It does, but you have to admit that mounting up is perhaps the most physically vulnerable position we ever put ourselves in with these beasties.
OP, I’m 5’1" so I’ll never be the gal to teach a horse to let me get on from the ground. But I agree with teaching them to wait at the mounting block for as long as you say, no matter what you do up there. At least this horse has been mounted before. That makes this easier. But I have that mare who wants to run away from pressure. This was the horse I had to stop and train (and train and train and train) to wait. IMO (and learned from a cowboy who was helping me with a stoic, cold backed, kinda untrustworthy horse), the horse has to make it his responsibility to stand still and allow you to climb on. His idea is that we are just too physically vulnerable in that moment to not have a high level of “buy-in” from the horse. Of course, race horses are not required to buy in to standing still for an awkward mount up at all. So chances are that your mare doesn’t like it and doesn’t yet know that she must/how she can accept it. Notice that the problem isn’t just “desensitization.” It is more: It is teaching her a skill she genuinely doesn’t know yet, it is teaching her tolerance and patience, and it is teaching her how to participate in her own training.
I don’t like having more people in the mix. I think it’s hard for horses to get “tag teamed” in their training because it’s too many sources of pressure/signals/(predators?) to keep track of. I want to be the only variable in the system for them to consider and answer. I also try to do this with a mounting block in the middle of a ring or paddock or round pen. Again, the horse has to stand there because I did something to make that happen. You can do this in a corner, or even a stall (as some old schoolers used to do) with the idea that the walls or fence will help you discourage the horse from making a big, athletic move. I would not be opposed to that, but it would not be a substitute for the high-standard of stillness I’d teach.
If I were riding yours, I think I’d make sure this horse had a one-rein stop taught (via some long-lining). If I pick up that hand with firm feel and say whoa, that horse should know that he can earn peace by giving to that pressure and stopping his feet. He should know that well enough that the request doesn’t bother him at all. He should feel confident that he knows the right answer that will earn him a release from me.
Assuming I had that basic, butt-saving button installed in the horse, I’d start with the mounting block, as you have done: The place of peace and rest in the round pen is right there at the mounting block with the stirrup by my toe. Any other place is higher pressure with moving feet. (At some point, the right stirrup needs to be what they bring to my right toe, too).
If I’m standing next to them on the block and lift the buckle of the reins, I think they should “hustle up” and be eager to position their body so that I can put my toe in the stirrup. Think of a good limo driver who lines up his client’s door exactly with the red carpet. I pet them on the neck and behind the saddle when they are there. Then I pick up my reins, If they move, I stop and hustle them back into place. Then I magically and suddenly stop when they get there.
I do teach these horses how they can move their hind end toward me if I pick up the outside rein. It’s a tad awkward at first, but you can teach 'em. You might start with taking up the outside rein and a tap on the outside hip with a dressage whip to follow, just to let them know that that rein signal on the outside meant that they had to do something with their feet and step away from that rein with a hind foot.
The idea is that when I stand up on the block, there’s one right place for the horse to be, AND I can do most of the correction from the block. At first you might have to do some hustle-y ground work away from the block, but that gets harder to explain how to teach on the interwebz. The idea is that even if you are chasing the horse away, you stop when he does. And sooner or later, he associates safety with his position next to the block in the ring.
While I am on the block and I move my foot to put it in the stirrup, I correct any movement. If I put my foot in the stirrup, I correct any movement. the horse doesn’t get very far before I start the correction. If he lifts a foot, I’m starting to make the correction before he has put it down somewhere away from the block. This is where you let them know that the standards for their behavior are still as high while mounting as they were when you were on the ground. Again, I think you need this degree of concentration from a horse when you are physically vulnerable; don’t just breeze by it on your way to the real riding. It doesn’t matter how they got on her on the track. It doesn’t matter that you can put your kids up there. This isn’t about just getting on the horse. It’s about how you will get on the horse. No one has taught her yet. If you wouldn’t think of not installing an aid for the canter (and just trot fast enough to canter), why would you skill teaching the mounting up repertoire?
In any case, when I feel comfortable that the horse won’t be move in a “disproportionate way” (try to really run or explode or fling his head against the bit/rope halter hard enough that he might scare himself and really fling himself around), I stand in that stirrup. My new standard is that the horse should remain still while I stand there. Damn straight it’s awkward for them. Maybe it’s even uncomfortable. But it’s not fast or frightening; their job is to just stand still by the mounting block, the same as it always has been. I do keep a shorter inside rein and a handful of mane. I don’t worry about the outside rein: I don’t want to trap the horse with both reins; they feel they have somewhere they can go. I know I can stay safe long enough to out-wait the horse who wants to walk in that tight circle or until I decide to jump down (but I keep that rein, even from the ground, until the one-rein stop is completed), if I start to worry about saving my bacon. They I hustle right back to the block and get that squared, positioned-up spot again. In other words, even if we leave the block and I get back down on the ground, the horse doesn’t get any peace until he’s right back by the block where he never should have left. When he’s there, I suddenly stop and praise him. I hang out there to let him think and “reset” (emotionally) for a minute. Then I pick up the inside rein and offer him a second chance to get it right.
After that, I will swing over (the smoother half of mounting) when I feel them leaving their feet on the ground. If I didn’t feel them solid and me safe doing that, I’d bend my knee while in that stirrup and put my body over the top, still with that inside (left) rein in my hand and maybe some mane. Either eway, I should feel the horse stay planted.
Just don’t skip a step in which you insist that the horse stands right by the block, squared up, in balance and mentally content or still. If you never go onto the next step before you get that compliance, your technique will work. Keep high standards for the horse’s mind and wait as need.
