I need old-people help.

[Jackie_Cochran]

I am elderly and disabled with MS.

I try to just ride horses 14 hands down to 13.1 hands. Maybe I could get up on to a 14.2 horse if I really had to but the horse would not enjoy it. That said I have not had to mount from the ground for many years though I used to practice it every few months or so. I don’t own any more horses and I rarely trail ride, it was just for years I felt like I should not ride a horse I could not get up on in case I fell off or in case I HAD to get off for an emergency.

I am not planning on buying any more horses, but if I went insane and bought another I would not even look at a horse over 14.1 hands. Luckily for me I love Arabians and it is much easier to find one that small than it would be with other breeds.

Be sure to tighten your girth before you try to mount when riding on a trail, that helps the saddle not move as much as you clamber up.

[tabula_rashah]

I am not terribly old (or at least I don’t think I am lol) but I have significant nerve damage to one of my hips and I’ve got two vertebrae that had burst fractures. I don’t ever get on from the ground even on my short horses. All of my horses will stand in or around anything for mounting and they do NOT move.

My suggestion probably isn’t what you want to hear but I wouldn’t be riding on the roads if your horse was unpredictable enough to need you to get off to pass things. I’d put your energy into training until your horse is solid enough that you don’t have to get off often.

[Go_Fish]

If you are afraid he’ll slip on the asphalt, have you thought about using studs? I seem to recall there is also a shoe that some trail riders use with a built in caulk that is smaller than a regular caulk.

[grandprixer]

@tabula rashah

I am not terribly old (or at least I don’t think I am lol) but I have significant nerve damage to one of my hips and I’ve got two vertebrae that had burst fractures. I don’t ever get on from the ground even on my short horses. All of my horses will stand in or around anything for mounting and they do NOT move.

My suggestion probably isn’t what you want to hear but I wouldn’t be riding on the roads if your horse was unpredictable enough to need you to get off to pass things. I’d put your energy into training until your horse is solid enough that you don’t have to get off often.

He’s actually a good boy for the most part! But he’s a sheltered show horse. He’s pretty solid in the arena and in new places, and on 99% of the roads. But he’s never seen cows before and is having a hard time with them. Other than cows and a murderous llama (long story) he’s a really safe road horse - and he’s getting better about cows! I’m just looking for an interim solution.
”‹”‹”‹”‹

[wildlifer]

I see others already linked to the portable step stool you can order, they’re not terribly expensive, that’s what I would do. My elderly neighbor also teaches all his horses to park out for mounting , as he is not very flexible, it gives you another couple inches.

[Manybees]

Check out “Tough-1 stirrup mounting aid” or “stableMount 3-in-1 mounting aid”. I wonder if one of those options might work for you, and they both look pretty portable.

[cilla1]

I quote wildlifer, you can teach your horse to park out, it will give you just a couple of inches of benefit but sometimes that’s just what you need 😊

[16_Hands]

That little 10" step stool wouldn’t be enough if her horse was very tall. Plus getting the horse solid to stand in the one place where the stirrup could be reached from the stool would be difficult. The company that makes the stool should make one with telescoping legs so you can make it taller if needed. I know with my horse I need at least 12 to 14" to reach the stirrup.

[GoTeke]

Instead of finding higher grounds for you, find lower grounds for the horse. For example: A decent ditch is easy to find next to most of the roads where I live. Walk the horse in it and it may give you enough leverage to get up.

[lesson_junkie]

I am 5 feet tall, 65 years old, hunt a 16.2 hand horse, and lead our 2nd flight. There are times I need to dismount to open a gate or do other chores (dropped flask!!). My solution is to teach my horse to kneel. I’ve started by holding a cookie low between his front legs, and cueing him to bend a knee as he reaches down. Now I have to figure out how to get him to rest that knee on the ground.

In full disclosure, my other hunter is 14 hands!

Good luck, OP. There have been many a time I stood my horse in a ditch while I climbed up the saddle like it was monkey bars.

[candyappy]

@grandprixer

So a stump in a front yard is acceptable for mounting? I feel horrible treading on anyone’s grass, or even concrete because he’s so big and wearing shoes.

I wouldn’t want someone mounting their horse in my front yard and I have horses at home. If your going to ride out and can’t get on I think it is your responsibility to have a way to get on without trespassing. The carry along step mounting stool looks like the best option and then you won’t have to worry about finding a place.

Due to shoulder issues and a torn meniscus in my right knee last fall I had to resort to using an overturned plastic tub to mount for the first time in my life. I had my shoulder replaced in Dec and my knee is finally healed and I am doing exercises with weights to strengthen both.

