Pain 2 get on!

[FOLLYFOOT]

I have a lovely Thoroughbred gelding who is brilliant in every way, apart from when I go to get on. He will NOT stand still!:mad: He will fidget backwards and forwards and refuses to keep still. I have tried someone holding him, but he then sidesteps away from either me or the person to avoid us. I have also tried loosely tethering him whilst I mount and for most of the time this works, but is in no way ideal as he still fidgets as much as he can get away with:rolleyes: and obviously could be a little dangerous in case he panics:eek:

He doesnt seem in pain or fearful of me, just impatient. Can anyone offer any advice as it is annoying when we are out and come to a gate that requires me to dismount and then get on again!:(

Please can you help!

[Lgd]

Start in the arena or an enclosed area and use a mounting block so you can mount quickly. He may be anticipating a dig in the ribs as you mount if someone has not been careful earlier in his training so it will take time to get him out of this. Getting cross with them only makes them worse so be patient.
If he is just impatient give yourself plenty of time and work on the boredom principle - first of all teach him to respond to a specific word such as stand while you are handling him. When he is good praise him, occasionally give a treat (as long as he is not a nippy horse). Once he is obedient to the word put his tack on and repeat the exercise, once he is obedient again start to attempt mounting him (using a block if you can), every time he tries to walk away you stop the mount, tell him to stand and start again. It can take weeks to stop this sort of problem completely, we had a mare on our yard who would trot off before you could even sit down and was worse if someone held her for the owner. It took her owner several months to achieve a 'stand still' mount but the mare is so obedient now she can tell her to stand and leave her loose and she will stand until told to move. Good luck and keep us posted.

[Kylie Chamberlain]

I lease an ex-racehorse TB mare and I ahve the exact same problem. I found a convinient way to make her stand still though.
I have a friend hold her and rub her face (she really LOVES that!) and cover her left eye with their hand.
This way she can't see me and before she knows wha's happened I'm on and she's completely over it.
Hope this helps:)

[Kylie Chamberlain]

Another thing I've found that Molly gets progreesively more upset the longer I stuff around trying to mount. My tip: do it quick.
But I think training is important too. I'm training Molly, but on those days when I really just can't take her games, I do this.

[Kylie Chamberlain]

And the gate business.
Well I've pretty much solved Molly's gate sillyness.
I just made her stand in front of a gate for a little while, then let her go progressively making the times longer.
Then I began leaning over her shoulder to touch the gate. Lots of practise later she is fairly casual when I open gates.
We're still working on closing though!

[FOLLYFOOT]

Thanks for all your advice guys. This is obviously something we are going to have to be patient with and work on. I know that his previous owner had same problem although was heavier than me and may have pulled him when getting on, which couldnt have helped situation. He also does try to nip me when I tighten his girth, although if I tell him NO he thinks twice about it! :D He definately has no sores or anything in his girth area and his back has been checked by my vet as sound, so I will try, try, try again:D

[lleeaannee]

How does she act in the stable? Does she stand still when you grrom her? Rug her up? Tack her up? Close the gate when bringing her in from the field?

If the answer to more than one of these is "no" then you nead to teach your horse exactly when you want her to stand. She may simply not understand what is meant of her.

Ginny used to be like this. SHe had no manners at all. She's 15h2 and I'm only 5' and a bit so I needed to use a mounting block to get on. I went back to basics and led her around. Round the yard. Round the field. Down the lane. Occasionally stopping with us BOTH standing still. A stop was enough to start with but gradually we lengthened this to 2, 5, 10, 15, 30 seconds and on to a minute. I also always insisted she stand whenever I was working round her.

Once she had got the idea of this we progressed to standing still when mounting and she had the idea. Then we concentrated on her not walking off before I was ready!

I also make her stop at ALL road junctions. Her owner used to let her creep round the corners which I consider to be B****Y dangerous.

Best of luck! With patience you'll do it.

