Won't stand still to mount

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chanychops

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Any tips on training a horse to stand at the mounting block whilst being mounted (I have no help i.e anyone to hold the horse) would be appreciated. I am currently useing lots patience, repartion & praise when I eventually mount. Thanks
 
My mare is exactly the same, she has never been taught to stand. My method will be frowned upon on here i suspect- I tie her up to the gate or whatever, hop on, and wait until she is standing still. When she is still and calm i untie her and stand a bit longer, and am increasing the amount of time to stand after she is untied. I have found it is making a massive difference. At first it would take several minutes for her to stand before i untied her- now it is instant. I find it useful as i can tie her to various gates and trees whilst out and practice jumping on as she is standing still in new environments.
 
My newly broken 4 year old has the same problem, he is 'lets get on with it' he will wait for a nano second and the fidgets and moves off. That behaviour is rude, dangerous and not acceptable and with me being elderly I do not do anything in a nano second !

With him we are taking him to the block and not attempting to get on him, then we repeat and repeat until he stands still. Then we put a foot in iron and he moves off again, so we walk him around the block and repeat and repeat.........boring !!

This has worked and he is now standing most of the time. Getting tough with him isn't the answer as he has issues, it has been more of a thinking how to set him up to succeed rather than allowing him to fail. I am hoping age will improve him.
 
Really just as AA says patience and repetition is the way .
Have said that the best horse I ever had never stood to mount nothing changed her any attempt to persuade led to a rearing fit .
I just jumped on her off the lorry steps .
As she jumped where you pointed her and rarely touched a pole we forgave her the quirk .
 
chanychops said:
Any tips on training a horse to stand at the mounting block whilst being mounted (I have no help i.e anyone to hold the horse) would be appreciated. I am currently useing lots patience, repartion & praise when I eventually mount. Thanks
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I have nearly completed this with my new mare.

Lead her up to it say stand if she fidgets, if she side steps or backs up lead her round again. Normally 3rd time they begin to understand, even last weekend after weeks of being good she side stepped away so I led her round then she stood still. It is a matter of patience and repeating this, every-time she moves lead her round. Working for my mare and others before her

Did not read the above post only what I do and it is the same as AA again :D
 
I might not have been doing it right but I tried the lead away tactic and it seemed to wind him up and he got more fidgety. Need to try another tactic, any thoughts?
 
So long as you know it isn't anything uncomfortable about the saddle, the "make them work" can be a solution. If they move a muscle make them do a small circle, round and round 3-4 times until they are thankful to stand still. You are on foot and you keep them circling and then offer to stop by the mounting block. Repeat until they get the message. You can do the circles in different directions and keep them quite small. Keep very calm and matter-of-fact, don't get cross,lots of deep, calming sighs from you.
 
Teach her to stand on cue - anywhere you like. Use the same hand signal as you would with a dog, hand up, palm facing horse, say the word you choose (stand, wait, stay, whatever) step back and return and give then a reward. If she moves, put her back on the same spot and do it again. Build on the time before you return, taking care not to set them up to fail, do only as much as they can cope with to begin with. Eventually she should stand while you walk all the way round her. Then take it to the mounting block - train it a few times before you try to mount, then when you do, mount and dismount a couple of times so she doesn't anticipate moving off.
They learn it very quickly if your timing is right, and eventually you will be able to "ground tie" her - drop the end of the lead rope to the floor, tell her the word and do the whole process over until to her the dropping the rope means wait where you are.
 
Depending on what you think about feeding treats, one way of doing it is to get on then stop horse/ask for immobility and give treat. They will then tend to wait for the treat before moving off. Second checking fit of the saddle/any soreness particularly in the back.
 
Some good posts here. One of our 3yo's started doing this. I did not know about it until the girl mentioned it. A 20 minute session of standing to be mounted, then dismounting, mouting, etc. with myself holding the lead rope at first, then standing away. Every time the pony moved, he was told to go into reverse! He is OK now, without anyone to hold him, and if he does it again, he'll get another lesson ...and he won't like that!:)
 
I had exactly this problem as a more mature rider on my own with a just broken youngster. I am not a fan of treating but it took one brief lesson for him to understand that he got a piece of carrot when he stood still. Then once I was on board he just stood until he got the treat. He is fantastic now as he stands like a rock patiently waiting while I deliberately do stirrups etc until he gets the treat then he will move off. We will gradually reduce the treat as he accepts that this is just part of his life now but it has made life easy for both of us while he learns.
 
ive had this issue with my gelding on and off for years.
Earlier this year i dedicated about 10 minutes stood on the mounting block holding his rein and just lightly tapping his bum with the crop making him circle the mounting block. I stopped tried again a couple of times, but when he moved away i resumed making him walk round and round. After a short while of this he stood still for me to mount. I can honestly say ive never had a problem with it again, but if I do I will do the same again. I did nt make a fuss, no shouting just calmlykept him moving. I also have a carrot in my pocket for when Ive got on...i think thats just me being a bit eccentric though!
 
Please don't tie up to a gate, it is all too easy for the horse to be running round the yard with the gate attached, within a short time.

I train my hores to stand at a mounting block by giving a treat when I am on top and settled.
 
