Should I practice getting on my horse from both sides?

Yes, without question, and the fact that this is still considered an unusual or advanced practice in many western riding circles says more about entrenched tradition than it does about good horsemanship. The convention of always mounting from the left is a relic of a time when cavalry soldiers wore swords on their left hip and had no practical choice but to mount from the right side to avoid the sword interfering with the process. That reason ceased to be relevant for the overwhelming majority of riders generations ago, yet the habit persisted and became so normalized that mounting from the right began to feel wrong or even dangerous — which is entirely a training artifact, not a reflection of anything inherent to horses or riding. From a training standpoint, a horse that can only be mounted comfortably from one side is a horse with an asymmetry in his education, and asymmetries in training tend to show up everywhere eventually. Horses are naturally one-sided to varying degrees, just as people are right or left handed, and consistently working them from only one side reinforces that imbalance rather than correcting it. A horse that has been handled, saddled, bridled, and mounted exclusively from the left is often genuinely uncomfortable when approached from the right — not because he is difficult, but because the right side is simply less familiar and less conditioned to human contact and pressure. Practically speaking, there are real-world scenarios where the ability to mount from either side matters. Uneven terrain where the left side is uphill. A horse standing against a fence or wall on the left. An injury to your left arm or leg that makes the traditional mount difficult or impossible. Trail riding in tight spaces. In any of these situations a horse that has only ever been mounted from the left becomes a problem, and the rider who has only ever mounted from the left is doubly unprepared. Start the process slowly if your horse has never been approached from the right for mounting. Spend time simply touching, rubbing, and handling him from that side until he is completely relaxed. Introduce the stirrup touching his side from the right, then weight in the stirrup, then a full mount — rewarding calm acceptance at each stage before moving to the next. Most horses accept right-side mounting surprisingly quickly once they understand what is being asked, particularly if their overall training is solid and they trust their rider. Make it a regular part of your routine and within a few weeks it will feel as natural as any other part of your horsemanship.