# Mounting bareback



## howrsegirl123 (Feb 19, 2012)

How do people swing up onto a horse bareback? I really want to be able to do it but I can't. I used to be able to on my 14.1 hand horse but now I have one that's 15.3 and there's no way I'm getting up there, even with me being tall. I see people shorter than me do it on taller horses and I'm baffled and amazed. It would really come in handy. Any tips??


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## amberly (Dec 16, 2012)

It took me a while to be able to do it on my 15.1 horse, but after a while of practice it is super easy.
I found out the easiest way of swinging your leg up and over through this video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWIRvEb1GgE


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## howrsegirl123 (Feb 19, 2012)

amberly said:


> It took me a while to be able to do it on my 15.1 horse, but after a while of practice it is super easy.
> I found out the easiest way of swinging your leg up and over through this video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWIRvEb1GgE


I will try it that way. Looks easy enough but when I go to do it I'm sure it'll be a wreck lol


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## mkmurphy81 (May 8, 2015)

That's a great video. I used to be able to mount like that... 20 years ago... Even then I wasn't that graceful! If you have any hills where you ride, use them to get a little bit higher than our horse. Every inch helps. I used to put my horse in the small ditch beside our road to gain about 6 inches. Then I could swing up and get my knee over her back. From there I could wiggle upright. Like I said, not so graceful.

Not too long ago, my cousin asked me to show her how to swing up on her little 14.3 mare. Ha! I could demonstrate the technique, but I couldn't even get my foot over anymore.


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## TessaMay (Jul 26, 2013)

That's how I do it too, but on a 17hh mare I have to put her in a ditch or have something to lift me a bit. My goal is to be able to do it from the ground some day, but we'll see... 

I'm not as graceful as the girl in the video either. as Murphy said, if I can get my foot over her back I'll wriggle the rest of the way up. Can be a little difficult when your horse takes off down a hill at a fast trot while you're holding on that way. Not that my mare would EVER do such a thing... Oh wait.


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## lostastirrup (Jan 6, 2015)

I love being able to get on like that. I can get on a 17hh tb that way (although it takes some doing) The video is good. The other method I have seen is to move at a trot with your horse, bounce forward legs together and then somehow flip one leg over the horses back as she draws even with you. I'm still working on this one..


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## Saddlebag (Jan 17, 2011)

T'is merely a mental block that's stopping you. Most people when swinging up get about 2/3 then stop. It's not about your legs but your hips. Decide you are going to thro your hips right over to the other side. It won't happen but that has to be your focus.


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## turnandburn1 (Nov 21, 2014)

Could you start by doing this with a western saddle so that if you get stuck you will have the horn to pull yourself up with? I think some horses are just hard to do this on as I can swing up on a lean 16.3 hand tb, but not a stocky 15 hand qh. Practicing on it a lot will help you build muscle to swing up.


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## Asimina (Apr 21, 2013)

I feel so tempted to try this....but then I remember I'm a fairly uncoordinated 175lb at 5'2", and the horse I ride is 17.1 lol.

oh well, I can mount just fine off the tailgate of a truck lol


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## kewpalace (Jul 17, 2013)

As a kid, I used to only ride bareback and would mount as the above video shows. I could even mount TALL horses (16 H) that way and I was (and am) SHORT. Just took a little practice for the taller horses.

I could not do it now. :redface:


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## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

That's a nice technique in that clip!

My technique is slightly different. I basically glide on belly-first and then turn and get my right leg over the horse and sit up. It's also one smooth movement, and it prevents me accidentally kicking my horse through lack of coordination/operator error (a serious consideration for me).

Occasionally, when I've had a break in riding bareback, I have too much momentum and go clean over the top of my surprised horse. This usually amuses any onlookers greatly. It tells me I need to continue to do bareback regularly so I don't get out of practice. I imagine that if I had too long a break I could well lose the technique and/or nerve, especially as I fossilise further!

Some places have barrels on stilts so people can practice the upswing on something non-living, and I think that's a great idea!

When I was ten I had a nearly 17hh mare I rode bareback a lot, and needed adults to give me a boost up, or use the rising ground near one side of the arena built into a hill at the place we were boarding then. But one day, when no such help was available, the mare looked at me and dropped her head and neck down, and stayed like that. I hung myself over her neck bag-of-potato style to see what would happen, and she slowly started raising her head and neck, and I slid onto her back like that! This then became a routine way of getting on her bareback. She was amazing like that...as a kid I just took it pretty much for granted. I was light and as an adult I wouldn't want to put my whole weight on a horse's neck though...


