How to Teach Your Horse Mounting Manners

: My horse won’t stand still while I mount. Every time I climb up on the mounting block, she moves her hindquarters away. Then, as soon as I get my left foot in the stirrup, she starts walking forward. How do I teach my horse to stand still when I’m mounting?

A: Perhaps because it doesn’t affect one’s mark on the judge’s score card or change a barrel run time, many riders don’t put a lot of thought into teaching their horse to stand still at the mounting block – that is, until it starts to become a bigger problem. Before you find yourself doing a “Butch Cassidy mount-on-the-fly,” spend some time setting boundaries with your horse.

In everything you do with your horse, including mounting, you are in the leadership role, and that role requires that you have a plan and set boundaries accordingly.

Here are five tips for training your horse to stand…

1. Envision a box around your horse

Imagine a box around your horse and put pressure on the horse every time she steps forward, backward, or sideways out of the box. Reward her by releasing the pressure when she stands still, so that she learns to find freedom within the confines of the box. This type of training, removing something that the horse dislikes (pressure) in order to reinforce a desired behavior (standing still) is what’s known as negative reinforcement.

When your horse slows her canter in response to your resisting hands and you soften the reins...when she accelerates in response to pressure from your leg and you drop your heels...when she steps forward into the trailer at your pull on the lead shank and you relax the lead, in all these scenarios, you’re rewarding by negative reinforcement. By giving the horse relief or escape when she makes the correct choice, you’re ensuring that she’s more likely to make that choice again.