Horseback Riding 101

Lesson 3: Leading, Mounting and Dismounting, and Basic Position

Preparing to mount

Your stirrups are adjusted and you are ready to mount…after you check that the girth is tight. If it is tight enough, you will have a hard time getting a couple of fingers under it. If you can easily run your fingers under it, it must be tightened. Run the near side stirrup back up to the bar, raise the flap of the saddle, and, keeping the reins looped over your left arm, tighten the girth. Then let the stirrup iron back down.

Mounting can be done from the ground or from a mounting block. Mounting from the ground is something you should know how to do, eventually, on any size horse no matter what your height is. But to begin, you’ll want to put as little stress on yourself and on the horse a possible. So, it is best to make yourself artificially taller by using a mounting block.

A mounting block is simply a two-step very stable stool you can buy in any tack shop for under $50. They are usually heavy duty plastic, and they come in a variety of colors. They have wide bases so they won’t sink into the sand of an arena—which is why an ordinary household step stool will not do. If you do not have a mounting block or cannot get one, you can use any other solid, stationary object the horse doesn’t mind. Often, people find an old tree stump, either still in the ground or acquired for the purpose, and use that. Why? Horses are used to trees and have no problem standing next to something that looks natural to them. Sometimes, people use a picnic table, or a set of stairs that is beside the arena, perhaps leading to a judges’ stand. Some barns build mounting blocks that are permanently attached to a wall or are very large, immovable and permanent fixtures of the property.

In any case, once you have the horse so that its saddle is parallel to the mounting block with the horse about a foot from it, you are ready to ascend the mounting block and mount the horse.

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