How do you mount a very tall horse safely and what adaptations are needed?

Mounting a tall horse safely is primarily an equipment and positioning problem rather than a training problem, and Clinton Anderson addresses it practically without suggesting that riders simply struggle through unsafe situations because of pride about ground mounting. The primary recommendation for consistently tall horses — warmbloods, drafts, and horses over sixteen and a half hands — is a mounting block tall enough to position the rider at stirrup height without having to launch from below. Anderson notes that forcing a ground mount on a very tall horse almost always produces the lateral saddle torque that causes back problems over time, because the geometry of pulling upward from too far below is physically impossible to do without pulling sideways. For trail and field situations where a mounting block is not available, Anderson teaches using terrain — finding a slight rise in the ground, a log, a rock, or any elevation that brings the rider closer to stirrup height. He also teaches leg-up technique for situations with a helper available: the helper cups their hands at the rider's knee and provides a boost as the rider springs, which allows a controlled, straight-up entry rather than a pulled-sideways one. For horses that are tall and also young or green, he recommends prioritizing training the horse to stand at a block over training the rider to launch from the ground, specifically because repeated difficult ground mounts on a young horse create the negative physical associations — twisted saddle, back discomfort — that make horses sensitive about mounting. Getting mounting right from the beginning, even if it requires a block, is better long-term horsemanship than persisting with a technique that creates problems.