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## Joel Reiter (Feb 9, 2015)

I used to get on like the video when I was a kid. Now that I'm old and fat and stiff I can't seem to do it any more. So I ask my poor horse to stand still, back off a few yards, run at him from the side like a big ape, and jump. If I'm lucky I can get enough of my two hundred and none of your business pounds on his back to wiggle the rest of the way up, then swing my leg over and sit up. I can't do it with the bareback pad -- the extra inch or two of height is more than I can handle.


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## blue eyed pony (Jun 20, 2011)

Hahahaha I'm all of 110lb and "athletic" in build and I can't even swing up onto a 14.3hh hunter pony. We use 44 gallon oil drums (empty!) as mounting blocks anyway so I just get up onto one of those and get up from there.

Used to be able to swing onto a 15.2hh Standardbred off a milk crate (so about a foot of extra height) and one day I got up off the (full) water trough. We use old bathtubs as water troughs a lot because they hold HEAPS of water and you can empty them easy by just pulling out the plug. So I went from leaping off a milk crate to what should have been a simple swing-the-leg-over-and-go - I launched myself STRAIGHT over his back, didn't even touch him, and ended up in the dirt on the other side.

I only had to stop vaulting onto horses when I hurt my knee... it won't handle the twist anymore.


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## BiologyBrain (Jul 9, 2015)

It's not graceful, but I jump and land on my stomach on the horse's back. Then I swing my leg over and sit like normal. It may be a mental block, but I can't jump. I used to run 300m hurdles, but I've never been able to jump very high. Now that I'm 30-something, I really can't.


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

yes. I could do it too, at 18. now? forget about it. I think one of the important points is that your lower body goes up first, and the upper body follows. when Endospink did some videos of him bareback mounting some tall thoroughbreds, his head actually went below his hips while he was in the swing up portion. so, his hips swung up first, to the point they were actually above his head, and then his upper body went up, too.

you will see that those that are not successful in the video, try to throw their upper body over at the same time as the lower, while the successful on has his head go almost , or actually, below his hips for a second as he swings on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvjku81aLpM


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## rocky pony (Oct 5, 2007)

That video posted was great and very helpful...I'm 5'7" with a 14.2hh mare and I still pull out the mounting block to get on bareback.
I'm sure she's going to throw a fit the first few times I attempt it though. Wish me luck not getting my butt handed to me.


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## Aussiefarmer (May 12, 2015)

I do it the same way as biologybrain.

My sister can get up on her 17.3hh horse, but she has the big advantage of being 6'1... I'm 5'8, I can get up bareback on my brothers 16hh horse, but he is very laid back and don't care about me bouncing around.


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## Saranda (Apr 14, 2011)

That's quite hard on their backs, I prefer mounting up from whatever natural objects I find to use as a mounting block...then again, my boy is too high for me to be able to swing up from the ground anyway.


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## Bedhead (Aug 4, 2013)

I'd love to mount my horse bareback but he would not tolerate that tom foolery


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## Rainaisabelle (Jan 2, 2015)

I have to use a chair then climb onto this big container we have in our paddock to get on my 16.3 TB bareback.. Need to do more lunges a and crunches..


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## HarleyWood (Oct 14, 2011)

I can jump on my 15.3 hh quarter horse with little issues. but he has a nice flatter back then my paint whos about 16hh i cant do it on him with his shark withers!! and my 17hh guy.... yea not going to try that even though im 5'9!!


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## howrsegirl123 (Feb 19, 2012)

Update...I tried it on my horse, he's still too tall for now. But I tried it on my sister's shorter horse and after getting the hang of how I have to swing and jump I managed to do it three times! It's still not great but I think it'll get there. That video posted definitely showed me a better method than what I was trying before.


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## Saskia (Aug 26, 2009)

The last time I tried to mount bareback wasn't great. 

I didn't have anything to climb on, I usually use a milk crate because I'm unco. 

So I think, I could climb up the round yard walls, and then jump on him! Yeah thats a great idea. I neglected to notice the banked up sand on the sides meaning the horse was about 2 foot from the sides. I was like, that's okay, I'll just climb a little higher and leap the distance! 

Note to all - horses do not like being jumped on from above. 

So I launched myself across getting a heel over his back My horse was kind of shocked, and hopped to the side and forward while I tried to scramble on, and then he just trotted and hopped around until I tumbled off. I am thankful I have a quiet, nice horse that didn't just freak out on me. 

I wish I could mount properly, but I just don't have those athletic skills.


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## cheyennemymare (Oct 8, 2014)

I just swing! It's really all determination. Cheyenne is 16hh even, and one day I looked at her and said, "I 'm doing this.." LOL, practice it a lot! I can jump on anything if I don't swing. If I just jump, placing my stomach on their back, it's way easier.  But swinging is quicker, and more appealing.


