Mount Your Horse Safely

Over the years I have heard too many stories of people being injured while mounting or dismounting. In this article I will describe the procedure I use to safely mount a horse and point out some important things to be aware of when mounting and dismounting. Whether you are preparing your young horse for the future or developing good habits with your older horse there are several key points every horseperson should know.
Here to demonstrate this lesson with me is Marty a threeyearold Appendix Quarter Horse who has only had a few rides and is still very green. I start all my young horses in the halter and lead or in the soft rope hackamore. With Marty you can see I am using the rope halter although this lesson can also be practiced in a bit.

Preserving the Mouth
I start my horses in the rope hackamore because I want to preserve the sensitivity inside their mouths during what can be a pretty bumpy learning curve as they figure things out. I teach all of my rein communications in the rope halter on the ground before I mount and guide them. Then when they can walk trot and canter both ways stop backup and turn nicely I make a gradual transition to a bit. 
The act of mounting can be scary for the green horse because essentially there is a predator climbing on his back. For this reason I do not want to cause the horse to feel confined or claustrophobic by having someone hold him nor do I mount right away if the horse is energetic and frisky. I want my horse to be relaxed while I mount and comfortable standing still once I am in the saddle.
To get Marty ready for mounting I did a nice warmup on the ground