01/09/2026
Yes.
So earlier I did a post asking if it's okay for a horse to walk while mounting. It' seems to be a very taboo question. I put the below response in the thread but I thought I would share it as its own post.
For those that don't know WHH but saw that post, let me explain something. Everything I do with horses; barefoot trimming, body work, PIM, root cause healing, species appropriate foundations and even training, all come from a biological prey animal perspective. I don't have typical "it's a 1000lb horse and can kill you mentality" because I really do have a different education into the biology. So horse, dog and even human, I see through a biological lens first and foremost. So that said, and I hope this can be read with a very open mind or even a "wow, i never thought of that" perspective, because everything I do is to help people see things very differently. People always want science but it's the common science not the stuff that makes the thought process better. So with education and very deep rabbit hole reasearch, here you go lol
Okay, I promised a biological answer to the mounting-block conversation, so here it is.
You want your horse to stand perfectly still at the mounting block? Great! There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Not everyone is concerned about a horse taking a couple of quiet steps while they're mounting, though, and I think we've gotten to a place where we automatically label that movement as bad manners, disrespect, poor training, or even dangerous without stopping to look at the horse first.
And before we even get into the biology, I have another question. How was the stand taught? Was it pressure? Repetition? Flooding? Force? Liberty? Positive reinforcement? Were snacks involved? Because those things matter too. A horse standing perfectly still only tells me that the horse is standing perfectly still. It doesn't tell me how that behavior was created, how the horse feels while doing it, or what is happening inside the horse's body.
This is where the way I work with horses is probably different from the way some people look at them. I look at the horse from a biological perspective first. Before manners, before obedience, before what we've decided a horse "should" do, I'm looking at a biological prey animal.
So let's look at what actually happens when we mount one.
Mounting isn't mechanically neutral for the horse. When you put your left foot into the stirrup and begin transferring your body weight upward, you're creating an asymmetrical load. Your body is still outside the horse's centerline while your weight is being applied through one side of the saddle. The horse has to stabilize its own body while simultaneously accommodating the saddle, that changing force, and eventually the full weight of the rider.
In other words, the horse has to rebalance.
That doesn't mean every horse needs to take a step. A horse can make postural adjustments without moving its feet. But movement can also be part of that adjustment. A horse may shift its weight, reposition its body, or take a step or two as the rider comes aboard.
And the human side of this matters tremendously. How tall is your mounting block? How much do you weigh? How fit and balanced are you? Do you step lightly into the saddle or hang from one stirrup while pulling yourself up? How long are you suspended on one side of the horse? Do you lower yourself into the saddle or drop your weight into it? All of those things change the mechanical experience for the horse.
There is actually research measuring saddle pressures during mounting showing just how asymmetrical those forces can be, and mounting from the ground has been shown to produce greater forces than mounting from a raised platform. So there is quite literally biomechanics happening underneath us while we're arguing about whether the horse moved a hoof.
That is why when I see a horse take two or three quiet steps while someone is getting on, I don't automatically think, "Bad manners." I look at the horse. Is the body soft? Is the horse relaxed? Is the nervous system regulated? Is the movement quiet and organized? Is the horse simply rebalancing or anticipating moving forward? Or is the horse tense? Bracing? Rushing? Trying to leave? Showing anxiety or discomfort?
Those are completely different biological pictures.
A horse taking a couple of relaxed walking steps while an experienced rider swings aboard and then simply continuing to walk forward on a loose rein once the rider is seated is not the same thing as a horse spinning, rushing away, escalating into a trot, bolting, panicking, or trying to escape while someone is halfway into the saddle. If your horse is doing those things, then yes, I think there is a much bigger question that needs to be asked about why.
And this is also where I think fear enters this conversation.
We've all heard it: "A horse is a thousand-pound animal that can kill you."
Of course horses are large, powerful animals. There is inherent risk in working with them, and good horsemanship absolutely includes safety. But respecting risk and believing that safety requires complete control over every movement a horse makes are not the same thing.
A horse can stand perfectly still at the mounting block, allow you to get completely settled in the saddle, and spook three seconds later. Teaching the stand didn't remove the horse's biology. It didn't remove the startle response. It didn't remove the nervous system. It didn't remove the possibility that something unexpected could happen.
And yes, rider fitness, balance, experience, and body awareness matter too. An experienced, balanced rider who is comfortable mounting a horse that begins walking is in a very different situation from an inexperienced, physically compromised, young, or nervous rider who needs that horse to remain stationary. That's exactly why I think standing at the mounting block is an excellent behavior for every horse to know. There will absolutely be circumstances and riders for whom it is necessary.
But "this is a useful behavior to teach for safety" is very different from "a horse that takes two steps while I'm getting on is disrespectful."
We've gotten into a strange place where any movement we didn't specifically request can become a training failure. And I think that's worth questioning.
Because if our definition of safety requires the horse to remain under our complete control every second, we're trying to remove something from the equation that can never actually be removed: the horse.
A thinking, moving, responsive prey animal with its own nervous system, balance, perception, and biological responses.
So yes, teach your horse to stand at the mounting block. I think it's a great skill. Require it every single time if that's important to you. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that.
But someone else's horse taking two or three relaxed steps while they're mounting isn't automatically a training problem. It isn't automatically disrespect. And it isn't automatically dangerous simply because the horse's feet moved.
Before I decide what a behavior means, I want to look at the whole horse.
Observe first. Interpret second.
Because the horse is a biological prey animal before it is anything we have trained it to be.
You can teach your horse to stand perfectly at the mounting block.
You cannot train your horse into no longer being a horse.
