I’m an older woman who had to give up riding for the last five years due to health issues. I started riding again this year and found it took a little while to get “back in the saddle” but each time I rode, I was rebuilding my confidence. I bought a gaited horse and that has made a big difference in my ability to ride for longer periods of time. However, due to the medications and extended illnesses, I have lost my ability to mount. I am only able to dismount slowly and luckily I have a great partner that stands quietly while I take my time. I am able to mount with a mounting block (most of the time he will stand quietly and we are going to work on that this spring) but my biggest fear (and humiliation) is when I can’t mount from the ground if we stop along the trail. I’m not sure the muscle tone and strength will ever return to me. I experience my greatest rehabilitation from riding and it helps to clear and refresh my mind but the mounting humiliation is almost too much to bear. I’ve never had to rely on aids or others to be able to ride. How do I get past this? Can one teach their horse to bow or kneel in order to mount? I’m afraid to ride alone for fear I will need to dismount and then can’t get back on.
A few things don’t be worried about not being able to mount without help. You just need to prepare yourself a bit, you probably shouldn’t ride out on trail without a buddy anyways if you can’t get on without help. For reasons you stated. But many people mount from blocks, rails, sides of banks you name it… Yes your horse can be taught to kneel, or park out which lowers the back also. You can get those stirrup extender things (I don’t remember the name).
When trail riding make a plan, ride where you know there are rocks or downed trees or banks where you can put yourself higher, and you know what it is okay to ask for help.
A friend riding one of my young horses right now is as able-bodied as can be but she is short and can’t get on the 16.3 hd mare without something to stand on. The back of a pickup works great, (granted you have to still climb up in it)
Diane
just my 2 cents!!
Been there; done this! Like everything else you CAN teach your horse to “park out” for mounting. But most of all; there is ALWAYS, ALWAYS something or someplace around to mount from. You have to train your horse to stand while you mount from a rock, stump, log, gate, fence, picnic table, ladder, table, trailer/truck/car bumpers & truck beds, horse trailer ramps, stonewalls, porches, decks, garden benches, cisterns, incinerators, cement blocks, tree roots, stream banks, ditches (horse stands in water while you hop on from the bank), bikes, carriages, jumps, chicken coops, deerstands, and I could go on…yes, these are all from my experience! ALL!! So go for it!!
It may require that after you’re dismounted you may have to hike/walk a ways to find something but you’d be surprised what you’ll find out on a trail. Don’t dismount until you find something you can use! Otherwise just walk on; something will turn up!
Have a look at this mounting stirrup
http://freedomrider.com/Mounting-Stirrup-E-Z-Mount-English-Western.html
Been there, done that, being only 4’11" and old and less than limber, I pulled myself up and tore my rotator cuff, that will be repaired thru surgery in March.:eek:
Don’t take chances, if you can’t get on, don’t just keep trying, it can hurt you and it sure is not easy on your horse’s back to strain also to hold your weight sideways as you mount.
You can teach your horse to stretch out, but then, if you still strain, that makes you getting on that much harder on your horse, that is less able to bear you pulling sideways when stretched himself.
I have one of those Giddy-up portable mounting stools, but it is only 10" and I need more like 18".
May work for you:
http://www.nationalbridle.com/product-p/1-6512.htm
I threaten to put a bucket at every wire gate, so I can remount after going thru it, or just put metal gates I can open from my horse.
I don’t know how you can get around riding a taller horse, if you are alone and can’t find a hole to put your horse in to mount, or something for you to get on.:no:
I feel for you - today I had to ask for help dismounting because SOMEONE could not keep their feet still, despite it being one of my RULES.
Did you think of getting a camel?
mounting trouble
I have the same problem and like other posters I use logs to mount while on the trails. It really helps to get the horse used to standing STILL while mounting from anything you can find, bucket, porches, the fender on the trailer.anything.
I also ride gaited and many TWH are not taught to stand after mounting so I’ve often had to train the horse to stand still.
The stirrup extenders don’t really help because you still need the lift off the ground, maybe they help short legged riders.
I did post the same question on another forum and many people suggested teaching the horse to lay down. I remember seeing a horse do this for a wheelchair rider, very cool. so yes it can be done and I also now need to find a solution. My hip just kills if I have to mount from the ground.
Also for dismounting a horn really helps and there is a hand strap that can be used on english saddles.
Love to hear from people on any other ideas or how to find someone who can teach a horse to bow down for mounting.
My horses park out but that only gives you a few inches and I don’t think its so great for their backs especially if you have weight issues(like me).
Teaching a horse to lay down and get up with a rider is a series of standard tricks we used to teach many of our andalusian colts, as a way to teach them to work with people, not especially for the tricks themselves.
You teach a horse to stretch, then bow, then knee, then lay down, then sit up and then is when you position yourself so when you ask the horse to get up, you are there to go up with it.
