Walking round in circles when trying to mount

highlandchloe · 07-03-2009, 02:03 PM

My friend's loan pony walks around in circles and generally refuses to stand still when you try to mount him, what can she do to stop this?

Thanks.

rider6592 · 07-03-2009, 02:09 PM

hmm, my boy use to kinda bolt or just simply walk away when i would try to get on him, after some ground work he seemed to improve...

but there was one thing that seemed to help most, it may seem kinda mean but it worked... if he started to walk away i was told to push him away from me than towards me than forward than back kinda fast and when i did this he stopped to think and after doing it when he tried to walk he realized that it was simply easier to just stand there... now he does great!

does the pony walk slowly in a circle or does he walk fast?
does he do it all the time?
could it be discomfort due to tack issues?

puzzles mom · 07-03-2009, 02:11 PM

That is a very common evasive maneuver, she can try facing him into a fence/wall/corner. That will help to interrupt the forward thought. If that doesn't solve it easily, she will need to devote some time to teaching him to stand while mounting.

KristinJ · 07-03-2009, 02:21 PM

Lots of lessons. I would get someone to hold the horse, her mount, dismount, mount, dismount. Keep continuing this. Eventually the person can let go of the horse and just stand by his head. Keep mounting/dismounting NUMEROUS times, rewarding the horse with a pet if he is good. Then you can get rid of the person by the horse at all times and the horse should learn fairly quickly.

My friend had a TB who would do that, she took forever to mount the horse and he would stand and when she got on the mounting block he would walk off. She didn't want to work with him ... When I rode him. I decided to ditch the mounting block because it was too difficult to deal with. (he was tall so it was kinda hard to get up there lol), but when he would start moving I would either leap on there fairly quickly stop him, get off and do it again. If I didn't have enough time to jump up there I would work him in a circle, and if he would stop I would make him move a few more times to let him know I AM BOSS, and he needs to respect me. Then I will stop him and attempt to mount again. It took a few lessons but he became fine, however he still took advantage of the owner because he knew he could.

horse_mom · 07-03-2009, 02:35 PM

my horse used to do that. every time i'd make him stop and back up then try again. i repeated as many times as needed and he finally got it.

PUtNEE · 07-03-2009, 03:32 PM

horse won't stand still when being mounted...

BlazinTrails · 07-03-2009, 10:21 PM

Take a hold of the rein on the mounting side and turn the horses head toward you. Keep your grip while mounting up.
Once the horse figures out that he will have no pressure on his face if his feet stop moving and let you mount.
Once on, flex him, stand and then dismount to do it all over again.

07-03-2009, 02:03 PM	#1
highlandchloe Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 3	Walking round in circles when trying to mount My friend's loan pony walks around in circles and generally refuses to stand still when you try to mount him, what can she do to stop this? Thanks.

07-03-2009, 02:35 PM	#5
horse_mom Senior Member+ Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: ca Posts: 2,519 Images: 6	my horse used to do that. every time i'd make him stop and back up then try again. i repeated as many times as needed and he finally got it. __________________ Jag<3 29 yrld appendix quarter Spirit<3 7 yrld mustang http://cowgirlgracie.weebly.com/blogd.html Jenny<3 9 year old donkey Hannibul<3 R.I.P, my old man,love forever!!

07-03-2009, 03:32 PM	#6
PUtNEE Full Member Join Date: May 2009 Location: hillcountryhorseworks.com Posts: 224 Images: 4	horse won't stand still when being mounted... __________________ ...breathe...!

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07-03-2009, 02:09 PM	#2
rider6592 Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Southern Michigan Posts: 319 Images: 14	hmm, my boy use to kinda bolt or just simply walk away when i would try to get on him, after some ground work he seemed to improve... but there was one thing that seemed to help most, it may seem kinda mean but it worked... if he started to walk away i was told to push him away from me than towards me than forward than back kinda fast and when i did this he stopped to think and after doing it when he tried to walk he realized that it was simply easier to just stand there... now he does great! does the pony walk slowly in a circle or does he walk fast? does he do it all the time? could it be discomfort due to tack issues?

07-03-2009, 02:11 PM	#3
puzzles mom Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 464	That is a very common evasive maneuver, she can try facing him into a fence/wall/corner. That will help to interrupt the forward thought. If that doesn't solve it easily, she will need to devote some time to teaching him to stand while mounting.

07-03-2009, 02:21 PM	#4
KristinJ Senior Member Join Date: May 2009 Location: New York Posts: 1,083 Images: 4	Lots of lessons. I would get someone to hold the horse, her mount, dismount, mount, dismount. Keep continuing this. Eventually the person can let go of the horse and just stand by his head. Keep mounting/dismounting NUMEROUS times, rewarding the horse with a pet if he is good. Then you can get rid of the person by the horse at all times and the horse should learn fairly quickly. My friend had a TB who would do that, she took forever to mount the horse and he would stand and when she got on the mounting block he would walk off. She didn't want to work with him ... When I rode him. I decided to ditch the mounting block because it was too difficult to deal with. (he was tall so it was kinda hard to get up there lol), but when he would start moving I would either leap on there fairly quickly stop him, get off and do it again. If I didn't have enough time to jump up there I would work him in a circle, and if he would stop I would make him move a few more times to let him know I AM BOSS, and he needs to respect me. Then I will stop him and attempt to mount again. It took a few lessons but he became fine, however he still took advantage of the owner because he knew he could.

07-03-2009, 10:21 PM	#7
BlazinTrails Full Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: NV Posts: 107 Images: 5	Take a hold of the rein on the mounting side and turn the horses head toward you. Keep your grip while mounting up. Once the horse figures out that he will have no pressure on his face if his feet stop moving and let you mount. Once on, flex him, stand and then dismount to do it all over again.