When I was a kid I was too short to get on my horse bareback. My horse was named Pixe, she was 15.2 hands tall and a blood bay, I was there when she was born so we knew each other very well.....
....so I would place an apple on the ground, Pixie would bend her head down, I would jump on her neck behind her ears and she would lift her head up, me sliding down her neck onto her back.
Of course I would be sitting backwords and have to turn around. Hopefully Pixie would continue munching the apple or continue onto eating grass until I got situated...usually I like to lay on my horses back and listen to her eat and watch the clouds drift by in the blue skies of Oregon. Horses have the best smell too, salty sweet and earthy...