Interested in Roman Riding?

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Is it not Vegetius who says all soldiers were taught to vault onto a horse?

My preferred method is stick a lance in the ground, lean the shield against it and then pick the up once on a horse. A servant could certainly hand them to you (having acted as the mounting block first, perhaps?). As a one off, vaulting on would be fine I suppose but your horse has to stand still so not sure if it is likely in the heat of battle; just an opinion.

If you put a search on You Tube for methods of getting on a horse you will be amazed by the many methods - one includes using the lowered horse's neck to propel the rider rearwards; ingenious but perhaps a litle awkward when there are horns on the saddle.

A mounting block of some sort gets my vote as well as teaching the horse to kneel. My horses were trained to stand by almost anything so I could get on without damaging their back in the process (five bar gates, oil drums, standing them in a depression in the ground - anything to give me an advantage of height)