hi it's josie and today i'd like to talk to you about how i get on my horses i often watch people
get on their horses and i cringe and i feel really sorry for the horse it's not hard to get on your
horse with a bit of thoughtfulness and kindness for your horse now i use a mounting block whenever
i can can i get on without one yes i can is it easy no it's not anymore it was when i was younger
not so much now a bit older but i can get on a horse without a mounting block but that's not
what i'm going to do today because that just pulls on my horse's back and i don't need to do that
so you want a good sturdy mounting block i paid the money to buy this round one which has
three different heights on it and i've never ever regretted spending the money on it's been awesome
it's hollow so it's light it's a few spiders under there but it means that it sits nice and securely
on the ground and it doesn't tip over and it's easy enough to carry around when i personally get
on my horses to ride them in a session when i'm in the arena my mounting block sits in the corner
and then i get on the horses there so that doesn't interfere with any work i might want
to do or patterns i might want to do on the arena before i get on i put both of my stirrups down
my outside one as well there's nothing worse than worse than climbing on your horse and then having
to put your stirrup down because it's stuck up underneath your thigh you can either take your
mounting block to your horse or bring your horse to your mounting block
my horses are all taught to come on over here so that they're nice and close for me
so you do want them to be nice and close you don't want the mounting block to be out here
because how am i balanced getting on my horse with my mounting block way out here
and one of the other principles i'm just going to turn around so i'm on the highest bit
one of the other principles i like i'll just see if i can move him around a bit
rebel you'd like to move thank you now he's far too far away so i'll bring him back
good boy and now he needs to come up a bit
good so one of the other principles is you need to get in as close as you can to your horse the
closer i am to his center of gravity the less heaving and pulling i do on his back and i don't
know if you're aware of this but our horse's shoulders are not actually attached to the body
in any bony way at all their spine and head and neck hang basically slung between their shoulders
with tendons and ligaments we have collar bones which attach our arms to our skeleton horses
don't have anything so i don't want to be pulling on it so you get in nice and close to your horse
i have to lift my leg up even on the top step here because my horses are so big now so you put your
foot in the stirrup with the ball of your foot on the stirrup now listen to me i've learned this
lesson breaking in starting young horses under saddle you never want to get on your horse with
your toe that way in case you dig him in i turn my toe to the front and i turn my knee to the front
so that i don't dig my horse in the side my reins let me just get rid of my whip
my reins are held in both hands in one hand pardon me but between split between fingers
and if i have a horse that's likely to go off or in fact i think it's probably habit for me is i
have their nose pulled a little bit towards me like that i'm not going to do it for this one or
rebel's going to block the camera but i have their nose tipped slightly towards me
because if they go to go off then what will happen is that their hind leg will will spin out a little
bit and it's actually easier for you to not fall off so i grab a handful of mane with my reins this
is just habit from breaking in young horses and then when i go to get up good boy can you just
look that way that's a boy when i go to get up my hand i'll make sure my girth is tight enough
yep my hand from the other side goes over the other side of my saddle i don't hold the cantle
because i don't want to pull the saddle around on his back plus when i'm halfway up i have to
take my hand off of there to throw my leg over and i'm totally unbalanced i actually take my
hand over on the front of the saddle then i get up in and i stay close to the horse i almost slide up
his side so that i have got my center of gravity completely over him before i get in the saddle
so i feel very balanced here now if he went to move off i could actually get off of him
in a hurry if i needed to once i'm here my hand is just resting here i bring my leg over
and i sit down and i put my butt in the saddle as if i'm sitting on a dozen eggs
how many times i've seen people go bang on their horse's back
and it makes me cringe i'd sit here and make sure i'm central in the saddle before i then
get my outside stirrup good boy i'd love to know in the comments if you use a mounting block or not
i'll show you from this side again over this way he's reasonably square i do try and make sure
they're not going to be too unbalanced when i get on them because as soon as i add my weight to the
saddle it's going to unbalance them even more i've got my toe in over here pointing forward my knee
pointing forward my reins in my hand hand full of mane nose a little bit this way my hand goes over
here so i push up off my left foot and weight on my right hand as well so my weight is balanced
between my right hand and my left foot and i am completely balanced here and i bring my leg over
and sit down now i literally i just thought about that then i literally sit on my thighs as i go
down like an old-fashioned peg and then let myself sit in the saddle i'd like to think about a dozen
eggs under my butt not one would be broken i sit here get myself comfortable then find my
stirrup to get off it's the same thing in reverse i'll just get rebel away from the mounting block
so that i can get off properly good boy and just one step forward mate good
so same thing to get off i tip his nose this way a bit but i'm not going to because otherwise
he's going to block the camera but i would both reins in one hand handful of mane left foot out
weight on my right hand as i take weight in my left stirrup as well
get over here i'm leaning sort of over because i'm balanced over his center of gravity
once i'm here take this foot out hop off the horse the tips i'd like you to remember make sure your
horse is nice and square when you go to get on him get your mounting block as close to the horse as
you can or your horse as close to the mounting block as you can depending which way you do it
make sure your mounting block is nice and secure because trust me my when i was using a crate
the reason i bought this is i tipped backwards off a crate fell against the fence dislocated my
thumb and hurt myself so i went and bought the stable mounting block learn from my mistake
make sure you get in as close as you can to your horse to do this to keep your center of gravity as
close to his center of gravity as possible push up with your hand in front of the other side of
the saddle push up off your left leg and then find your balance over your horse and then put your leg
over i sort of land as i slide down i land on this part as i slide and then allow my seat to
drop into the seat so i don't bang my horse in the back i hope you found them useful see you later