Endurance riders especially are really bad about allowing their horses to develop bad habits like moving or walking off when mounted. Being that I’m vertically challenged and riding horses that are all as tall or taller than I am, it is necessary for me that my own horses stand still. I’m not very tolerant of that particular bad habit.
If your horse takes even one step before you have both feet in the stirrups and have cued it to ‘go’ then spending a few minutes time working with your horse each time you ride will really pay off. I like the methods that Clinton is using in this video to work with a horse that tries to move off when being mounted. I also like to back the horse and/or make the horse stand still AFTER I have mounted. I will often make them stand still for differing amounts of time, 15 seconds, 1 minute, etc. – that way they learn that moving off doesn’t always happen the instant I’m seated in the saddle.
What amazes me the most, I think is seeing how many endurance horse trainers there are out there who habitually allow their own horses or clients horses to develop bad habits such as this. It’s like standing while mounted isn’t even in their basic training program (and somehow they have convinced people less knowledgeable than they are about horse training to pay them $$ — go figure!). Not only do their horses move off before being told but then the horses they train and sell to other endurance riders end up doing the same thing.
There are a few trainers out there who understand the importance of training these basics into their horses from the start and that there is more to having a good endurance horse than one that just flies down the trail.
I was just remembering years ago riding all 5 days at Fort Schellbourne on Rocky with a broken left clavicle (it had actually been broken a couple of weeks before). I couldn’t use my left arm to mount at all. This is one case where it paid off big time to have a horse that would stand still while being mounted in various ways that usually weren’t what he (Rocky) was used to.
I look at every ride as an opportunity to train a horse or improve something. Having a horse that stands patiently no matter what is great. One that doesn’t can be dangerous. Even if a horse tries to get away with stuff on occasion, if they have the basics then when something happens or you get into a situation where you need to count on the horse you can. Horses can be a lot like teenagers – they know when they can and can’t get away with stuff. I’ve always been impressed with all of my horses and their ability to know when I need to count on them in a critical situation.
Of all the bad habits your horse has, where does “not standing still while being mounted” rank?
I’ll have to work on a list of my horses bad habits, just to see how they compare to each other. I already know what I’ll put for Bo’s worst one. I’ll have to think on what Chief’s would be.
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We all say things that a little later on, well, we realize that was “stupid thing to say!” Mine was when I looked at a fellow rider at a water stop and said, “I don’t work on training at endurance rides”. HAH! It’s a great place to firm up all those arena lessons we work on all year long.
Yes, because someone showed me the importance of, and that my horse is capable of, standing still while mounnting, Artie stood perfectly still while I stupidly climbed up on the water tank, thru my right leg over him and proceeded to find the stirrups, (all without falling off the other side), why? cuz he has been trained to stand! what a good boy.
That was the very first thing I worked on with Dixie. She had never been taught to stand still, and if she didn’t have someone directly in front of her holding her head she’d gait off before you got a toe even near the stirrup. I tried the NH method, but the more I lunged or backed her the hotter and more pissed she got. I ended up using clicker training to reinforce her for standing still, and after 1+ years of practice, she’ll line up at a rock, a truck bumper, or a mounting block and stand very patiently for me to mount. It’s a useful alternative!
It’s great that you made so much progress with Dixie. I remember Chief wouldn’t stand still when I took him out on early training rides and wanted to get back on. Backing didn’t always work so sometimes we did circles..and circles…and circles. Till he decided that standing still was a good thing.
Having a horse move over to an object to stand on is definitely an A+ lesson for them to know! Good job!!
When I get on Stormy, I can’t GET him to move! LOL
It is one of my pet peeves too…I have worked and worked on this with Chey and we now have a pretty good truce where he’ll stand fairly well for me to mount (and as you prob see at rides, I use everything from rocks to the edges of the water buckets to get on…so not walking off is important!), but once I get on, he doesn’t always stand after, while I get feet in. Though if I insist on it, he will (like you say, the teenager thing). But I do work on it with “my” horses that don’t come with bad stuff. As to trainers, I was REALLY pleased with Eric Hought and what he did with my filly (the one I brought to Bryce). One of the FIRST things he works on is patience…patience standing tied, standing for mounting, standing while leading (how many horses walk all over ja or around you or want to drag you off, while you are standing, holding the lead, chit chatting with a friend?
). She is the first horse I have that REALLY stands well. Her mom is pretty good too (though also at times does the “teenager” thing) since I work with her on that and not really anyone else rides her…I am really having to work with studly on that though…at 10, he has the patience of a 2yo, LOL…can’t keep his feet still, though he isn’t nuts or anything, he just can’t stand having to “wait” for anything, LOL…
So I must admit that the moving off when I mount is one of those things I could care less about. Farley will stand still if I ask, but usually I don’t. In order to differentiate, I’ve started to actually either say “stand” or “walk on”, that way she’ll do it either way. I had the discussion with my dressage trainer about it and she stated it was her perference that her horse walks off because it helped loosen their back as she mounted.
I have other issues that are definately solid rules never to be broken. My big one is personal space. My horse must NEVER invade my personal space, unless invited. Period. Non-negotiable. As a result I have a horse that will jump off a cliff before it runs over me. If I dismount at a ride, on a single track, my horse, no matter how excited, will NOT invade my space.
mmm…worst habit for Farley? Probably bucking and giving me the evil mare eye if I even suggest cantering.
She can get nippy when girthing. At this point she just gets a grumpy face (another one of my “golden rules” is NO BITING), even if I do it super slow over a long period of time.
Another bad/annoying habit – if she steps on her lead or reins she will instantly pull back and break them…..I have to be careful. I’ve had her hobble trained and dragging a lead rope. She does fine, but I can’t get over her inital reaction of panic when she first hits the end of the lead…..She no longer pulls back (she did when I first got her. If she got startled she and hit the end of her lead, she would panic and pull back. Now she bounces forward. Yeah!) so there’s definately improvement.
Normally I have always been a stickler about a horse standing quietly when I mount but since I got into endurance two years ago and riding with other endurance riders, I found myself slipping in that department, letting JB go wandering off while I scrambled myself into the saddle… I didn’t even realize I was doing it till my husband saw it one day and asked why I was allowing that… so, this summer that was something we definitely worked on… I could kick myself now for having gotten into this habit because it’s harder to undo then anything!
I really like a horse to stand still for mounting – with my crummy knees I usually need a rock, log, bumper, milkcrate or something to get on from. I went through a bit of a confidence crisis over the last couple of years, and my normally good horse took advantage of me by walking off just as I put a foot in the stirrup. Well, I am doing better in the confidence department and part of that is working on and insisting on standing still for mounting (or whenever I ask for it.) It’s helping my horse have better manners and for sure helping my confidence. Like you, I get situated in the saddle and wait varying lengths of time before asking her to move off. Some days I didn’t even ride… we just worked on me getting in the saddle, wait a few beats, then got off. Other days it was a short ride indeed, but always insisted on a good whoa and stand before dismounting.
Hank better not move a step when I get on! I hate horss that move off. You never know when you might get dumped and hurt, and NEED that horse to stand rock solid as you get back on.