dismounting - it hurts!

[ginny!]

i always get off the "conventional" way although i do admit, in winter it stings like crazy!

 

[horsey1992devon]

I must admit that I always dismount by swinging my leg over the front, if I think nobody is watching...it's soo much easier!

 

[Grace O'Malley]

I haven't done that with my horse, but I've dismounted from other horses that way and it *is* easier on the joints.

Just be sure your horse is okay with it before you try it alone -- maybe have someone holding a lead rope. Swinging that leg over the neck could spook him, and if that happened you'd be in a very vulnerable position...

 

[Roheryn]

I am quite a bit older than you, too, and have back pain, hip pain, sometimes knee and foot pain.

This is what I do--

Keep left foot in stirrup. Drop right stirrup. Swing right leg over horse's back 'til right foot is level with left foot. Kick left foot out of stirrup and ease down to ground, letting my knees bend as deep as practicable (not quite a deep-knee bend) to take some of the shock from my joints. When my left foot and knee were really hurting I would try to land mostly on my right foot.

I would be terrified of dismounting onto a mounting block for fear horse would move or mounting block would tip over.

 

[cinammontoast]

I am prepared to get told off here, but how I do it is to lean forward, swing my leg over the back end and then blance for a second with my tummy on the saddle before sliding down. Yes it does mean my tummy sometimes gets a scraping and its probably no good for my mount, but as I have tight hips it makes it easier because I can control the speed with which I hit the ground.

That's exactly how I do it! My feet sting like crazy, especially in the winter, if I 'jump' off and hit hard ground-dismounting on the school sand floor or grass is much less painful. I asked my insrtuctor if it was bad for the horse to balance like that and she said it was OK.....?

 

[Tally.]

I suffer with problems with my hips and pelvis (am currently under the care of a chiropractor) and i find it difficult to dismount sometimes, yesterday I was so sore and stiff it took me 5 attempts before i could get my leg over the saddle and when i did it was a real clamber down the horse.

i also have a sore ankle where i sprained it last year so i really have to bend my knees alot to absorb the impact, i must look a right sight! and im only 23

 

[Beeswaxy]

I suffer with problems with my hips and pelvis (am currently under the care of a chiropractor) and i find it difficult to dismount sometimes, yesterday I was so sore and stiff it took me 5 attempts before i could get my leg over the saddle and when i did it was a real clamber down the horse.

Yup that is me! I don't have problems but my hips are tight. Sometimes I just get back from a ride on anything wider then a broom handle and think I physically cannot get off this horse!

 

[montys helper]

i park my horse next to the mounting block and get off back on to it, or if i need to gets off and its not around my horse lets meuse his neck, he puts his head down and when i swing my right leg over im leaning onto his neck so its sort of not as high when getting off.

 

[Roheryn]

I thought of this thread the other night. I was watching a program about Windsor Castle. There was a segment about Royal Ascot. A winning jockey rides back to the enclosure and springs off his horse. One minute he's sitting on the horse, the next minute he jumps up into the air, the next minute he's standing on the ground beside the horse. I wish I had his muscle tone and coordination! (Of course, those short short stirrups probably help with lift off!)

I'd love to be able to leap out of the saddle like that!