 so getting on from the ground is a struggle for me. If I am riding bareback I have to jump on off something as Im just too small!
 
I've never been able to get on from the ground, even when I was young and springy! It might be partly psychological though, cos even a teeny step is better than nothing. It was always hugely embarrassing when I was a kid and we visited other riding schools who didn't use a mounting block - my excuse was that I'd mounted that way since I was 4! Not sure that makes sense, but it did to me.

Now I'm happy to learn that it's better for the horse to use a block - but I'm also old enough that I'm not embarrassed to say I can't hop on from the ground :D
 
SKY said:
hi,
was just wondering what you all do, i used to always get on from the ground years ago, then heard that not good for horses back the strain in years on. so always use a height to get on, have done for years now since i heard that.

but was getting on my friends boy the other day and someone mentioned oh can you not get on from ground lol. i said of course i can but do you not know its strain on horses back so i always use a height to get on, better for horses back and of course when getting on a tall horse its easier for me too. but reason is because less strain for horse.

so who uses a mounting block or a height to get on from and your reasons for this, or who gets on from ground.

also can you all get on a 17hh horse from the ground, with ease, as was riding my friends 17hh horse and apart for his back i couldnt have got on from ground with ease, legs too short, i needed a mounting block for him. but wheater i am getting on a small horse or a tall horse, i prefer to get on from a height as less strain for horses back.

just curious to know
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It's sensible to mount from a mounting block or other secure object as it puts less strain on the horse's back, your back and the horse's tack.
 
Unless unavoidable, I always use a high mounting block, wall, gate, bank - anything!

I can get onto anything from the ground though - working in racing for so long taught me to bloody well jump and hang on!
 
For the big yins I use a mounting block. When stuck in the show ring with my 17.2hh Hunter and 17hh riding horse I have dropped the stirrup and clambered up purely because I am so embarrassingly bad at getting leg ups! With the shetlands its just a case of popping your leg over and sliding on :D
 
Never from the ground bad for the horse bad for the saddle bad for me.
Since I broke my leg I can only mount from the ground up to a 15.3 and mine are around 17 so I have them well trained to stand next to things .
 
As a short arse 12 year old I could hop up on an 18.1 with no help.

Now I'll only ground mount if I can get up without using a stirrup/weight in stirrup otherwise I'll find a bucket, gate, person etc. I can get up to about 15 hands bareback and less saddled. Stopped using weight in stirrup after seeing a photo of the saddle damage done and wondering the effect of mounting on the back if it messed a saddle up that badly and then riding in that messed up saddle.
 
When originally mounting I use a chair to stand on for back, saddle and leathers but if i'm out hacking and drop a whip or a glove- or hunting then I do mount from the floor.

Mine is only 15.2 and i have a good spring and could get on a 17.2hh if I let the stirrup down a bit but I'm quite flexible :p
 
Mounting block or anything other than the ground, having said that i can get on from the ground as have to if i have been surprisingly 'dismounted' whilst out hacking my youngster but then he is only 14.1 and my daughter holds the stirrup the other side otherwise saddle slip whoah and then pony panics.....

Can actually vault still onto my solid 13.3, i'm 5ft 2/3 and the very wrong side of 40 now but the act of vaulting never leaves you luckily and given i ride her bareback the majority of the time, the vault comes in very handy, mine looks pretty much like Endo's i think, will have to get daughter to video me - LOL!
 
Mounting block definitely when I did used to ride just last year. It reduces strain on the horses back, as well as the fact I'm a short arse but needed a big chunky beast to ride to carry my weight.
 
Used to be quite springy even in my fourties, but then broke leg and spring disappeared :( . So now always use mounting block, chair, fence, grass mound, anything to get on my 17' 1". Would be most unfair to him to clamber up the side of him :rolleyes:
 
I can get on my 15hh from the ground, the benefits of short horses :D

However when I had my 17.2 ISH I had to let the stirrups down a lot first because my short legs couldn't reach them :o
 
Years ago always from the ground and could do both with a 14.1 but I did have a block as it did stop pulling his back and saddle from slipping(I am not as agile as all those years ago)

Prefer a block or tree stump...I have used rocks etc when out just to make it easier if I had to get off. But I think a block is kinder.
 
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