[ros]

From your initial post I thought, yes, could just be impatience. However, when you added later that your horse also tries to nip you when you do up the girth, I thought hmm, saddle?

Even though you've had everything checked, it's quite possible that there's something about the construction of the saddle that isn't helping - could be points digging into him, or something like that that you can't see on the surface. You'd be AMAZED what defects lie under those posh padded exteriors! Do you have access to any different saddles that you could try for a while, or could you maybe get your saddler (if you trust him) to check VERY carefully for any defects as well as for basic fit?

[FOLLYFOOT]

Thanks for all your advice. Its great, but I understand its hard to understand someones situation when I dont give you all the info! Sorreeee!!

He is a perfect gentleman to groom, tack up (apart from tightening the girth as mentioned) to lead, or anything else. To ride once I eventually manage to get on, he is lovely.

My only other wonder after you mentioned the saddle ros, is that he has had saddle sores (white hairs on both sides) and I wonder if he remembers the pain of this and relates this to me getting on. His current saddle which came with him was actually made especially for him as he has very high withers. This has been recently checked, but not for fitting on him which I will look into. Unfortunately because of his shape, not many other saddles will fit him without careful advice, but I do know someone good who could sort this for me, so thanks for that!:D

I definately want to get with sorted as I love this big fella to pieces. He means the world to me as we have been through so much since I bought him 3 months ago. He was in awful state, :( but is looking pretty damn good now after lots of TLC :D

Thanks again guys.

[lleeaannee]

That's probably the problem. If he has pressure marks then he's probably anticipating pain - poor duck. With patince he should grow out of it. It just might take a while. All the best. Hope you manage it.

PS what does he look like? Any pics?

[FOLLYFOOT]

Me thinks you're right. I get a gut feeling this is the problem. I really wish I could post some piccies of him, me not got scanner (yet!!). You would not believe the difference in just 3 months (god I sound like an advert for blue chip!!) But seriously, he looked like a toast rack. I could count each and every rib and I seriously think that if I had left him where he was, he wouldnt have made through this winter. I love him soooooo much!! I should have ran a mile in the other direction when I saw him, but he just looked at me with his big brown eyes and Im afraid that was it, I couldnt leave him.

Sorry, blubbing on about Bru, but seriously thanks for all your help everyone. Ill let you know if we progress!!:D

[lleeaannee]

If you don't have a scanner get your photo's developed at MAx Spielmans and get them put on disk too. I think they're doing a special offer for £2 at the mo!

[FOLLYFOOT]

Thanks - Ill try that. Id love to post piccies of him as Im so proud of the progress he has made. We could have been on Animal Rescue with Rolf a few months ago:eek: :( :) :D

[lleeaannee]

Ginny's mother's been on animal rescue. Her previous owners (who bred her) were awful and have been done for neglect so many times. Unfortunately her dam has died. Not sure why though. Her previous treatment probably explains why she's such a bolshy mare!

Let us know what day. I'd like to see.

Glad everything's worked out for you.

[FOLLYFOOT]

Thanks for your replies. Im so sorry, I got so wrapped up in blabbing on about Bruno that I forgot to say how many gee gees do you have.

My daughter nearly had a Ginny from the British Horse Society rescue centre near here. She was gorgeous, but so many peeps wanted her, we were way down the line. Bruno was different. He was actually advertised for sale in our local rag and I just picked him out when I felt I had already talked my way out of buying a Thoroughbred!!l

Ill try to get piccies posted. Im sure Ginny is doing as well a Bruno hopefully is now. I cant understand people who let horses get in this state?!?!!:mad: :mad:

[ros]

Sorry - just one further point before I shut up!

If your horse has very high withers, does that also mean the muscle on either side of his withers looks wasted? (Particularly if he was in poor condition when you got him.)

