Amy Skinner
In this episode, Jec Ballou invites Amy Skinner to the regular segment, the Coaches’ Corner, to help answer a question from listener Nina in Maine.
Nina has a lovely, older mare named Casey. It’s often a battle just to step up into the saddle and Nina would like suggestions for making the mounting less stressful for both horse and rider.
Jec and Amy break things down and offer lots of suggestions.
You can check out Amy’s work here and, of course, you can find Jec here. Amy is a Best Horse Practices Summit presenter and author of To Catch a Horse: Finding the Heart of Your Horsemanship.
Also in this episode, Maddy Butcher discusses the advantages of introducing novelty to your horses. It’s a fun look at the brain science behind good learning and keeping things fresh and interesting.
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Just listened to your recent podcast with Amy Skinner. Have been enjoying the series. Thank you.
Would like to share some thoughts on the mounting concern. Amy has a solid foundation to offer. However, there may be more to this issue. Could be a friendly issue.
Is the horse afraid of the mounting block? “Games” played around the block could be helpful: circling; sideways towards, away, and over (maybe?); backing to and away; yielding towards and away; “squeeze” horse between block and human or between block and fence.
Is the horse comfortable with someone standing above them in mounting position? Same strategy. Play lots of “Games” in this position higher than their back.
Also, no need to move block. Let horse move around. Human stays on block directing horse’s feet. Teaching sideways towards is particularly useful in aiding this situation.
Knowledge for Ground skills are critical to communicate with horse. Not a single day solution. But an enduring skill taught and reinforced that will be useful forever.
Just some thoughts. Hope the horse and owner find some resolution with smiles in place. 👌