Standing still for mounting, help please, I am not getting any younger!

I would like some suggestions for getting my mare to stand still for mounting. She has a tendency to walk off when I am mounting. Or I should say she always walks off when I am mounting. She loves going out for a ride, and maybe it is anticipation that makes her do this. I have tried circling her around me when she does this, but it has not helped. She has been off for 4 months to have her foal and it is now time for us to be riding again. I want to start off on the right foot, after this layoff. Any ideas that may work? BTW, she is not a hot mare, she is a 9 yr old bay Quarter Horse and I love her dearly. She is in excellent health with no pain issues. I ride western and use either an O-ring snaffle or Indian rope Hackamore.

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Permalink Reply by Jan Jollymour on July 22, 2009 at 3:05pm

Right on, Stefanie!

I use another low-tech reward - a sugar cube (easier to keep in your pockets than carrots, which have a tendency to make a mess in the laundry). All our horses are taught to stand up properly at the mounting block - when they do they receive a sugar cube. After we mount, adjust our stirrups, girth, etc...they get another, and then they are asked to move off. As a result they all wait quietly at the block and while we are mounting.

I had to do this with one young WB who started to buck as soon as I started to swing over the saddle (making completion of mounting somewhat challenging). The sugar worked wonders, and while he still occasionally (at the age of 15) gets bucking after mounting it's now well after I'm in the tack and the irons and prepared for him! Several of my clients with mounting issues have used this tangible reward system with very good results.

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Permalink Reply by Marti Langley on July 22, 2009 at 4:47pm

Stephanie and Jan, wow, I never thought of using a food reward I will definitely give that method some thought. TBH, I am giving everyone's method serious thought. Thanks so much. I am not even going to start riding her again til I have this figured out. (at least that is what I think at the moment, lol)

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Permalink Reply by Marti Langley on July 22, 2009 at 4:49pm

Stephanie, Maggie loves carrots. But she loves horsie peppermint treats, too. Guess anything would work if it was consistent. But, do I want to be givining her a treat everytime I mount?

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Permalink Reply by Jennifer Lamm on July 22, 2009 at 6:20pm

I love treating Oliver for a job well done... but I use the treat as a reward and I never let him know I have it while I'm asking for the feat. in other words, it's a reward not a bribe.... :)

the best way to get a horse to stand still is to move his feet. just my humble opinion.

and that horse pictured here, he is beautiful..... I'd be giving him plenty of carrots too. :)

I've loved learning about the sugar cube way though too. I think different things work for different horses... my horse Toby, he gets bratty if he doesn't get any reminders of discipline. I wish he didn't work that way, but he just does.....

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Permalink Reply by Marti Langley on July 22, 2009 at 6:52pm

I am starting to think maybe disengaging the hip from both sides when she starts to walk away may work. I found a good description of it on the JL discussion board, with a little preliminary exercise to tackle first. I am too computer challenged to print it here, so sorry. But ya can read it and let me know if you agree, anyone that wants to , that is. It is quite a bit like you suggested Jen.

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Permalink Reply by Marti Langley on July 22, 2009 at 10:00pm

Update: I tried the method on the JL board, did the exercise for about 20-30 min and it worked beautifully. After the initial leading exercise, I went to the one for disengaging the hip. It was alot of work when she didn't stand, and I worked with both sides. I had her stand while I picked out her feet. I will do this exercise for a few days and then try it with the saddle and mounting. What I like about this method is it gets her thinking, and when she coooperates life is easy. Her head is forward for standing , and she is standing correctly. I am not pulling her off balance and making her move in any way.

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Permalink Reply by Ann Hatfield on July 23, 2009 at 6:11pm

I too used a treat with a very active horse. I stood him square, did all the various things, previously suggested to you, but he was such a livewire he couldn't wait. Now it is a joke: he remains utterly frozen to the ground at the beginning of the ride, and turns his head slowly around to my stirrup and waits. Hardly show technique but it worked well for a very antsy trail and endurance horse.

He has come to understand that the treat is given at the beginning of the ride, just to establish what is expected, and then usually only a pat and praise for standing still during the rest of the ride. The start of each ride was the most difficult with this horse.

I think one has to use various training methods on various horses. Developing more than one method to use for each challenge is always interesting. It is one of the things that keeps training ever-absorbing.

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Permalink Reply by Marti Langley on July 24, 2009 at 12:07am

Thanks for your reply. Yes, training is so interesting and I love hearing everyone's ideas.

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Permalink Reply by Lesley Danko on August 14, 2009 at 9:47pm

You may want to check that your saddle fits too. It may be causing her pain. Mounting from the ground is not always good for your horse either.
Years ago I bought a lovely arab gelding from a meat sale. I was able to contact the last owner[ who had wanted him to go for meat only] She said he fall with her several times, hard to mount and couldn't be tied, he was dangerous.
By the time I spoke with her, a month later, we had rode him many times, he was wonderful.
I asked her if her saddle was fitted to him, her answer was she rode western. Which to me didn't really answer my question. The long and short was he had a "huge" left shoulder that likley got pinched when tacked up and likley was girthed up away to tight.
For him it was a happy ending. He lived with us and toted a junior over hundreds of ctr miles.

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Permalink Reply by Jan Jollymour on August 15, 2009 at 10:05am

Great comment, Leslie! I don't ever mount from the ground. I ALWAYS use a mounting block. Some of that started because I'm 5'2", and I ride big warmbloods, but following the development of the habit my saddler saluted it, telling me that the best way to stress the saddle tree is to mount from the ground.

After that, and fairly recently, Dr. Hilary Clayton did a study on stress on the withers during mounting from the ground, and I now make it a practice to use a mounting block, and I stress with my clients that they should do so too. I see many people pull their horses off balance to the point where the horse has to stagger to deal with the weight transfer, and there's no doubt that this reponse will lead to walking off....

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Permalink Reply by Queenrider on August 19, 2009 at 11:17am

I am too old and my knees are shot so I have to get on from a mounting block. I have broken my 3 year old and it has taken much patience to teach him to stand by the mounting block. Now he stands quietly while I get on and then he gets his mint. He turns his head around to my leg so I can shove the mint into his mouth. Then he stands and sucks on his mint. Once he figured out there was a mint involved he learned very quickly to stand still and be patient. He is very mint oriented now!