If he's still building up muscle and condition, it's quite possible that his true shape is quite a lot different from the way he looks at the moment. There's an unfortunate tendency to put too-narrow saddles on horses in this state, in the mistaken belief that they need to be narrow to clear the withers sufficiently. The most important thing is actually to match the tree to the horse's proper shape so that he can grow into it, and that might mean padding up the front initially until he makes up his muscle. A narrow saddle will simply prevent him from re-shaping, and if the points of the tree are not angled correctly they will also dig into him.

Anyhow, if you've got someone you trust who can check all this out that's great. Do keep us posted.

[Shadowfox]

Here is the only way I could get my horse to stand still while I got on. First make sure your horse is not whip or crop shy. Second, teach your horse to yield to the pressure of the whip (dressage whip is best). Teach him to move sideways, on his fore, on his hind, and backwards. TTouch is good for this if you need advice. Third, when he moves when you get on, stop getting on and tap him on the chest with the whip if he swings is front end toward you. You can also tap him on the far side of his butt if the chest does not work. Make him stand still when you are next to the stirrup, on the block, one leg in the air, one leg in the stirrup. You can also use the whip while you are in the saddle to teach him to move his butt over, or stand still when you tap him in different places.

FOR THE RECORD: I do not "hit" my horse. ever.
I have tried holding the reins, this did not work.
Some horses take weeks to get them used to the whip touching them.

What does your horse do when you hold or use a whip?

[wordbird]

My horse used to be the biggest pain in the world to get on! Everytime I would mount up he would take off at a full gallop bucking and everything until I fell off. He would do it to any new riders that got on him but eventually he grew out of it. For a while I had to get people to hold him when I got on, and I would practise everyday getting on and off from either sides. Eventually we figured out that since he was new at the time he was just trying to test me, and he hasnt been a problem since.

I learned a few things about mounting though. First of all when you go to mount, put your horse in a corner. so that he's facing a wall (he won't be able to go foreward), and he's against a wall(he can't skip sideways) if there are a few people around put one person holding him and put another on the near side where you are when you mount up so once your on him he can't move sidewyas before you get settled in. It's become a habit for me to always move my horse to a corner before i mount, especially if I have never ridden the horse before.

Also, if you use a saddle pad (do people in the UK?) , make sure that it fits your horse right because they can pinch their withers, and this can be a cause for fidgeting. The best advice I can give is to practise mounting up and I think eventually he will learn his mounting manners

[myEllie]

My horse used to be really horrible to get on when I first got her. First make sure that you aren't digging your toe into her when you get on. The corner thing works well, but at our barn, we have stall type thingys in the indoor. It is like a stall but without a front wall, we use them for tacking up, when all of the cross ties are full. I would face my horse into the back of the stall, so that she couldn't move. Obviously this doesn't work all the times, because rarely can you just face your horse into a wall to get on. What you can do is start to mount, and if your horse walks off, get off and lead him around. Then stop him and try to mount again. If he walks off again, get off and walk him around some more. Keep doing this until he stands still. You may have to walk around the ring twenty times until he finally stands still, but eventually he will.

[RoxR]

Originally posted by myEllie
First make sure that you aren't digging your toe into her when you get on.

Yep, that was my problem! Here I am teaching Roxy to move away from pressure to her side, then why am I surprised that she obligingly stepped away from me when I was getting on!!

So I had to re-teach her what I wanted! I taught her to look back with her right eye and when I got on I gave her a pony nut! She quickly learned that if she stood still, she got a ponynut!!

(She's like me, bribery with food is usually the answer!!)

The advice about walking around is also good. When we were at a western riding lesson, Roxy was over excited and refused to stand still in a line with the other horses. The instructor said when she tried to move off, to turn her in a tight circle. She soon decided that standing still was the better option! We practise stopping in the schooling area now and then and I just drop the reins - and she will immediately relax and wait.

Oh, about the girth - are you fastening it tight straight away? Roxy prefers me to put it on the lowest hole, then gradually do it up. It's not long since she had her saddle professionally fitted - she just doesn't like the sudden tightness!

I guess you could say she is training me at times!

:)