Step 1: Put your foot in the stirrup and bounce up and down beside your horse. If you horse gets agitated or moves follow him and keep bouncing until he settles and can stand quietly. Repeat the process until your horse can stand relaxed as you approach, put your foot in the stirrup and bounce up and down beside him. When you step down, lead him forward a couple of steps to ensure he is has not frozen up on you in his worry.

This photo demonstrates how much of your foot should be in the stirrup during the exercise. If you do this there is no chance of getting a foot hung up in the stirrup if the horse bucks or scoots away

Step 2: Step up and lay across the saddle with only the toe of your foot in the stirrup. Stroke your horse with your hands on his neck, his flank and over his rump. If he gets worried or scoots away, take your toe out of the stirrup and slide down and walk him a little before trying again. Keep repeating this process until he is relaxed about you laying over him and stroking him. When you step down, lead him forward a couple of steps to ensure he is has not frozen up on you in his worry

Step 3: When you perform Step 2 with your horse relaxed it's time to ask him to walk with you laying across the saddle. You can cluck or use your reins to turn him or use a friend to lead him to initiate a walk. It doesn't matter what you do as long as he moves his feet. Moving in a relaxed manner is very important to ensuring it is safe to mount. Again, if he bucks or scoots away, just take your toes out of the stirrup and drop to the ground. Repeat the exercise until your horse walks calmly with you laying across the saddle. Repeat the exercise on both sides of the horse if you can.
Very Important: always travel in the direction that you lay. If you step up on the left side, only ask your horse to move to the left and the opposite is true if you step up on the right side. Never have your horse turn right if you are balanced on the left side and visa versa.

Step 5: When you have Step 4 covered pretty well, bend your horse and ask him to walk forward. By already having your horse in a bend when he goes to move means that if he gets a fright and tries to buck or bolt you are halfway to being able to regain control by disengaging his hindquarters.

Step 4: If your horse is calm and relaxed through Step 3, you can get down and then mount as normal. Sit up and stroke you horse front and back. Always make sure your horse knows you are about the touch his rump or flank by running your hand across his body from his neck towards the rear. If you suddenly touch the rump of a green horse he make get a fright. Notice that Michele has loopy reins in all these photos. If you are unsure of your horse's reaction you can have a good horse person support your horse on the lead rope while you stroke your horse. Once you are satisfied your horse feels okay, dismount and move him forward a couple of steps before mounting again.

Here are a few photos to supplement the steps above. They show how a helper can assist the process. Here I am supporting the horse by holding the lead rope while Michele mounts. If I felt the horse was getting worried I would shorten up on the lead rope to encourage him to pay attention and then I would stroke his neck.

This is another method you can use to encourage a horse. Here the horse is following me around while Michele gets the horse use to moving with a rider on board. Gradually, over minutes, the rider can direct the horse away from the person on the ground and ask for stops, back ups and turns.

Michele is using the reins to direct the horse, but I am supporting with the lead rope to encourage a forward walk. I can also quickly intervene if the horse got a fright by disengaging the hindquarters or backing the horse up.