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

Bedhead said:


> I'd love to mount my horse bareback but he would not tolerate that tom foolery



don't you just love having the chance to use such arcane vocabulary as "tom foolery". That is just so apropo. (how DO you spell that?)


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## ecasey (Oct 18, 2013)

I put a block on its short end and stand on it! I could never do what that girl in the video did with my stiff, uncoordinated body.


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## rocky pony (Oct 5, 2007)

I tried on my mare....totally convinced that I could do it...put all my strength in it and JUMPED!.......my leg maybe made it not even half-way up her body 
I need to go stretch some....


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

cheyennemymare said:


> I just swing! It's really all determination. Cheyenne is 16hh even, and one day I looked at her and said, "I 'm doing this.." LOL, practice it a lot! I can jump on anything if I don't swing. If I just jump, placing my stomach on their back, it's way easier.  But swinging is quicker, and more appealing.


It's really all determination if you are relatively tall, strong, and lithe. 

If you are quite short, not particularly strong, and stiff, determination will lead you to find a mounting block, fence, or stand your horse in a ditch.


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## hollysjubilee (Nov 2, 2012)

rocky pony said:


> I tried on my mare....totally convinced that I could do it...put all my strength in it and JUMPED!.......my leg maybe made it not even half-way up her body
> I need to go stretch some....


lololol


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## hollysjubilee (Nov 2, 2012)

I wouldn't do it these days, although I have a couple of horses that would allow it:

I'm old . . . and my heroes were the Lone Ranger, Roy Rogers, and Zorro . . . 
I used to set my mare up, run up behind her and jump, putting my hands on her rump and pushing up and over to land on my tush behind her withers. I can't believe, now, that I did half of what I used to do with her. She could have let go with one kick . . . but she never did. For all her "hotness" and fear of men, she was a really great horse for a teenage horse fanatic.

The way I do it now: Depending on the height of the horse, I may use a mounting block and jump up on my belly and swing my leg over, or take the horse to my trusty picnic table, and step over his back  I always feel like I'm cheating when I do that, but there's no bouncing, and the horses are cool with it.


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## Saranda (Apr 14, 2011)

There's no cheating if you and the horse are comfortable with that! Nothing to prove to anyone.


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## Saddlebag (Jan 17, 2011)

At one time I rode with a 15 yr old gal who had a sturdy pinto barely 14.2. She herself was pretty sturdy and a little heavy around the hips. When it came to her swinging up, gravity seemed to intensify it's pull on her bum, she'd get half way and fall to the ground laughing. Time and again and her horse was so patient. I suggested she try the other way of running and taking a flying leap. She did but her horse wasn't dumb and as soon as she was airborne he side stepped about 6", just enough that she slammed into his side and fell with both of us laughing uncontrollably. Once the laughter starts there's no point in trying to continue. She never did learn how to get up bareback without a block.


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

hollysjubilee said:


> I wouldn't do it these days, although I have a couple of horses that would allow it:
> 
> I'm old . . . and my heroes were the Lone Ranger, Roy Rogers, and Zorro . . .
> I used to set my mare up, run up behind her and jump, putting my hands on her rump and pushing up and over to land on my tush behind her withers. I can't believe, now, that I did half of what I used to do with her. She could have let go with one kick . . . but she never did. For all her "hotness" and fear of men, she was a really great horse for a teenage horse fanatic.
> ...


you can't be that old if you're still riding bareback, period.


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## boots (Jan 16, 2012)

I prefer to walk up confidently, swing my leg up, wonder why my backside didn't follow, turn and face the horse's side, make a huge effort, wonder why my body barely left the ground, lead the horse to the tack room doorway, and waller up.


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## hollysjubilee (Nov 2, 2012)

tinyliny said:


> you can't be that old if you're still riding bareback, period.


The picnic table method is faster than tacking up, and easier than trying to get my foot in a stirrup :neutral::icon_rolleyes:


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## rocky pony (Oct 5, 2007)

boots said:


> I prefer to walk up confidently, swing my leg up, wonder why my backside didn't follow, turn and face the horse's side, make a huge effort, wonder why my body barely left the ground, lead the horse to the tack room doorway, and waller up.


This is my method to a T.


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## Joel Reiter (Feb 9, 2015)

hollysjubilee said:


> The picnic table method is faster than tacking up, and easier than trying to get my foot in a stirrup :neutral::icon_rolleyes:


Yeah, I don't know about you guys but that stirrup just keeps getting higher off the ground for me.


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