I don’t know how many times you need to get on, but it takes time to go thru all that every time to get on.
I guess you could teach a horse to drop down and miss all the other we used to do first.
For that, it is easy to teach also, but I don’t like that as well, as the horse has to drop further down.
Any time you ask a horse to lay down, you need to be sure you are on very soft, forgiving ground, like an arena or a sandy or grassy soft spot, or horses can get scraped from it.
That will limit the places you can ask your horse to lay down for you to get on then and be lifted up.
Thank you all for your encouragement and replies. I will keep trying… I have been laid up for the past few days and am now getting back on my feet again. It is the illnesses that continue to take my strength away and it seems that i haven’t the time or energy to begin a recovery. So, I will have to rely on mounting aids of any kind if I want to continue to ride. I have found that the only way I can mount is if my mounting aid requires little to no leg and arm strength on my part so whatever I use or find on the trail but be high…then I have problems mounting it! I will persevere and not give up. I realize that my friends and riding buddies are willing to help me…it is just very disheartening to myself that I can no longer get on by myself. I am going to seek out someone to help me teach my horse to kneel or lay down and first of all, to stand completely still while I mount. This has been and off-and-on thing that I need to enforce. He understands to stand still by my mounting block but anything unusal is frightening so we need lots of practice.
Thank you all for answering my plea for help.
I stopped riding because of this and other physical issues. I have rheumatoid arthritis, and had gotten to the point that I could not mount a 13.2 HH pony from the ground–pretty sad. I ended up finding that pony another home.
I started driving instead, and I really enjoy my independence. It is such a contrast. I will occasionally ride my 15.2HH mare, and when I do, I need my husband’s help to mount from a fairly high deck in back of my house. Luckily my mare is very patient, but still, it’s got to be hard on her. Dismounting is pretty awful–I have to slide down her side and I hate putting all my weight on one side of her for too long. So I’ll only ride when someone is available to balance the saddle from the opposite stirrup while mounting or dismounting. Being unable to mount away from home just got too scary for me, so I stay on my property.
When I drive, I hop in and out of the cart as needed, and never feel my disabilities put me at risk. My driving pony and I range all over on our own.
I miss riding regularly, but I had lost so much confidence that it was no longer fun. I am a pretty gutsy driver, and it’s so nice being able to do equestrian activities with that old confidence.
Rebecca
I had thought of driving instead of riding but I love my horse so much that I am determined, at least for right now, to make this work. I still have hope that there is an opportunity for improvement in my condition. For right now, my only fear is mounting and dismounting. Once I’m on, I’m good. I feel so alive when I ride. But, with that said, I do know there will be a time that I can no longer ride and I look forward to the possibility of driving.
Im really short (4’11") ride an almost 16 hand horse, and have various issues which make mounting difficult for me as well. I just get the tallest mounting block I can find (3 step works for me). However, like you, if I trail ride and have to dismount, I cant get back on. What I find myself doing as I ride, is making mental notes of places that might be good mounting aids, such as stumps, rocks, ditches, etc After awhile it just becomes second nature to look for them. A few weeks ago while riding with my able bodied husband, his strirrup leather broke, and he had to dismount on the trail and couldnt get back on without the stirrup. I remembered a ditch we had passed not too far back so we walked back and he walked his horse into the ditch, and mounted from the higher ground! I have found that most people will gladly help you mount if needed. I also have problems dismounting sometimes and have actually fallen off trying to dismount. How embarrassing. :eek:
I think teaching the horse to kneel would get the back low enough to mount . However i don’t know if this could injure the horses back? I’ve seen many circus horses do this while the pretty lady pops on board so I assume its ok? Anyone know the trick I’m trying to describe?
I have major back problems and mounting from the ground only makes it worse so I always use a mounting block even though my current horse is only 14.1 hands :lol: Thankfully though I only ride in arenas and not on trails so I always have a mounting block available.
What I hate the most though is that some of us feel humiliation because of it. I can’t help that I was in a serious rollover accident that left me with permanent injuries…some of my friends feel it necessary to joke about it and I don’t think that it is fair.
[QUOTE=walkers;5409165]
I think teaching the horse to kneel would get the back low enough to mount . However i don’t know if this could injure the horses back? I’ve seen many circus horses do this while the pretty lady pops on board so I assume its ok? Anyone know the trick I’m trying to describe?[/QUOTE]
If you watch horses, at times one may think about laying down and knee, then hop back up, changing his mind.
Other than that, horses, unlike cattle, when they lay down they get up by straigthening their front legs first, so they look like they are sitting and then heaving up their hind end.
Cattle get up behind first, then get up in front.
If a cow is laying down and you straddle it, you have to brace in front, so when she gets up behind, that doesn’t throw you up on it’s neck:
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a298/Robintoo/2323232327Ffp433B3Enu3D32353E6893E7.jpg?
