youngster at mounting block

nat_1

nat_1

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My almost 4yr old either swings her quarters out or keeps walking past the mounting block.ive tried holding/pulling on the rein furthest away but she still swings out....any tips pleasee?
 
train her to stand on the ground. use a headcollar and reward when she stands where you want.
 
Put the mounting block about 1m from a wall and place the horse in the gap. If you need to - have someone stand in front of the horse. When you are on feed the horse a polo or similar before you move off. It doesn't take long.;)
 
She will stand when i ask her,also when were walking in hand ive learnt her when i stop she does straight away,but she just wont at the block...it is a fixed block so cant go between anything.
i know at the end of the day its just perseverence,just wondered if anyone had any new ideas to try and worked for them
 
As fidgeting at the mounting block, walking off before I have my stirrups, I followed what TallyHo's method, rewarded him for doing nothing when in that space. Surprisingly how quickly he learnt, I then moved onto having someone on the ground as I mounted, got comfy, then they rewarded with a treat, then I gained confidence to turn his head and do this and now I just give him a good rub as a thank you.
We have experienced this problem too, swinging the hind quarters away, I went back to the above basics, and they did help although one evening we were dancing around on the spot, making a hole in the sand school where his front feet where swinging around. So, again, I went back to basics, make the wrong thing hard, I thought about mounting near the wall but if my foot hit the wall it would spook my horse, plus I ride on a the edge of the arena often and a mounting block near the wall isn't helpful so I put a jump wing opposite my mounting block....stood like a statue with no where to go. The game was over, then back to reward.
Praise often, reward often, even for the slightest of tries, do not get frustrated, I have been there and even considered not bothering to ride, but don't be embarrassed to ask for someone to help on the ground, as mounting safely is really important, definitely sets the mood of my rides.
http://geegeeandme.blogspot.co.uk/
 
Just read your latest reply nat_1, another option, tack up, put head collar on over bridle with a long lead rope attached. When she moves/swings her hindquarters, send her out in a figure of 8 and line her back up, all the time without moving your feet! You stay on the mounting block if you wish, she'll soon figure out she is doing all the hard work, once mounted, but only mount once she is still, reward often and get off and finish your rider there if you don't have anything else to do. You can try this exercise throughout the day too, morning/evening.
 
MissJessica said:
Just read your latest reply nat_1, another option, tack up, put head collar on over bridle with a long lead rope attached. When she moves/swings her hindquarters, send her out in a figure of 8 and line her back up, all the time without moving your feet! You stay on the mounting block if you wish, she'll soon figure out she is doing all the hard work, once mounted, but only mount once she is still, reward often and get off and finish your rider there if you don't have anything else to do. You can try this exercise throughout the day too, morning/evening.
Click to expand...

This works too.
 
I'm dealing with this problem now and I've almost got there! I've tried different methods, from moving mount to her until she gets bored, small circles round the block until she gets bored, using the channel (all dependent on what mounting block I have available). I've found that persistence is key and now I've checked it isn't pain related (back, teeth, saddle checked) I'm firm and clear that I'm getting on, so I don't faff (which I'd started to do as she got more difficult). Once on lots of praise for standing. It's now at the point where she might try and swing hind once if she's off the block in the school (no channel so lots of opp to play about) but a firm stand and she does as she's told.
 
I tried lots of the above methods, I ended up just re presenting him to the block till he let me get on, usually took about 5 goes.
Eventually, about 25 rides later he stopped it and ever since he's been fine.
I think it was the initial work so he knew what I wanted then boring him into submission that did it.
 
I use the boredom
Method. Represent at block til stands still. Reward. Then repeat without getting on til horse looks at you like you're an idiot. Then stand on the mounting block and pat horse a lot over the opposite side. Then lead away from mounting block and reposition at mounting block about 20 times ( more if horse isn't behaving exactly as you want. ) then get on . Pat horse. Get off walk in a circle back to mounting block get on and off umpteen times til horse is utterly bored and stands perfectly still. Do a shorter version of this every time you get on until it's engrained. If the horse ever moved when you are getting on go back to the boring circle game. Takes about 3 days to a week to have a rock still horse in my experience...
 
Feed her a polo while you get on - she'll stand still as she's concentrating on the treat and will get used to standing still. Gradually progress to feeding the polo once mounted.
 
I'm not a fan of moving the block to the horse - which isn't an option for you anyway - but to always take the horse to the block. I also always give a polo once I am on provided the horse hadn't moved off.

With a youngster that kept swinging their quarters away from the block I found it very helpful to have someone on the ground who could tap their quarters back over. If you don't have someone to help you can do some ground work to teach your horse to yield to pressure and then as soon as they start to swing their quarters away when you are stood on the block you can reach over their back and tap their quarters back over with a long schooling whip.
 
Thanks so much for the replys,it has gave me some ideas to work with :)
I wont be using chairs as a wall though :/
 
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