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Sounds like the same dismount I do - slither is a good word for it!  And 
like you, my horses have to be trained to stand in a hole, next to a log or 
rock, anywhere that gives me just a couple more inches.  Some fiends have 
jokingly told me to lodge a complain about my fanny being built to close to 
the ground!

Lonnie
UT


> From: <heidi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <lonnieruesch@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> CC: <Marinera@xxxxxxx>, <ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: RE: [RC]   [RC] Fear when mounting/dismounting
> Date: Wed, 6 Oct 2004 12:15:24 -0600 (MDT)
>
> > Bless the person who trained my new horse.  Cody stands stock still, and
> > in  fact won't move off without a lot of encouragement, until he gets
> > his treat  after I have mounted.  I LOVE that.  As I am really short,
> > less than 5', and  getting older and arthritic and stiff, this is really
> > important.   Additionally, when I dismount, I was taught to kick out of
> > both stirrups,  kind of lay across the saddle, and slide down.  After a
> > long ride, that  slide down sometimes takes a while too! HA!  My horse
> > stands perfectly still  for that also, so he gets another treat.  Gotta
> > love a well trained horse!
>
> Yep, that's the bottom line!  Being short, tubby, and not at all springy
> anymore (I NEVER was graceful at mounting anyway, even when young), I make
> sure that ALL of my horses are well-trained to a mounting block.  I even
> take one to rides with me.  And when I'm not near the mounting block, I've
> used anything from car bumpers to rocks to picnic chairs.  As far as I'm
> concerned, learning good manners about mounting and dismounting is
> fundamental to any riding horse, and in return, I try to minimize the
> trauma of it by getting on from a height that I DON'T put a lot of
> sideways pull on their backs.
>
> I still chuckle at an incident at Fort Howes a couple of years ago.  I was
> just starting back riding, and we were doing the LD.  A windstorm came up,
> and there were a lot of gazebos, etc. set up in the crewing area that were
> blowing down, just as we got ready to leave for the second half of our
> ride.  I retrieved one of those white plastic patio chairs from over by
> the vets' rigs and plunked it down next to my horse in the middle of all
> this excitement, and proceeded to use it to get on.  Ray Randal said to
> me, "Boy, you're brave!"  I retorted, "No, he's broke!"
>
> Heidi
>
> PS:  As far as dismounting, I do leave my left foot in the stirrup briefly
> as I lift my right leg over the cantle and rump--again, I don't have
> enough " spring" to do that stirrup-less.  But I pivot around and keep my
> weight centered over the saddle while doing that, so that I end up more or
> less with my belly in the saddle.  At that point, I can leave my left hand
> on the pommel and bring my right hand around into the seat of the saddle
> to push off as I kick my left foot free, and then drop to the ground.  (Or
> slither to the ground, as the case may be.)  That way, there is never any
> great weight in one stirrup, either, to cause an upset, but I don't have
> near the "free fall" of the "spring out of the saddle" sort of dismount.

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