I was wondering if anybody has ever designed some sort of folding device to help the mounting challenged… get on their horse on the trail when there is no fence, stump, rock or other object to help with the task.
The thing that attachés to the stirrup is not going to cut it …
There definitely is one. I’ve seen most of the ads in magazines like Horse & Rider which is sort of winglish in its articles. It’s a collapsible stool, with a string so you can pull it up and tie it onto your saddle. Sorry I can’t remember exactly what it’s called. I’m sure if you google something like, “portable mounting block” you’ll find something.
This one seems a bit more portable bit it is a stirrup extender not a mounting block.
It’s so simple I wonder why they weren’t available years ago.
http://www.chicksaddlery.com/page/CDS/PROD/1087/EZM160---WES
I have one of the easy mount step stools. I bought it when I first started trail riding my horse. It worked pretty well. I modified it slightly and attached a(longish) dog leash to it. I would put the loop over my wrist and then I could just reel it in, wrap the dog leash around the legs and put in my saddle bag. I don’t use it any more as both of my horses now stand well next to rocks, stumps and in ditches to be mounted.
I think one of those stools might work for me. My horse now isn’t a giant but I have had knee surgery so I don’t like to push it too far. My old WB’s I would never have been able to use the stool…to short… but the QH mare… yes.
I will look into that.
out old style Morgans were the envy of many as they looked to be horses but were large ponies which sure made dismounting/remounting easier
I’ve got a GiddyUp (no longer made; looks like the linked item)
http://s784.photobucket.com/user/Smile225/media/Leather%20Projects/GiddyUpReady.jpg.html?sort=3&o=20
Folds like this:
I made this to carry it:
Goes together like this:
I attach it to off side pommel and it works well.
G.
I was always tempted to teach my horse to lie down for mounting.
[QUOTE=wendy;7829251]
I was always tempted to teach my horse to lie down for mounting.[/QUOTE]
Or if you could get your horse to bow and hold still while you mounted…
A horse bowing would have a hard time getting up with an extra weight.
We used to teach our horses to stretch out a bit and so the stirrup was a few inches lower.
It was hard on a horse’s back to balance a rider’s weight getting on when stretched out, so we didn’t use that very often.
When cattle get up from laying down, they get up in the back first, they throw you to the front.
When horses get up, they stand in front first, so you teach them to sit and wait there while you get on, then stand up.
Here you can see me braced for that heifer to get up, so she doesn’t throw me forward and a horse sitting up, that the cowboy then gets on and the horse stands up with him then on board:
[QUOTE=La Gringa;7828254]
I was wondering if anybody has ever designed some sort of folding device to help the mounting challenged… get on their horse on the trail when there is no fence, stump, rock or other object to help with the task.
The thing that attachés to the stirrup is not going to cut it …[/QUOTE]
Out of curiousity…why will the stirrup extension not work for you?
The old, authentic Spanish Vaquero where I first learned to ride, who was only around 5’ tall, had his ~15.3 horse camp out quite a bit, front and back, which lowered the stirrup at least a foot so he could mount easily. Always admired that.
[QUOTE=wendy;7829251]
I was always tempted to teach my horse to lie down for mounting.[/QUOTE]
LOL! Short of doing that, I’ve trained my mare to stand still (well, at least long enough for me to get a leg over) next to any object that may remotely be called a “mounting block”: truck bed, car, picnic table, fence, ditch, steep hill and of course the usual stump, boulder etc.
I’ve never tried those stirrup-lengthening thingies.
My horses are/were all 15’3 and under.
I did teach my big horse to bow for mounting, but I could only do it when the terrain was suitable. It needed to be soft dirt or turf, and much of the desert here is rocky.
He never had any trouble rising to his feet with me, but he was a big boy. He also learned to approach any object that I was standing upon, whether it was a trailer fender, a stump, rock, anything that provided a rise in elevation. I could climb up there holding the reins as if I was leading him, then cluck and watch him move into position beside the object. This behavior was learned at the mounting block, first funneling him between wall and block to teach him where he had to be to make me happy, then teaching him to be “tapped” into position with a dressage whip. With the help of treats, he soon learned to self position with ease. If only there had been a dressage test that used that skill!
Since that horse crossed the Rainbow Bridge, I occasionally ride other people’s horses, and I can’t train them to that degree. Those horses and mules just stand there and look at me like I’m nuts.
I have experimented with the stirrup extension device and with dropping the stirrup to a longer length. Doing this on a western saddle is a pain unless it has buckle-style leathers. The other problem is that by the time the stirrup is dropped far enough to do me any good…I can’t get the other leg over the saddle. Another problem is that the extension and the longer stirrup both want to curl under the belly, making the climb even more difficult. On an English saddle, the righthand iron can be flopped over the seat to give you a “step ladder”, but it’s difficult to get your toe into that stirrup because it’s flush to the saddle. I will someday try the little folding stool and see how well it works, and if I ever own another equine, he’ll either be a draft pony…or maybe a Clydesdale. I can see a lot of problems with the latter.
They do make those fire escape ladders…
There was some device that was a long strap with stirrup on it. The strap looped around the horses off side leg, right up in the armpit and the over the wither so the stirrup was on the near side. Can’t remember the name for the life of me…
There are stirrup leathers that have a metal buckle and hook set-up. You slip off the one piece, the stirrup gets 6" longer, you get on and reattach the buckle to the hook.
[QUOTE=Trakehner;7831206]
There are stirrup leathers that have a metal buckle and hook set-up. You slip off the one piece, the stirrup gets 6" longer, you get on and reattach the buckle to the hook.[/QUOTE]
The trouble with lengthening the stirrup leathers, as we can do in English saddles, is that yes, you make the distance to the ground less, but the one to the saddle longer and for short or stiff riders, that then makes getting that leg over the now taller horse’s back harder.
Ideally, we need something that ads a second, lower, step up to the process.
I too have one of those Giddy-up stools, but it really is still not tall enough for short me to reach the stirrup on a taller horse.
I almost need a two step Giddy-up.
For those that have horses that are considerably taller at the withers than they are and have issues getting on, we have to consider that the horse also gets stressed when we have to scramble up there.
Best to have something that lets us gracefully just hop a little, balance over the horse’s back and gently settle in the saddle.
Teaching a horse to lay down is really not a good solution if you have to get on and off several times in a ride, because that is hard on the horse with an added weight.
I have thought to tie a taller bucket to every (wire) gate, so when I get off to open it, I have a way to get back on.
I am jealous of those tall people that ride horses they can look over their backs when standing by them.
Guilherme, I have the Giddy up also. Love your leather holder that you made.
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