Improving My Mount

Improving My Mount

Some of you may recall that I broke my wrist a year and a half ago.  After the operation to add 2 plates and 10 screws and several months of physical therapy, it healed up beautifully.  It never hurts and works as good as ever.

Since I had a weight limit on it long after the splint was removed, whenever I rode, I had to mount with a mounting block.  I was really worried that I would have trouble mounting from the ground, but I was still able to do it.  It just wasn't as easy as it was in the past. 

A lot of people frown on mounting from the ground--as it puts pressure on the back--and I get it.  Mounting using a mounting block makes more sense--it is easier and better for the horse--but what if you are out on the trail with nothing you can use for a mounting block?  I feel it is an important skill for a trail rider.  Since I am the only one in my group of riders that can do it, I am able to help everyone when they drop something--I can pick it up.  It happens fairly often.  

It seems that I have been struggling to mount lately, and I was thinking that maybe it was time to give up.  I have been using my hand on Cole's withers way too much to pull myself up.  What happened to my spring?  Has age caught up with me?  What to do?

I started to experiment.  At first, I thought if I increased my hops before hopping up, I would strengthen my ankle and be able to mount lighter.  That didn't seem to help that much.  After 4 or 5 hops, my ankle would be too tired to give me a good hop.  

Then, one day by accident, I sunk down too low on my last hop--and flew up into the air and landed lightly in the saddle.  Now what did I just do?

The next day, I bent my knee before I hopped, and it happened again.  That is when I realized my mistake all along was thinking I could hop up from my ankle.  Duh...I needed to use my whole leg.  My ankles might not be that strong, but with all this riding, my legs sure are.  It seemed like a miracle.   Maybe my body forgot about it when I was only using a mounting block during my wrist recuperation--or maybe I used to have much springier ankles in the past.  I am not sure.

I told Ellen about it.  She needs to use a mounting block, or I will hole her stirrup on the other side when she mounts from the ground.  She is a much better mounter than she thinks because I barely feel a tug on the stirrup when she mounts.  Well, she tried it that day when she mounted after leading Dante across the ford--and she said it was much easier.  She also used it when she used the mounting block, and she said it helped her then, too.

I told Kevin all about it.  He never noticed my mounting was getting bad.  He never noticed my extra hopping.  He was clueless.  Then next time we rode together, he came over to watch--and I completely flubbed up and caused the saddle to slip!  I must have over thought it.  

Since then, I have continued to improve.  So if you are mounting from the ground or a mounting block, bend your knee a bit and use that to help push off.  It is a lovely feeling to fly up into the saddle like I did back when I was a teenager...

Continuing with Baby Driver

 Continuing with Baby Driver

Why didn't anyone tell me that ground driving was so fun?  Now that we got through the initial introduction to it, he seldom has any big misbehaviors.  In fact, he had one really bad day where he tried everything in his bad horse arsenal, and I just patiently worked through it and ended on a good note.  Well, that was it.  He has been super ever since.  (This is something that has happened in other parts of his training, too.  He has a really bad day right before he gets really good.)

I really enjoy ground driving, and Trifecta seems to, also.  When we are walking, he gives me such a lovely, free flowing, forward walk.  He is usually very attentive to me, too.  His mind seldom wanders away like it used to when we were lounging.  We sometimes have troubles in the indoor arena with him wanting to visit the horses in the stalls along the perimeter of it.  He usually does better in the outdoor arena. The only real trouble I have out there is that he can be distracted by the horses in the turnout areas--but the distraction usually doesn't last that long.

We walk all sorts of figures.  I have to coordinate myself to switch sides when we switch directions--he pays very close attention to where my body is.  

Lately, we have added in some trotting.  That is more challenging, of course, but mostly for me.  I have to be quicker on my feet to stay in the correct position.  He doesn't have a really fast trot when we are working, and that is an advantage for me.  Just the same, when we trot, we do very few straight lines.  Instead, we do circles, half circles, serpentines and figure eights.  We also do walk, whoa, walk trot transitions.  It is just so fun.  I feel like I am riding because these are all things I would be doing if I was riding him.

I am driving him with a surcingle and a side pull hackamore, and it is working very well.  Eventually, I will switch to a bit, but there is no hurry.  Riding is still a long way in the future, so the saddle and bridle can wait for a while.  

He is just learning so much from this.  He is getting used to having a girth around his belly--and standing still while I put it on.  (Clicker training is very useful for that.)  He is learning how reins work, extending out his attention span, working with distractions, standing still when we attach the reins, standing still when he gets tangled in the reins, standing still when we untangle him from the reins and having me work with him from behind which is very similar to working with me above him. 

This has been so worthwhile!

I am teaching Cole to ground drive next winter...