Last week I started riding again and used my tub to mount because I am waiting for my doctors ok before I use my arm to pull myself up to mount. I hope I can still do it, but if not I would use something to carry with me if I ride on trails.

[xeroxchick]

OH I was so dang smug. I was going to be riding first flight well into my seventies, Yadg yada yada. Well, menopause hit and wow does that change things! My next horse is going to be small. After riding 13.2 hh ponies in Iceland I now see that it can be great. But for now I have a draft cross and have had to dismount in the hunt field. I find a ditch! Or a stump. It has worked so far. Makes one feel old when everyone around you has that look when you get off, but when you get back on they almost clap. Hmmm. Ditches are my friend.
Also, yoga has helped a lot. Something about building muscle tone on those low lunges and the hip openers. My husband was having problems after a hip replacement getting off the horse, as in lifting his leg over the saddle cantle. Yoga has helped him so much, better than the PT or the personal trainer.

[gothedistance]

@grandprixer

I’m physically disabled. Please don’t insinuate I’m healthy just because I’m young. Strength training and weight loss are very difficult for me, especially now that my physical therapist is closed. I’m getting my hip and back injected next week, maybe that’ll provide enough relief to allow me to work out.

I always wear a helmet though! Life is too short!

If there is a way you can incorporate bicycle riding into your regime, you will find it does amazing strength training for your legs.

Otherwise, if it was me and I knew it would be difficult finding items to step on to get me further off the ground, I would have a saddle bag attached to my saddle which carries a second stirrup leather with a stirrup on it so that you can buckle it onto your near side stirrup to gain a whole new type of leg up. If there was a way you could incorporate a second leather to the 2nd stirrup with a hook on the end that you can go under the horse’s belly to hook to the off side stirrup on the opposite side, you will eliminate any shifting of the saddle at all while you mount up.

Once you are up just remove the hook on the far side stirrup, and then unbuckle/remove the 2nd leather strap from the near side stirrup.

I would NOT suggest you walk onto someone’s property to use any stump because, as you already said yourself, your horse will tear up the ground just walking on the turf.

For problems regarding slipping on asphalt, you might want to look at boots that go over steel shoes. Easyboot classics are designed to fit over a shod hoof and will eliminate any problems of slipping on blacktop. They are an inexpensive boot, and very very resistant to wear. They will easily last through to the next ice age.

[kande04]

If a longer stirrup is the answer then just let the stirrup down and then take it back up again when mounted. But a long enough stirrup seldom works because that just makes it impossible to get the other leg over the saddle.

I’ve never had any luck removing easyboots when the horse is wearing shoes, because the heels of the shoe catch under the back strap and then the boot has to be disassembled to get it off again.

[gothedistance]

@kande04

I’ve never had any luck removing easyboots when the horse is wearing shoes, because the heels of the shoe catch under the back strap and then the boot has to be disassembled to get it off again.

You need a lot of arm strength, and a hoof pick, to get those classics off of a shod hoof. The up side to that is…they don’t come off when you are riding, even if you go through a bog. The down side is you spend as much time wrestling them off as you did riding with them on.

A less trying boot (happier to come off without you requiring the arms of a blacksmith) would be a Renagade or an Easy Boot glove. Neither is meant to be used full time as a boot over a shod hoof, but they do come in handy in short situations.

Of course, our OP would then have to deal with getting off the horse to take off the “easier to remove” boots, and then we are back to the problem of remounting again. Thus the easier and most efficient suggestion to prevent paved road slippage is using the Easyboot classic boot. One can ride for years and thousands of miles with those boots over shoes and the boots never wear out. I swear they are made out of commercial truck tire rubber. They are that rugged. If the OP was riding every day, I would simply suggest she leave the boots on. The classics are meant to be left on - they won’t hurt the hoof, won’t create a sour environment for the sole, and won’t bother the horse in the least. She can then take them off once a week to clean the hoof, put iodine on the sole, and then put the boots back on.

OR…the OP could have her farrier nail on/glue on synthetic rubber horse shoes on her horse’s hooves. No slippage, no need for a boot, no need for caulks (which are BAD BAD BAD for a horse’s legs unless they are an Amish buggy horse (in which case they are still BAD but it is a safety issue on paved roads) or a foxhunter going out in all types of weather (notably bad weather) in which case they are better than a pulled tendon or suspensory injury from galloping over fences across wet/frozen/slippery ground.)

