Teaching Your Horse to Stand Quietly for Mounting
Written by: Kay Cox-Eveleigh
Almost everyone at some time has tried to get on a horse that just does not stand still for mounting. This can be frustrating, difficult and dangerous. You could lose your balance and fall, spook the horse and maybe get a foot hung up in the stirrup which is the worst scenario. So for all of our sakes, teaching a horse to stand still is very important.
It is best to start this training from the ground. I teach the word whoa to all of my horses from the time they start working loose in the roundpen. But for this article we will address the riding horse mounting issue only. Also, before you start, be sure that your horse does not have a sore back or other pain issue that may be causing him to avoid the mounting process.
Put your regular bridle and saddle on. Stand on your familiar mounting side, (I work my horses on both sides) and we are going to be at the horses’ shoulder for now. Pick up the rein on that side with enough light contact to feel your horses’ mouth. Bring his nose slightly toward you, just enough to make a little curve in his neck. Now get him to walk in a tiny circle around you. This is like long-lining, just with a much closer proximity and slow.
Ask him to do this at a steady walk with a nice little bend in his body. Once he is comfortable, stop your motion as you will be turning around too, lock your rein hand or put slightly more pressure on it to make your point, and say whoa. You should see your horse bring his head more toward you, his hips should swing out away from you and he should stop. If he doesn’t exert a little more pull (or feel) on your rein always saying whoa until he stops.
This will probably take some adjustment of your feel so you know just how much pull you need when you stop and say whoa to give your horse the idea of what he should do. When he does start to stop by disengaging his hips out of the way reward him with a pet.
As you go along with this training teach that whoa means whoa, not stop and then sneak another step or two. When he is good at this you can do this exercise at a trot and his bend and sensitivity will increase. You may need a short riding crop or the end of your split reins to get the energy up.
Once your horse knows whoa the next step is to start the mounting process. So you start by bringing his nose slightly in on the side you are mounting from, say whoa and just lift your leg up pretending to mount. If he moves use your feel on the rein say whoa and wait until his hips swing out or he stops. Continue this until you can say whoa, he stands still and you can pretend to mount.
Next step is the same only you will put the toe (for safety, not your entire foot) of your boot in the stirrup and hop up and down. Same rules apply if your horse moves. If you use a mounting block you might start with just having the horse stand at the block, then go to you standing on the block preparing to mount, etc., etc. Graduate this procedure to standing up on the stirrup and back off again. Don’t get in a hurry and skip these “stair steps.” Once your horse stands for all this, go ahead and mount then dismount. Then mount and just sit. Your horse needs to learn not to move until you signal him to. If he does happen to take a step when you mount use the same feel on that rein say whoa and wait for the stop. Then just sit and relax. The more you enforce that whoa means whoa and the more you practice each step the more relaxed and steady your horse will be.
About the author: Kay Cox-Eveleigh is a John Lyons certified trainer in Ramona, California. To contact Kay, email Littlehoofs@aol.com or phone (760) 788-1603.
