Horses Naturally - Home > Jay
O'Jay > Horse Training Articles >
Mounting Blocks for Tall Horses & Short Stirrups
Mounting Blocks for Tall Horses & Short Stirrups
|
Hi Jay,
I had the privilege of seeing you in person at one of your three-day
horse demonstrations. I was totally amazed and intrigued by how you
taught a green horse to step up to a fence and then later to a mounting
block.
Although I tried to remember the process, somewhere along the way I
have obviously missed something. Could you walk me through the steps
again? I'm asking because my horse is 16.3 hands and I am a little
on the short, chubby side. This makes mounting really difficult for
me.
Not-too-tall in Alberta
|
|
While the list is endless, the following
are good reasons for teaching your horse to side pass up to a mounting
block.
• Tall Horses – Short Stirrups – Physical Handicaps,
• Trail Rides – use a rock, log, or a tree stump to stand on and
have your horse side pass up to it for easy mounting,
• Tight fitting chaps that make it difficult to bend your knee and raise
your foot up to the stirrup,
• Mounting Bareback , and
• Avoid bumping your horse with the toe of your riding boot or knocking
him off-balance as you mount from the ground – especially with young,
sensitive, or green broke horses.
|
Tools:
• A rope halter • 12 ft. lead rope
c/w a leather popper on the end • A whip,
which will be used as an extension of your arm
|
|
Verbal Cue
Using a verbal cue such as a "cluck", when asking the horse to side
pass up to a mounting block is key. The rhythm of the cluck should be
slow; not only does a slower cluck help with keeping the horse more
relaxed and less confused, it also helps with setting the cadence of
the feet as he side passes over to the mounting block.
The rhythmically consistant and repetitive use of a "cluck" will teach
your horse to recognize, listen, and respond to this verbal cue. This
will be a huge advantage, especially as you progressively start eliminating
the use of the whip - which will initially be used as a motivator to
move the horse's feet, or, in other words, to re-enforce the authority
of your cluck.
Before you start, remember…
The success or the secret of this exercise will be found in the finesse of
working under the umbrella of emotional control. If you expect things to happen
quickly and if you don't have good timing with your release of pressure -
don't expect great results! Your horse will just become emotionally upset
or mentally confused.
Preparing your Horse
Before introducing your horse to the mounting block the following exercises
will be extremely helpful.
1) Desensitization of the whip
Start by touching the horse with the handle of the whip as you hold it
in your hand. Once your horse can handle this start touching him with the
whip on the shoulder, the barrel and, finally, the hindquarter.
A horse’s strongest survival instinct is to run from fear. By allowing
your horse freedom of movement as you introduce the whip, he will learn quicker
that the whip will not hurt him. This, of course, will produce a braver and
more confident horse.
When or if the horse starts to move around in an effort to avoid being
touched by the whip, control the movement of the feet by guiding your horse
in a small circle. This will allow you to keep up to and be with the horse.
Keep the whip resting on the horse as he moves around on this small circle.
Take the whip away “only” after his feet stop moving. Removing
the whip sooner will only teach him to respond incorrectly.
Remember, you want your horse to have respect for the whip – not fear!
|
2) Disengagement of the hindquarters
to the left
It should be noted that the innate survival instinct of any
horse is to lean into pressure. We need to teach our horses to
yield to pressure.
You want your horse to move his hindquarters away from you
and to the left.
Start by holding your lead rope in hand as you stand slightly
behind the right hand shoulder of your horse. From hand to mouth,
the lead rope should be no longer than the length of your arm.
Coil the excess lead rope up and hold it in your right hand.
For safety do not stick your hand or arm through any of the coils.
Acting as a stop sign, hold up an open right hand to the horse’s
eye to prevent him from crowding your personal space.
Re-enforce a slow rhythmic “cluck” by tapping the
hindquarters with the whip in an effort to get your horse to step
laterally away from you and to the left.
Reward the slightest try with a release of pressure (tapping
of the whip).
Practice this until your horse moves his hindquarters willingly
to the left with very little pressure.
|
|
|
Fence Work
I like to teach my horses how to side pass up to a fence before I introduce
them to a mounting block. I do this for the following reasons:
My goal is have my horse’s body alignment parallel and next
to the fence. Unlike a mounting block, the fence will make it easier
for the horse by giving him a point of reference or something to align
his body up to.
I should mention here that most people mount their horses from the
left side so this is the side we will be working from with our fence
work.
By climbing up and sitting on a fence you are at an advantage to reach
farther across and tap the horse with the whip on the same spot you
were tapping him from the ground.
Safety is always a concern. If you’re the nervous type or if
your horse has a history of kicking, then standing behind a short fence
would be a good call.
|
THE TECHNIQUE
The techniques used for fence work are exactly the same and will be repeated
once we introduce a mounting block.
The placement of the horse’s head in relationship to where
you’re sitting or standing on the fence is important.
If the head of the horse is in your lap as you are sitting on the
fence, as the horse side passes up to the fence, the saddle will be
too far back. You’ll be left facing the neck or head of the horse.
Judge the length of your horse’s body and place the head accordingly.
If the saddle of your horse ends up too far back, do not accept this.
Ask your horse to step forward. If the horse’s hindquarters drift
away from the fence as he steps forward don’t panic. You now have
another opportunity to repeat the exercise – remember, horses
learn best from their mistakes, and consistent repetition forms a habit
that we call training.
Asking the horse to side pass over to the fence starts with you reaching
your whip across the horses back towards the right hindquarters.
The whip is only to be used as a re-enforcement for your “cluck”.
In other words, if the horse does not step over from a verbal “cluck”
– you will motivate him to do so by tapping the hindquarters with
the whip. Both the cluck and the tapping of the whip need to be delivered
in a steady rhythm.
Once this is happening consistently, we need to eliminate the use
of the whip.
By now your horse should be getting wired in on your “cluck”.
Reach your arm over the horses back towards the right hindquarters
and “cluck” in rhythm. If your horse does not respond go
back to using the whip a few more times and try again.
Our goal is to eliminate the use of the whip, our arm, and a cluck.
In other words when we stand on the fence or a mounting block, our horse
should just side pass over to it and stand patiently and wait for us
to swing a leg over.
|
 |
The Mounting Block
Allowing your horse to stand quietly for longer and longer periods
of time before mounting will relax and settle the horse. To some horses
this is a real confident builder.
If your horse starts to walk forward once you’ve swung your leg
over and sat down do the following:
“With slow hands” – make light contact with the
mouth,
With each step forward the horse takes – slowly increase the
contact to the mouth until the horse stops,
Maintain or hold this contact and ask your horse to back up. Relieve
the rein pressure the exact moment your horse shifts his weight back,
and
Forgive your horse and use it to teach if your horse makes the mistake
of stepping forward again. Remember, horses learn best from their mistakes.
Let them make a mistake and then correct it
• Place your mounting block up to and against the fence. If your
mounting block has steps – face the step towards the fence. You
don’t want the horse tripping over the steps of the mounting block
and scaring himself, or for that matter skinning up his legs.
• Repeat the fence work exercises
Remember – “Success with horses starts with us”! |
With practice, when you step onto the mounting
block your horse will automatically side pass over to it.
Now mounting your horse will be easy - you can side pass up to
a fence, mounting block, log, stump, or a rock and have your horse
stand quietly as you mount with ease.
|
|
This article was written by Jay O'Jay for the September/October 2008
issue of Horse Canada.
