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So basically whenever I try and get on Joy, she starts walking away the second she feels weight in one of the stirrups, or sometimes even when she sees me ontop of the mounting block.

Now really it's not THAT bad of a problem mainly because I can be fast and leap on before she strolls off without me in the saddle. But really, it's just getting irritating, and when others want to ride her, I don't want them to have to do the gymnastics I do getting into the saddle. lol

So how do I teach her to simply STAND STILL while mounting? gonk

I tried turning her real sharp the second she steps forward, but then she just walks in tiny circles over and over until I'm finally on her, or have slipped off. xp

(Oh, and if you're not an expert, but have good, detailed ideas, that's okay too. I really just need like a step-by-step way to get this done. sweatdrop )

Oooh, this is an easy issue to fix! I just did it with Dream last week, only she was sadistic enough to smirk, hop in circles trying not to let the rider on, and THEN take off the second she felt weight in a stirrup. And I fixed it WITHOUT a rope on her halter so I didn't have any reins to pull back on; she'd have to stand still on her own. I used a round pen.

Unlike Ahrihliir, I personally fix it from the ground; a round pen is preferable IMO, or having a longeline attached...

I keep a whip on the ground or in my hand (depending on the horse) and go about easing my way up / into the saddle (it's easy to accidentally bump the horse in the side). If I feel the horse starting to shift or move AT ALL, I vocally correct her with an "Ah-ah..!" or "Whooooa.." -- if she starts actually moving, I immediately jump down, snatch the whip and longe her in both directions, then bring her back to the center of the pen/circle and try again. I don't know about Joy, but Dream uses it in a dominant "I can make you move" or "I don't have to listen to you, I can start moving whenever I feel like it" manner, so the important thing with her was to teach her that if she disrespects me by disregarding a command I give her (like "whoah" -_-), she's going to pay for it.

Within 20 minutes, not only would she stand perfectly still until I told her to move while I mounted, but while I flopped in the saddle, kicked my feet up on her neck and used her as a recliner, did a 360 turn in the saddle, hopped up onto my knees, leaned so far off of both sides I would've fallen off if I'd've gone any further, etc. smile

Beauty had this problem too a long time ago. *shrug*

u guys make it sound so complicated. anna had this problem bad when i got her. she would rip the reins out of my hands to. all i did was every time she took a step forward was give a sharp pull on the reins and said whoa (she didnt know whoa, but she sure learned it, haha). solved it in a week. now, i can practice getting on her bareback with nothing one her face, and if she starts to walk off, i say whoa, and she does. simple as that.

Yeah, and that's how one day Mel got kicked in the head. It's better to just quietly, slowly, with more complicated means do it so that the horse stands still for the duration, rather than to have a pull on the reins and have the horse halt for a few seconds. Because in my experience, all that does is stop them for a couple seconds. And whether you like it or not, there is a point in the mounting process where you are off-balance and very vulnerable, when all horse needs to do is pull on the reins to throw you forward, and then they're free.

A horse did that to me once, and that's all I did too (haha, Mel's tarded years). All I did was pull the reins. And she was turning circles, trying to take off, etc, etc. I got on, and in that critical moment she pulled her head forward and bolted. I pulled myself the rest of the way, but she veered and I fell over the other side. She halted and kicked back, catching me in the head, and continued on her way.

Whereas if I was to pull her tail around, so she wouldn't go sideways, and give her a "NO" every time she moved forward, and made her stand still, then the whole thing would have been avoided.

Instead, I ended up in the hospital.

sorry, i ment say whoa and then pull. rolleyes if its past the point of just walking away (trying to bolt off or the swing around or do circles when ur trying to mount) then u do have to do something more, because obviously the horses riders have been letting the horse get away with it for a while. it all starts with one step. but if all the horse is doing is walking away as soon as it feels the weight in the stirrup, and it knows it needs to stand while u mount, why would u waste time circling the horse and doing all that. why wouldnt u just as the horse to stop, thats what u want isnt it?

u just ask the horse to stop the same way u would as if u were already riding. u dont haul on the horses mouth, u just ask the horse to stop and if it doesnt, u ask harder. thats what u do when u ride, why should this be any different?

Adding to what Elisha said, if you just pull on the horse's mouth, then it's not going to register very well in its brain that "hey, I have to stand still for THIS SPECIFIC PROCESS." It's just going to think, "hey, I have to stand still right now... oh, the person's not there anymore, I guess I can move now!" And Ahrihliir is right, too. You can just pull back while you're halfway through getting up, because then you might swing to one side and end up stepping back down. I remember my co-worker had to be taught differently at how to get a horse to stand still, because every time it moved she'd stop the mount, put both feet on the ground, and pull the horse back.

Therefore the horse learns that walking forward = rider's not getting on, and THAT is where the problem comes in (Ie, me getting kicked in the head). I shouldn't have to explain how it comes to that problem, you guys are smart.

If you say "woah" then pull, it's the exact same message as pull then "woah". If the horse doesn't respond to "woah", it's not going to get you anything.

If you take everything slowly so that the horse stands perfectly still, and use any aides that you need (ie, rope around the haunches to stop haunches from swinging out) and do everything slowly and quietly, then REWARD the horse when it's stood still while you get on, you get a POSSITIVE result as in, "I want to stand still because if I do, I'll get a carrot or a rub on my neck!", as opposed to a NEGATIVE effect of, "I'd better stand still, or she's going to hurt my mouth!"

In fact, I STILL reward the horse if they stand still while I mount, no matter how experienced or aged they are, because they are standing there to let another creature climb on their back, wich IS against their natural instincts, by the way.

Oh, and DE: You'll get a lot of people who will tell you to use pressure to stop the horse from moving, but just keep in mind that horses naturally move IN to pressure, hence why teaching leading is so hard with a stubborn horse. The best ways are the slow ways and nothing abrupt.

Yes, I did try the simple pulling on the reins and saying 'whoa'. She would ignore me if I asked too gently, and then if I gave her a good yank, she'd flip her head into the air and haul backwards. So that didn't work. xp

It's also hard to pull back evenly if you only have one hand on the reins and are in the middle of getting on. stressed

Pana; Joy is a bit whip-shy, so that probably wouldn't work. I tried simply sticking her in a corner, but she would just maneuver out of it. burning_eyes

I think I might try the lunging method, if she moves and ignores my cue to halt, send her out to lunge, then try again. That's kind of a style of learning Joy usually can understand.

The problem with the circling is Joy will just circle and circle and circle and not stop. She actually likes doing tricky tight maneuvers like that, so I don't think it would register with her that she's doing something wrong. xd

Also, I have to disagree with the one-rein stop thing. Proper or not, you can stop a horse by bringing one rein over far to the side. I'm living proof of that, because about a week ago Joy bolted, and that's what I did to stop her. Also, on-ground you can do a modified one-rein stop, and it still works. And there's no leg on ground. smile

The backing up idea sounds interesting though, I think I might try that. I'd probably have to take the clucking out though, that's her cue to move forward. I could just instead say "back", since that's her cue. It would be the same principle either way, I think. question