The Western Mount Up

It's interesting to see that you hold the cantle. In English riding, we are discouraged from doing that because putting pressure on the cantle could lead to the tree of the saddle getting twisted. Does this ever happen with Western saddles?

Do you have any tips for a short person mounting a tall horse? If I am unable to bounce high enough so that I can stand on my left foot in the stirrup or can't even initially get my left foot into the stirrup, I have to resort to a mounting block.

I posted a thread on the mature-rider forum asking for advice on mounting a rather large horse. I, along with everyone else at the school where I ride that is tall enough, mount from the ground. I recieved 2 responses that you should never mount from the ground, that you should use a mounting block. I normally ride English. I'm confused? Please help.

Hi ya'll! I'm the one who wrote the article and I probably should have made a point about blocks. It is always best to use one if you can. It saves on the saddle, but most importantly, it saves on the horse's back. In some cases, such as hacks, you may not have a block available to use. In that case, you should take your stirrup down to a level that you can easily reach for mounting.

Hi Sharon
You will notice in the above pictures that the rider has moved his hand from the cantle to the forks in the second pic.
and Hi Katie
If I lengthen my stirrup I cannot get my leg over the cantle
Grandma.

I mounted this way and found that I was always pulling the saddle towards me. At my first lesson my instructor taught me to put both hands on the pommel on either side of the horn then bounce up keeping all my weight forward. It works great and now I've noticed that everyone in these parts Montana mounts this way.