A mounting block, horse block, or in Scots a loupin'-on-stane is an assistance for mounting and dismounting a horse or cart, especially for the young, elderly or infirm. They were especially useful for women riding sidesaddle, allowing a horse to be mounted without a loss of modesty. They were frequently located outside churches or kirks for the use of parishioners attending services, etc. In Yorkshire some were built at the top of steep lanes, where the rider would remount after leading his horse up the slope.
Mounting blocks today are primarily used by modern equestrians who are a) beginners b) people who have difficulty mounting (either a tall horse, a short person, or someone with some mobility impairments) and c) people who feel that use of a mounting block reduces strain on the spine of the horse, particularly at the withers. Modern mounting blocks are usually made of wood or of molded plastic.
Read more about Mounting Block: Construction, Using A Mounting Block, Decline in Use of Mounting Blocks, A Loupin' On Stane Poem, Standing Stones, Stone Rows, Etc., Examples and Sites of Mounting Blocks
Famous quotes containing the words mounting and/or block:
““Courage!” he said, and pointed toward the land,
“This mounting wave will roll us shoreward soon.”
In the afternoon they came unto a land
In which it seemed always afternoon.”
—Alfred Tennyson (1809–1892)
“When the landscape buckles and jerks around, when a dust column of debris rises from the collapse of a block of buildings on bodies that could have been your own, when the staves of history fall awry and the barrel of time bursts apart, some turn to prayer, some to poetry: words in the memory, a stained book carried close to the body, the notebook scribbled by hand—a center of gravity.”
—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)