OR…the OP can have her horse shod in aluminum shoes. They don’t slip on paved roads. I rode 15 years of endurance and over 20 foxhunting with aluminum shoes and there were many times I galloped on paved roads, my horse(s) as surefooted as mountain goats. Used to horrify the other endurance riders who for sure thought I was going to slip and crash when I rode the paved roads. Never did. Those aluminum shoes stick like glue to the road surface. However, aluminum wears out like butter on hot corn-on-the-cob in the middle of July if the horse is ridden regularly. You will only get a reset if your horse has stood around doing nothing for all 6-8 weeks. Otherwise, you need a new pair at each trim. Sometimes, depending upon how much you ride your horse, you may need a new pair mid-trim. That’s when it pays to do your own farrier work.

[grandprixer]

@gothedistance

You need a lot of arm strength, and a hoof pick, to get those classics off of a shod hoof. The up side to that is…they don’t come off when you are riding, even if you go through a bog. The down side is you spend as much time wrestling them off as you did riding with them on.

A less trying boot (happier to come off without you requiring the arms of a blacksmith) would be a Renagade or an Easy Boot glove. Neither is meant to be used full time as a boot over a shod hoof, but they do come in handy in short situations.

Of course, our OP would then have to deal with getting off the horse to take off the “easier to remove” boots, and then we are back to the problem of remounting again. Thus the easier and most efficient suggestion to prevent paved road slippage is using the Easyboot classic boot. One can ride for years and thousands of miles with those boots over shoes and the boots never wear out. I swear they are made out of commercial truck tire rubber. They are that rugged. If the OP was riding every day, I would simply suggest she leave the boots on. The classics are meant to be left on - they won’t hurt the hoof, won’t create a sour environment for the sole, and won’t bother the horse in the least. She can then take them off once a week to clean the hoof, put iodine on the sole, and then put the boots back on.

OR…the OP could have her farrier nail on/glue on synthetic rubber horse shoes on her horse’s hooves. No slippage, no need for a boot, no need for caulks (which are BAD BAD BAD for a horse’s legs unless they are an Amish buggy horse (in which case they are still BAD but it is a safety issue on paved roads) or a foxhunter going out in all types of weather (notably bad weather) in which case they are better than a pulled tendon or suspensory injury from galloping over fences across wet/frozen/slippery ground.)

OR…the OP can have her horse shod in aluminum shoes. They don’t slip on paved roads. I rode 15 years of endurance and over 20 foxhunting with aluminum shoes and there were many times I galloped on paved roads, my horse(s) as surefooted as mountain goats. Used to horrify the other endurance riders who for sure thought I was going to slip and crash when I rode the paved roads. Never did. Those aluminum shoes stick like glue to the road surface. However, aluminum wears out like butter on hot corn-on-the-cob in the middle of July if the horse is ridden regularly. You will only get a reset if your horse has stood around doing nothing for all 6-8 weeks. Otherwise, you need a new pair at each trim. Sometimes, depending upon how much you ride your horse, you may need a new pair mid-trim. That’s when it pays to do your own farrier work.

You are very helpful! I really don’t have money for boots, but he does have aluminum shoes. So I shouldn’t be too concerned about him slipping with them on?

[tabula_rashah]

You don’t know need huge amounts of borium if you want it on your shoes. My farrier drills out a stud hole in each heel of my horse’s shoes and puts a permanent, very tiny little borium stud in. It is slightly bigger around then a pencil tip and provides enough to keep them from slipping on pavement without the torque issues on the horse’s legs. If I have a horse with shoes, they have borium on- I never have one shod without

[gothedistance]

@grandprixer

You are very helpful! I really don’t have money for boots, but he does have aluminum shoes. So I shouldn’t be too concerned about him slipping with them on?

Oh, heck no! Don’t worry!! Your horse will be fine on paved roads since he has aluminum shoes. You might not want to go galloping down them like a crazy endurance rider, but crossing the roads and riding along them, you’ll have no problem.

Good for you!! Now once you can figure your out your mounting-on-the-trail issue, you’ll be golden.

[AKB]

My horse also has the built in tiny studs. They are about the size of a BB, and only the top 1/4 of the BB protrudes from the shoes. They make such a big difference in terms of him not slipping while crossing paved roads. I used to be quite anxious when crossing roads because of slipping.

[kande04]

@gothedistance

Easyboot classic boot. One can ride for years and thousands of miles with those boots over shoes and the boots never wear out. I swear they are made out of commercial truck tire rubber. They are that rugged.

True, but what I’d like to know is why they can’t make the back straps out of the same material as the boots, because the damned straps don’t last and are a real pain to change out?