How to Teach Your Horse Mounting Manners

. Keep your reins short, but not tight

You should be able to stop any unauthorized steps forward with your left hand. If your reins are loopy, one step will turn into three steps before you can gather up the slack. On the other hand, if your reins are too taut, the horse will step out the back door of your imaginary box. Often when mounting, a rider’s concentration is focused on fitting their foot into the stirrup, rather than keeping their rein hand in place. Independent use of the hands and legs is an important key to good communication with your horse. 

3. Use the whip as a tool

Many riders teach their horses to swing their hindquarters to the left (closer to the mounting block) in response to little taps of the dressage whip on the horse’s right hip. Begin teaching your horse to yield to the whip away from the mounting block using quick, light taps anywhere on her body. The taps should be irritating to the horse, not frightening. Once she moves that body part away from the pressure of the whip, immediately reward her by ceasing the tapping. Keep in mind that your goal is to have the horse move sideways. Your horse is likely to offer forward and backward steps in a “trial and error” attempt to escape the irritation, but keep tapping until she finds the correct answer and steps sideways, then reward her.

The horse will be understandably annoyed and try to leave if the rider drags a foot across her rump, sticks a toe in her side, or lands heavily in the saddle with a crash. Try to be graceful.

5. Budget time to practice

Build time for mounting training in each riding session. It’ll be worth the investment