Hi I'm Teri Carter of Saddlebrook Stables in Castle Hayne, North Carolina. Today I'm going to talk to you about how to teach your horse to stand still while you are mounting. For this you will need a bridal, a saddle and space. The first thing you need to do is have your horse saddled and bridled. I have split reins and I'm putting them on either side of the horse's neck. What you don't want to do is pull the horse's head towards you because that encourages the rear end to move away from you. If anything, you want the reins to be even or for the outside rein to be tighter than the inside rein. Your horse also needs to understand the word woah. You tell them woah whenever they move, woah, woah, good. Once the horse is standing still, you put your foot in the stirrup continuing to say woah, woah, the horse should move like she just did, I'm going to stop what I'm doing half way through, pull on my reins and ask her to stop, woah. Once she stops I'm going to continue on with my mounting, woah, and continue on telling her woah any time she moves. When I'm safely in the saddle and both of my feet are in the stirrups, then I'm going to adjust my saddle, woah, continuing to tell her woah every time she moves and when she is stopped moving and she is settled, I'm going to pet her and tell her she's a good girl. I'm not going to let her go anywhere or move forward until she is settled. Once you are safely on your horse and your horse has done its work and you want to get off, you want to make sure your horse is standing nice and still for the dismount as well. When they're settled, you take both feet out of the stirrups, you have the reins in your hands just in case the horse should move forward and you don't want to take your time getting off, you want to go ahead and do the job. So I'm going to lean forward, throw my leg over the horse and hop down. Then I'm going to step forward and grab the rein so that she can't walk anywhere else and that is how to teach your horse to stand still while mounting and dismounting.
