Getting on a Horse

When getting on a horse, it's important to get on the horse in a way that is comfortable for the horse. Find out where to place the reins when getting on a horse, and how to avoid pulling on the reins with helpful advice from a reining horse trainer in this video on getting on a horse.

Now he's bridled up, saddled up, I'm ready to go ahead and step on. I'm going to take my off rein, my other hand, reach across his neck. I'm pulling my right rein up over his neck and just lay it right there. Then I'm going to take my left rein, throw it up over the other side, okay. Now I've got the reins crossed across his neck, my left rein falls over his neck that way, my right rein falls over his neck this way. Alright, now I have him secured. Now the way I want to get on, I don't want to stick my toe in this horses side and cause him to run away from me while I'm getting on. I want to be able to get on in a way, that actually is comfortable for him. I almost want to sneak up there in a way, I don't want to pull him toward me, I don't want him to lose his balance as I'm getting on. So I'm going to get in pretty close and stand next to his shoulder like this, and I'm going to take my stirrup, I'm going to turn it toward me. As I turn it toward me, I'm going to lift my foot up and stick it, just the toe, just my toe, right in that stirrup. Now, notice I've got my left hand, I'm holding the reins in my hand, I've got my hand on his neck, alright just like that. That way I can keep him from coming at me, I'll now where he's at at all times. Okay, step that foot there. Once that foot is in the stirrup, then I reach up with my other hand, okay. See notice how I can keep him away from me, with my elbow, with my hand, in case he'd want to come around and try to bite me, I blocked him, alright. And then I just take a bounce and step up, alright. I didn't pull him toward me, I just made a bounce step, and just hopped up on him. Now that I'm on him, I've got to take my other foot and put it in the stirrup, alright. Now that's something that will get people in trouble from time to time. They actually get to fishing for that stirrup and end up kicking their horse and he's taken off and they only got one foot in the stirrup. Alright, so while your horse is sitting here real still, I just make sure that I kind of move around a little bit and he's okay with a little bit of movement, and then I just kind of reach over, fish for that stirrup, try to do it softly, now my feet are in. Now I'm ready to go off and go.