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2/4/02 When was the last time you mounted your horse? How did you prepare him for mounting? One day I was at a good friends place, he prepares 2 year olds as a living. His name is Don Buttrey. Martin Black was there. Don said, " Martin, show Eric how to mount up." Boy! was I caught off guard. So, Martin showed me how to prepare the colt for mounting. It was so simple, but I had never had it brought to my attention. Its so easy to prepare a horse that its difficult. What I find interesting is that Don and Martin use two different methods. Martin prepares the colt by pushing on the saddle horn enough to cause the colt to shift his weight to his right front foot. Martin then proceeds to mount . If the colt shifts towards Martin, Martin will repeat the weight shift. The goal is to have the colt hold his weight on the right front foot as Martin mounts. Duh! How simple can it be? I think you see the process. Don, on the other hand, does the opposite. He prepares the colt by positioning him with his left front foot directly under himself so Don has a solid base on which to stand on as he mounts. Two different styles both of which achieve the same results. Yet both have the same thing in common. They prepare the colt to enable them to be mounted in a way that is easy for the colt and for the rider. Riding horses is the easy part, its the riders that cause the problem. |
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