Client story - mounting issues

These stories are shared with permission but names have been changed to protect their privacy.

I was called out to see a horse, lets call her Betty, on a recommendation as they were having mounting issues and their owner was really struggling, felt like they’d tried everything and didn’t know where to turn. Betty had always been tense to mount but 6 months previously her owner had two very serious falls when trying to mount, one of which resulted in a broken arm when she fell onto concrete. Naturally her owner became extremely anxious about mounting.

Betty went to the vets for a work-up where they found some mild hock arthritis and treated it appropriately.

Betty’s owner was on a yard with people who’d been around horses longer than her and they kept telling her that Betty was taking the mick out her and she was creating a dangerous horse by allowing her to get away with this, that Betty could sense her nerves and was doing it deliberately. She just needed to get a better rider to sort her out. Her owner contacted someone who advertised as a behavioural expert locally desperate for some help.

The trainer told her that Betty was worried at the mounting block from the pain memory and they just needed to build her confidence. They got Betty to move backwards and sideways and taught her to “park” by using a flag until she complied with their requests. The trainer then presented her to the mounting block, if Betty moved away they would flap the flag at her until she lined up again, in the first session they spent 45 minutes working at the block continuously. Betty eventually stood still and allowed the trainer to mount. The trainer told her owner that Betty was showing signs of relaxation now, I have seen the video and Betty is stood very still with very tense triangle shaped eyes and looks disinterested in her surroundings, these are not signs of relaxation.

Her owner was given homework to do the same thing, they continued having sessions every week for the next 2 months. Betty would still start off moving away from the block each session but the trainer would eventually get on, they explained that the owner needed to jump on her as soon as she was still for a moment before they lose that window of opportunity and she gets anxious again. That they just needed to show Betty that nothing bad would happen and she would get over this anxiety. When things weren’t progressing Betty’s owner felt like it was her fault for being too nervous and that if she could just get on quicker she would make progress. Betty’s owner had started to feel sick at the thought of riding and didn’t know what to do.

When I first met Betty my eye was immediately drawn to the lack of muscle over her back and neck, this was not a back I thought was ready for carrying a rider comfortably. Betty was very compliant but she showed uncomfortable behaviour around being touched, groomed and tacked up in turning her head away, swishing her tail and becoming very tense in her face. We had a long chat about what to do next as I explained her mounting issues were not behavioural or training issues at this time, I could almost feel the relief pouring out of her owner. It wasn’t her fault for being “too nervous”, there was something else bothering Betty.

During the session we worked on some enrichment activities and some basic positive reinforcement training on the ground just to give her owner some nice things to do with her that would build positive associations. I obviously referred them on to the vet to see what might be going on. Betty was diagnosed with mild kissing spine and grade 3 stomach ulcers.

We made some management changes which included feed changes to support her gut health and making sure she had access to hay at all times. Betty’s owner is now working with my recommended physio on appropriate exercise and rehab to hopefully build up appropriate muscle around her back so more invasive treatment isn’t needed. We are doing all of this with Betty’s emotional state in mind because rehab isn’t going to be successful if we view the horse as just a body to be fixed. Betty has really negative associations with people and the training scenario so we are focusing on changing that and gently shaping healthier movement.

This isn’t a success story, this is fairly recent and still ongoing but I want to keep sharing these stories as they seem to resonate with and help people. I just want the industry norm to change, we have behavioural experts that don’t seem to understand behaviour or have the ability to read really obvious signs of stress/pain. There is so much training that is deeply unethical but sold as good for the horse. Horses are extremely communicative we just have to learn to listen.

The idea that Betty just needed to learn not to be anxious after 2 months of trying to do the same thing is illogical, she was anxious because being ridden hurt and was scary, she was very politely trying to communicate this. There were also a dozen red flags before we ever reached the mounting block. Not only was this situation horrible for Betty, her owner could’ve been seriously injured if she’d continued to follow this advice. You should not have to jump on your horse quickly at the block, your horse should be so comfortable at the block that they’re happy to stand while you change your clothes and have a cup of tea.

If a horse won’t stand to be mounted it is rarely just a behavioural/training issue, there is usually a discomfort component, and even if it is just a training issue, hassling horses until they stand still is not going to build confidence, its going to create even more negative associations with being mounted.

We make up so many stories around behaviour, when most of the time its really simple, the horse won’t do it because they’re scared to or its hurts them to do so. Treating them like an equation of “apply pressure until they do the thing and only release pressure when they do thing” completely bulldozes through anything the horse is trying to communicate. 🐴