Yesterday and today, Mick and I have been helping Sean relearn how to mount a horse. When Sean was little, he was very good at climbing up on Pappy from either side. He learned how really fast.

Later on, after Sean had grown, he rode the pony led by Kevin. Kevin would help Sean onto the pony, but they did it in an awkward way: Sean would face the same way as the pony, lean back, and Kevin would help Sean swing his right leg over the horse's neck. Now we have to help Sean unlearn that habit and learn to swing his leg over behind him. It may take some time.

We are using a barrel to assist. So far, the first few tries have gone OK. But Sean won't get OFF the barrel the same way. For right now, that's OK. The main thing we want to do is build up a pattern of Sean putting his weight on his hands and swinging his leg over the right way. One step at a time! This may take days, but as long as Sean is learning it and not getting bent out of shape about having to do it, we count it as a success! Right now Sean can't see a purpose to this so he gets frustrated easily but that's OK. We keep our sessions short and end each one on a good note.

Here are a couple of pictures from yesterday "working the barrel".
Nancy