My horse is exactly the same, once your foot is placed in the stirrup he is off. Yet there are also ocassions when he will stand still and gets rewarded with praise for doing so.

My horse is quite easy to fix as a couple of days of feeding a treat if he stands still is usually enough. Trouble is I am not really consistent with him, so sometimes I will tell him off, other times I will just let it go so he does have mixed messages.

Its something I have been meaning to deal with for a while so this weekend I will have another go.
 
Just remembered that we have another, but he swings his rear end away from the mounting block even with someone holding his head. Making him back up every time, then leading him around in a circle to the block again cured him, with lots of praise and a scratch when he did it right. This was definitely evasion as he has a 'thing' about being mounted. Now we need to cure his phobia about having someone on his back! Oh the joys!
 
Don't forget most ex racers have moving while being mounted as their default - jockeys get legged up onto a moving horse, so they are never trained to stand still
 
JillA said:
Don't forget most ex racers have moving while being mounted as their default - jockeys get legged up onto a moving horse, so they are never trained to stand still
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The same goes for Irish dafts , The lads just jump on and go so the horses never learn that us softey English need them to stand still for 10 minutes while we faff about.
 
Some horses (honestly more than you might imagine) only start pratting about when you put your foot in the stirrup. If that's when the issue occurs, if your mounting block's big enough you could try just hopping on without using the stirrup. H will stand like a rock to be hopped onto, or for leg-ups, but he's an utter div the minute you try to use the stirrup to mount (I suspect it's because he's quite round and at some point in his youth someone got on via the stirrup with either a slightly loose girth or a less-than-perfectly-fitted saddle and the side-slip bothered him).
 
Mike007 said:
The same goes for Irish dafts , The lads just jump on and go so the horses never learn that us softey English need them to stand still for 10 minutes while we faff about.
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When my ISH arrived be wouldn't stand still for exactly that reasons. They'd just jumped on him in Ireland and off he went so he didn't really understand what was being asked of him.

It took about 3 months of circling the block, or asking him to move back if he walked away (backwards is harder than forwards) and we went down gradually from 20 minutes to get him to stand still long enough for me to get on to him standing as long as required. Some days he does try it on again but one circle and he gives up.

I think he realised that the sooner he stood still the sooner he was back with his mates.
 
Polos, one at the block when's hey stand still next to it then one once your on board. Gradually you can stop giving the treats once they are in the habit of standing still
 
Second the polos, one for standing, one when on (I use them when out as well as training tool after a blast to ask for stand, all I have to say is "do you want a polo" and he stands rock still) and if moving bum away from block have a schooling whip and reach over and tap outside of bum and say over.
 
I'm on my own most of the time and old and creaky with a new horse and had to find a safe way - three tyres stacked one on top of the other, with a tyre feed bucket popped in the top one. Lead horse up alongside block, pop handful of feed in bucket, climb onto mounting block, climb onto horse, no stirrup needed, faff with girth etc and then another bit of food given from the saddle before we move off. He was from Ireland and very much a get on and go kind of chap which didn't suit me at all. Getting off is in reverse. Horse lines up alongside block, I climb off onto block, walk down steps, drop feed in bucket, tell him he's a good boy while he finishes it and job done. Wouldn't suit everybody, but worked for us :-)
 
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alliwantforchristmas said:
I'm on my own and old and creaky with a new horse and had to find a safe way - three tyres stacked one on top of the other, with a tyre feed bucket popped in the top one. Lead horse up alongside block, pop handful of feed in bucket, climb onto mounting block, climb onto horse, no stirrup needed, faff with girth etc and then another bit of food given from the saddle before we move off. He was from Ireland and very much a get on and go kind of chap which didn't suit me at all. Getting off is in reverse. Horse lines up alongside block, I climb off onto block, walk down steps, drop feed in bucket, tell him he's a good boy while he finishes it and job done. Wouldn't suit everybody, but worked for us :-)
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wow, getting off onto the block! Thats a dream come true...going to have to sort that one out ....before my knees give way. Best thing ive ever found for old and creaky riders (like me) are sprenger stirrups!
 
luckyoldme said:
wow, getting off onto the block! Thats a dream come true...going to have to sort that one out ....before my knees give way. Best thing ive ever found for old and creaky riders (like me) are sprenger stirrups!
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It took me a while to convince OH that I really DID need a block that high ... (and I asked on here, and other people dismount this way as well apparently) but now I have it I wouldn't be without it. I was worried that sliding off slowly (to save my knees) wasn't going to do his back any good. He's really good and just stands like a rock waiting for his bit of food. I also ride in a treeless saddle so I love not putting any weight in the stirrup to get on, because it means it doesn't shift on his back - not the most stable of things, treeless saddles, at least mine isn't!!
 
My share horse did this just barges pas the block. I walk him up say stand. If he moves I repeat it! I have done this for 45 minutes he knows to stand he chooses not to :D
 
Everything we do with horses we do with repetition, repeat, repeat, repeat. That time is rarely given to teaching a horse to stand still when mounting. Once on we're off to do schooling.

Spend an hour everyday for a week just getting on and off. Use rewards or tie up, or a patient friend.
 
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