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Days in Horse Country – Practice Your Mounting
Mounting is the first thing you tackle when you learn to ride. After all, you can’t ride until you’ve mounted.
Some riders are very adept at mounting, swinging gracefully into the saddle with hardly an effort. Others struggle to hoist their weight up. Some can only mount with the aid of a mounting block. Most can only mount from the left side because that is the way they were taught. (The tradition of mounting from the left side of the horse goes back to the days of the cavalry when soldiers carried swords on their left sides, making it hard to hard for them to mount on the horse’s right.)
It’s a good idea to be able to mount without effort, from the ground and from the off, or right, side of the horse. This is especially true if you are a trail riders. You never know what kind of situation you might find yourself in out on the trail. You may not be able to find something to boost yourself up with, and you might not be able to get on from the left side.
The best time to hone your skills in such matters is when you are in a safe environment, with a patient and reliable horse. If you have trouble mounting gracefully even from a mounting block, take some time to practice this before you ride.
Much of graceful mounting ha t do with upper body strength. With practice, your arm muscles should get stronger, and you’ll be able to lift yourself up so you can swing into the saddle. (This is usually more of an issue for women riders, who usually have less upper body strength than men.)
Your purpose when practicing is to be able to swing up and over without pulling on your saddle (and hence the horse), and without landing heavily in the saddle. Practice mounting several times before each ride to make sure you’ve got it down.
Mounting from the ground can be trickier, especially if you are an older rider. Don’t be afraid to use a mounting block whenever you can because it helps you, and also helps your horse since pulling on the saddle is hard on the horse’s back. But try to still be able to mount from the ground if it’s necessary. You can use high ground to mount, meaning you can position your horse so that he is on a slightly lower elevation than you are. This will help you get into the saddle with less effort.
Michael