Mounting a Horse from a Ramp

"Hi! My name is Connie and we are here at Hearts Adaptive Riding Center in Santa Barbara, California and I am here for Expert Village. Hello, we are the therapeutic riding center and we are about to get one of my riders on the horse. It is very important when you are mounting any sort of rider for horseback riding that the horse is calm, stands quietly. We are mounting from a ramp here because it is easier for my rider to get on this horse this way so go ahead and lead the horse in. No stop, come back. Okay, you don't want the rider to go to fast. You want them to be in a really good way. You are going to put both of your hands on front of the saddle, grab your reins first. Sorry. Reins on the front. Hands on the front. Lift up this leg nice and easy, swing around and sit down gently. Since you are coming a little bit higher down on the horse, it is really important the rider goes down slow not to hit the horses back. And we don't put their feet in the stirrups right away. We want them to walk away from the ramp before they put their feet in the stirrups."