I think you can teach a horse to get up from kneeing, but the rider would have a harder time getting on with the horse’s behind up there and then the horse would have a harder time hopping up in front with the added weight.
Better to teach a horse to lay down and sit up and then get on, easy for the person to do and then the horse heave up from behind.
Pure physics.
I so MUCH understand about the concern about mounting from the ground. I have no ACLs in either knee. I use a 3 step mounting block. I trail ride. I have a horse that is willing to get up next to whatever we come across for me to mount.
Trail riding? I just make sure that before I get off for ANY reason there is something for me to climb up on. Whether that be fallen trees. Deep ravines. ROCKS. Fences.
My riding partners understand my issues. You cannot believe the things I have crawled up on (with the help of my GENEROUS horse) to get back in the saddle.
Don’t let anything hold you back!
Mounting and dismounting problems
It is nice to know that I am not the only one who has trouble with the mounting thing. Whenever I can, I use a mounting block to dismount too. I just am not comfortable with the dismount; thinking that my feet won’t touch ground before my knees buckle. I have moderate arthritis and am generally stiff. Riding helps the stiffness so much that I can’t imagine giving it up, but I worry that someday I will be riding a horse that won’t be patient enough to allow me to sidle up to a mounting block to dismount.
After acquiring a 17.33 Percheron, I went thru every mounting block known. Hated them all because they just were not sturdy enough. Finally designed a Mounting Platform and had Mr. C’mare build it… perhaps the OP and others might consider building one too. I mount and dismount from it, saving my and my horse’s back.
http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2320496810015305252GooDeV
The stairs are “attached” with a French Cleat so that they are secure but can easily be removed should you need to relocate the platform.
[QUOTE=Diamondindykin;5428597]
I have major back problems and mounting from the ground only makes it worse so I always use a mounting block even though my current horse is only 14.1 hands :lol: Thankfully though I only ride in arenas and not on trails so I always have a mounting block available.
What I hate the most though is that some of us feel humiliation because of it. I can’t help that I was in a serious rollover accident that left me with permanent injuries…some of my friends feel it necessary to joke about it and I don’t think that it is fair.[/QUOTE]
So rude. Good for you for continuing to do what you love. Don’t let them dissuade you from riding, but perhaps tease them about being pinheaded. Another “disability” that is not always obvious to others.
What I hate the most though is that some of us feel humiliation because of it.
You can only control how you feel, and as someone who has often been the stronger/more able-bodied friend, I don’t want you to feel humiliated if you need a leg up! I can be kind of thick and you might have to ask me though. Give me a chance to feel useful for you, most people like to help out their friends :yes: Don’t be afraid to direct me too, if you have a particular way you like to be helped, let me know! I’d rather be bossed than end up hurting you or dealing with a spooked horse!
I can’t help that I was in a serious rollover accident that left me with permanent injuries…some of my friends feel it necessary to joke about it and I don’t think that it is fair.
If the joking hurts you, then you should definitely bring it up to them. I know that with my arm (it was clawed, spastic contracture and has a 20" long scar…this was a big deal when I was 8) when my friends started to joke about things, it meant they accepted me + arm…we had a joking type of relationship. It helped me accept the injury and limitations as well, forced me to look at things with a little perspective. If you don’t have that kind relationship with your friends, or aren’t quite at the joking stage of recovery let them know…maybe they are not sure how to act w/r/t your permanent injuries and are trying something out…let them know if it isn’t working!
To the OP, definitely don’t look at giving up riding over a trail-mounting issue! Lots of good suggestions on this thread, my MIL has bilateral hip replacements and terrible arthritis…but still wants to ride the excessively large horses on trail rides (she is a true Dressage lady that way 
5’0" and “needs” 16.2hh horse.) Depending on where you ride, there are often lots of things that can be creatively turned into mounting blocks. I was definitely not opposed to parking my Clyde in a depression or ditch to make it easier to mount…and I had no physical excuse! Logs, branches, boulders, the odd fence. If I remembered seeing a good mounting block a few minutes back on the trail, I had no qualms about walking my mare back to it! A folding stool could go in a backpack or large saddle bag. My MIL can’t use those stirrup climber things, but another lady I know with strength/coord concerns LOVES them. MIL also has a custom saddle that has some features making things easier. In her case this has to do with the bucking stearns, cantle height and how the horn goes on…she rides Western on the trails and finds the saddle much easier on her than her English ones (she saves those for the arena now.)
Be safe and enjoy riding You can do it, even if the answer is to bring a stout friend along for a boost.
ETA: if you are looking for creative trail riding equipment, Endurance websites are an oft-overlooked resource (IME.) Reins intended for use in wet conditions can end up making great answers to grip strength questions. Comfort stirrups meant for long rides can be useful to someone who has painful knees. Endurance-focused vendors have all sorts of cool horsey stuff…
