Another possibility is that she is concerned
about what is behind her. Doing what you are asking of her, when she can't
see what's behind her (such as another rider on his/her horse), takes her
defense mechanism away from her. My horse once refused to sidepass to
close a gate, although he knew perfectly well how to do it. He just
wouldn't do it. I thought about it a few seconds and then asked my
riding partner to bring her horse around in FRONT of mine, so he could keep an
eye on the other horse while closing the gate. It worked like a
charm. If this situation is at all applicable to your circumstances, it's
worth considering what is behind your mare when you are trying to
mount.
I pretty well use
Barbara's method, but had one horse, who was anything but stupid. She'd
wait till I got all set to get on and move.** Very similar to Charlie
Brown and Lucy holding the football. Well was advised to make this
girl trot around when she refused to stand still. I did. After the
first few times, she got antsier and antsier (if that's a word) at the
mounting block, and eagerly looked forward to her trotting sessions. My
son, who was 13, came out with some wise words to the fact that I sucked as a
trainer. LOL! Y'see the horse I was training is a Standardbred
Trotter. To her living was trotting. :-} That was her way of
putting on the Ritz.
Susan
**Now I know that
sometimes a horse who avoids being mounted is showing signs of back or other
soreness, including improper saddle fit. All this was
investigated.
