thanks for all the advice. i've already moved away from needing the fence/rail to ride next to, but i still need the fence to mount. as for practicing on grass, i just moved to tucson, and im yet to find any grass except on the golf course. and now all i need to do is learn to free mount, but i'll search the archives here to find tips on that (though feel free to post here, as i'll be checking back). and again thanks for you help everyone.
TheLally
ps. as for the seat though i looks like i'll just have to tough it out and get used to that no kids ever feeling.
